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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Listened to this one tonight. Read it a few years ago.
The package around the core of the tale doesn't add much on a revisit, but the eeriness of the meat and taters of the thing is brilliant and engrossing. The image of the locomotive breathing... perfect.
The package around the core of the tale doesn't add much on a revisit, but the eeriness of the meat and taters of the thing is brilliant and engrossing. The image of the locomotive breathing... perfect.
Since I have read each story of different seasons individually, I decided to review each story by itself instead of the book as a whole. Technically I didn’t read different seasons. I listened to the audio version of The Body, Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil. The breathing method I read in eBook version.
The breathing method was hauntingly intriguing. The story begins with a 60 year old man getting invited to a gentlemen’s club. Now this gentlemen’s club is a just a place where men get together to swap stories, play pool, or read. They can read the paper, periodicals, and a wide collection of books in a library; most of these books mysteriously don’t exist outside of this special collection. I had this eerie feeling that there was more to this club than what it seemed and so did the main character.
During one of his visits to the club a member tells a story, this story is the Breathing method. Where I will leave the plot of this story to those who read this, I will say that I got chills at the end of this story within a story. Chills to the point I was not sure if it was from fright, excitement, or sheer enjoyment. The questions of the club are never answered but more or less left to the reader to make your own assumptions. But that is one of the many reasons I loved this short Novella.
The breathing method was hauntingly intriguing. The story begins with a 60 year old man getting invited to a gentlemen’s club. Now this gentlemen’s club is a just a place where men get together to swap stories, play pool, or read. They can read the paper, periodicals, and a wide collection of books in a library; most of these books mysteriously don’t exist outside of this special collection. I had this eerie feeling that there was more to this club than what it seemed and so did the main character.
During one of his visits to the club a member tells a story, this story is the Breathing method. Where I will leave the plot of this story to those who read this, I will say that I got chills at the end of this story within a story. Chills to the point I was not sure if it was from fright, excitement, or sheer enjoyment. The questions of the club are never answered but more or less left to the reader to make your own assumptions. But that is one of the many reasons I loved this short Novella.
Almost rated this four stars because of the unresolved mysteries in The Club part of the story, before realising that the mystery makes the story even better. Loved the short and horrifying The Breathing Method part. Even though the story-in-story method didn't contribute to anything important and raised more questions without answering any, I really enjoyed the classic, simple Stephen King storytelling.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I don’t understand how Stephen King can create characters that you become so emotionally invested in within so few pages. He’s a true master storyteller and nobody can convince me otherwise.
I found the story of the single pregnant woman engaging, but the gentleman's club framing device was wonky. It's like two different stories. The story of the pregnant woman was not nearly weird enough to warrant the weird ending, which I guess was an idea that King never developed further.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
It was ok, not my thing to be honest and did not enjoy it as much as the other novellas within Different Seasons. It was still good
This was just okay. It was an interesting story but I felt it needed a little something more.
There is a paragraph that describes how giving birth feels like in this story and I think it's the most apt description ever. Giving birth is too brutal for it to be beautiful.
The fourth and final novella in the book Different Seasons and probably the weakest of the four. It reads like a mash-up of several story ideas and never seems to find its identity. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the "gentleman's club" and the mystery behind what the building and club represented (especially the doorman/servant/waiter Stevens-the most interesting character), but felt the Breathing Method tale told within the story at the end was a bit of a let-down.