Friday, June 29, 2012

Book Review: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption



The film "The Shawshank Redemption" has been shown on TNT and AMC at least 1000 times.

I never knew it was all from a book written by Stephen King.

The original story isn't even a novel. It's part of a collection of novellas written by King in a book called Different Seasons. The story is only 71 pages long, yet the movie is almost identical. 90% of the story is the same, and I swear over half the dialogue is verbatim from the book. King wrote the story so well, and with so little extra fluff, that the film script could be written with very few changes.  It didn't need almost any additions or abridgments.

I've seen the T.V. version so many times that I couldn't read the book without hearing Morgan Freeman's voice the whole time. It was awesome.

This book is thought provoking. It takes you through justice, mercy, hope, kindness, as well as hate, disgust, intrigue, and the abuse of power.

We get a small glimpse of what it must be like to be in prison for 30 years, and how hard it would be to re-enter society. It helps us understand those who don't express their emotions the same way as we might. It shows the horrible things we'll endure, and even laugh at, if it's all we have.

This story can be read in a few hours, I recommend it.

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