The Shawshank Redemption

Rating:
Summary: The Body
Review: "Stand by me" - this is the most important sentence in the novel The Body written by Stephen King. The novel is about the natural and deep sense of friendship. Four boys are keen on experience an adventure, they take a long way to see a dead body in the forests of Maine. Alone on the way of excitement and fear, they are between childhood and adulthood. The story is easy to read and also to understand.

Rating:
Summary: One Hell Of A Story
Review: ***NOTE: This review refers to the UNABRIGED version of this audio book, which does not appear to be available at Amazon.***

Perhaps those who have, up until this time, dismissed Stephen King's formidable storytelling talents will take the time to listen to this audio presentation of Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption, perhaps his finest novella. Heck, it's only 4 1/2 hours long - you can listen to the whole thing while you're doing your spring cleaning. If not - well, they're missing out the best work of one of America's finest writers. Their loss.

A note on the on the narrator: Frank Muller, who does his usual fantastic job here, was recently in a motorcycle accident in which he sustained serious brain damage. Stephen King, John Grisham, and other writers whose work he has narrated, are staging a fundraiser for Muller and his family. For more information on this, visit King's official web site (www.stephenking.com).

Rating:
Summary: i couldn't believe it...
Review: ...as i sat in my buddy's dorm room on a cold, thundering night in late april, i secretly fell in love with the movie, "Shawshank Redemption,".who would have guessed, but this movie was by one of my most favorite authors --- stephen king. up until a few moments ago, that movie was on my hit list of one of the best, all-time movies to see...now it's on my hit list to read the book! cruising into amazon.com, and looking *eagerly* for the latest book --- hopefully the fourth and finale in the gunslinger series --- i "fatefully" stumbled on the book entitled "Shawshank Redemption". thinking it had to be a fluke, i clicked on the bio of the tale. now, pleasantly surprised... ...i'm buying the book --- not only because it's possibly the best movie i have seen of the nineties, but because i know it's got to be good if it's written by stephen king! [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: i couldn't believe it...
Review: ...as i sat in my buddy's dorm room on a cold, thundering night in late april, i secretly fell in love with the movie, "Shawshank Redemption,". who would have guessed, but this movie was by one of my most favorite authors --- stephen king. up until a few moments ago, that movie was on my hit list of one of the best, all-time movies to see...now it's on my hit list to read the book! cruising into amazon.com, and looking *eagerly* for the latest book --- hopefully the fourth and finale in the gunslinger series --- i "fatefully" stumbled on the book entitled "Shawshank Redemption". thinking it had to be a fluke, i clicked on the bio of the tale. now, pleasantly surprised... ...i'm buying the book --- not only because it's possibly the best movie i have seen of the nineties, but because i know it's got to be good if it's written by stephen king! [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: An Epic Book and Movie
Review: A few years ago my uncle up in Maine, who is a huge Stephen King fan, made me sit down and watch the movie from start to finish. At first I was bored with it. I wanted the movie to turn into a tale of demons or aliens or freaky Stephen King stuff. Turned out the movie didnt need any of that to make it my favorite movie of all time. After the movie was over I could not believe that it was based on a book by King. Shortly after watching the movie i decided to go out and get myself the book, which turned out to be just as good. When Andy escaped and had his armed raised up towards the sky with the rain pouring down on him really made me tingle inside. What an extraordinary and epic book an movie. I recommend them to anybody who appreciates life.

Rating:
Summary: I felt that I was there>
Review: From the very beginning of this book, I felt as though I was there. Many books make you an observer, but I could almost feel myself aging with Red. I felt an extreme joy when he made the choice to "get busy living" and went to be with his old and dear friend. This displaced "The Stand" as my favorite King book, I Keeping hoping to read another like this but this is the BEST!!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!!!!
Review: I bought this book simply because I was stuck on the outskirts of Tokyo and the only bookstore around had a limited English selection of which this was the only interesting book which I had not already read. After watching a movie, I normally steer clear from the books that they were based upon as the suspense and novelty is gone though I think most people will agree that the book is usually the better of the two. Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies of all time. I was surprised to find that the movie was so powerful that it actually overshadowed the book. I think this is due to the film's length allowing it to build up the characters and the mood. However, this takes nothing away from the the fact that rita hayworth and the shawshank redemption is a great story.

