This is really just a review of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. I put Stephen King on my list of authors to read for my 2016 challenge, but knew I'd have to read a non-horror story. Sorry, but King does his job too well and what he doesn't, my over-active imagination happily fills in for him when I'm trying to go to bed. Not happening. Since The Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies, I figured I'd pick that one up. Of course it had to be in an anthology.
Anyway, to those who don't know (living under a rock, are we?) the basic premise of the novella and movie is that an innocent man, Andy Dufresne, is sent to prison for murdering his wife. The novella encompasses his entire term in prison as observed by a fellow inmate named Red. Andy is a smart man, he was a banker on the outside, who uses his brains to make a bad situation just a little bit more tolerable. And he has a plan.
I really liked it. King didn't flinch from the awful stuff that happens in prisons, but he didn't overuse it either. For a short read, you got invested in both Andy and Red and couldn't help but hope for both of them.
As for the three other stories in the book, I started reading An Apt Pupil after I finished Shawshank but had to stop. The characters made me feel dirty from the get-go, which is apparently King's intention for them. Hehehe. I did get far enough in to get the reference to Andy Dufresne and had a bit of a chuckle at it, but I just couldn't read further.
The Body is the story Stand By Me, another old favorite movie, is based upon. I started it, but haven't finished it. I probably will before I give the book away, but it's not a priority.
The last story is The Breathing Method, which is tagged as a horror on the dust jacket, so I may not read that one.
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