What makes this book a must buy though is the Apt Pupil. A real page turner and the way the story reveals the transformation of the all-American kid into a true monster is truly breathtaking. And the ending is absolutely amazing. I was left numb after reading this story. Definitely something to be savored.

The third story was made into the movie, Stand by Me. Simply put, if you read this story you can skip the movie and vice versa.

Of the four short stories in this book, the fourth is truly a let down. But this is only in comparison to the first three.

Overall, an amazing book and an outstanding buy.

Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's BEST
Review: I just love Stephen King's books, okay? I've read them all, except RIDING THE BULLET, because I'm on the computer enough already, and I personally like to have a book with paper pages to pour over while I'm on a plane or a couch or a beach.

So I have read King--in hardback--for years. I always buy his books as soon as they are published. Then I buy them in paperback for tote-ability. They don't weigh as much, and therefore don't load me down when I'm walking mile-long concourses, nor hurt my stomach when I am (re)-reading them on the beach.

To me, all of his books are marvelous. But SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION is his best story EVER.

This story is actually one of four in King's book, DIFFERENT SEASONS. And it is actually entitled "HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL RITA HAYWORTH AND THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION." Preceding the story, there is a single page with a single sentence which says, "It is in the tale, not he who tells it." Oh, and this tale does tell itself, but if King had not put it down for us, (pen to paper, so to speak) we would never have had the gift of this masterpiece to even consider.

When you realize the King of Horror has written a work that would catapult most authors into the galaxy of writers' stardom, and that it is just one of his many, many works, you just have to appreciate what a great WRITER King is. Sound silly? Well, as we all know, there are best-selling authors out there who are not particularly good writers. King sets this story down with a writing skill so superior that it is difficult to imagine something more perfectly written.

Of course I saw the movie, and it was fairly true to the book. But not until you let the actual words of this story envelope you and enthrall you do you get the full-tilt emotional fulfillment of reading a thoroughly engrossing story.

King does a beautiful job of giving us the substance of the characters, both in the realm of the facade a prisoner must maintain to survive, and of the inner anguish a prisoner struggles against to stay whole. We get to know the two main characters -- Andy and Red -- inside and out, and this is what makes the book so very compelling.

And I have never, ever, read a story in which the last sentence takes my breath away, causes my heart to beat faster, and makes my eyes tear, as this story does.

Some of the scenes are hard to take--particularly the prison rape scenes--but they are necessary for us to understand just what makes the wrongly-incarcerated Andy Dufresne so unique. And if he were not so unique, if his character were not so brilliantly disected in King's writing, there would be no story at all. Events happen around Andy, but what happens inside Andy is what gives this story wings.

I hope you will read this tale. I hope you will be inspired by it. I hope you will be as enthralled by the writing as I am. I hope you will love it, for your own sake.

Rating:
Summary: Thank You
Review: I loved this story .. so full of hope and justice. You still can't get away from the ugly underbelly of people's baser natures, but perhaps you shouldn't so you can appreciate why Andy made the crawl just a little bit more.

But the most impressive thing was the movie. Practically word for word, Hollywood put Shawshank up on the screen. Page by page Tim Robbins WAS Andy, Morgan Freeman WAS Red and they spoke their words paragraph by paragraph. And even the altered ending was satisfying because they only showed you what you mind tried to see when you closed the book at the end of the story.

To King and the makers of "The Shawshank Redemption" including Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and all the others I say ...

BEAUTIFUL

Rating:
Summary: Frank Muller read "Shawshank" better than I did
Review: I read this story back in 1985, and I later saw the movie. They were both excellent. In February, 1997, I had to do quite a bit of travelling between Nashville and Atlanta, and bought the audio book. I listened to it about 8 times. Frank Muller reads the story with style and ease, and though I was very familiar with the story, I still enjoyed it every time I listened to it. If you're travelling any distance by car, I highly suggest getting this book, unless you have kids in the car with you; the prison rape depictions, though not overly graphic, will still leave you answering some uncomfortable questions.