I honestly don’t know if I knew the film, “The Shawshank Redemption” was based on a Stephen King novella before or after I watched the movie. The film was released in 1994 and by that time I was already a die hard Stephen King fan. I had not read all of his published work as of 1994, still haven’t read everything, but I was deep into his bibliography and already touting “The Stand” as my favorite novel of all time. What I do remember is not seeing the film in theaters but hearing quite a bit about it around the Academy Awards the following year even though it did not take home any awards for its seven nominations. I was a sophomore in college at the time of release and I had yet to find a love for dramas. I was still the horror hound I had been since high school. See above my passion for Stephen King.
I assume it was sometime in 1995, maybe that summer, when I finally saw the film. I can’t say how I saw it or what motivated me to watch the movie. I liked Tim Robbins as an actor so that may have been the catalyst. Maybe it was one HBO or something and I caught it there. I just don’t remember. What I sticks out though is that once I sat down to watch the film I was absolutely enraptured by the story and when it ended I knew I had a new favorite movie. I truly fell in love with the film and could not wait to show it to some friends of mine from college. They were also blown away by it and honestly thanked me for showing it to them. It is still one of my all-time favorites.
At some point I learned it was based on a Stephen King story. This was probably during my first watch of the film as I saw the credits but again my memory of this is extremely fuzzy. I think once I realized where the story came from my reaction was “hmmm…not surprising. King is a great writer.” Again I am guessing here but I suspect I went out and bought a copy of the book, “Different Seasons” in which the original story, “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”, was published. The funny thing about that though is that I never read the book. Well, not until today.
I finished the story earlier this morning. There are 3 more stories to read including “The Body” which is the basis for the film “Stand By Me”. I will finish those soon enough. I am not sure why it took so long to read this novella. I have had it in my personal library for at least 28 years or so. I guess I just had other things to read. I certainly read many more Stephen King books in that time. Perhaps it was because I stopped reading paperbacks and switched to hardcovers. This isn’t the only book that sat on my shelf unread in the last 30 years. I do find it strange that I never picked it up before now.
I had a good time reading the story even though I knew where it was going. There was enough different in the text to keep me interested. A few things really surprised me and here come some spoilers for a film that is 30 years old so don’t get mad at me. First was that Hadley really didn’t play much of a part in the book. He was important to Andy getting started in his financial advisor role but that was pretty much it and he is gone from the prison long before Andy escapes. Also interesting is that Warden Norton wasn’t in the entire book and only comes along in the end. Finally, and this one really surprised me, is in the novella Tommy doesn’t get shot for knowing that Andy is innocent. Norton just has him transferred. In my opinion, changing these things for the film made it a better story. Most certainly it was better for the film. Out side of those things though the story is pretty much the same. Red is a white guy of course but the whole time I was reading I was picturing Morgan Freeman as Red. Can’t change that one.
I truly enjoyed the novella but honestly I have to admit that Frank Darabont elevated the story to something greater. Darabont just knows how to film King’s words. He went on to film King stories “The Mist” which has the most shocking ending to a film I have seen and “The Green Mile”. It is a shame he did not get to direct more films and adapt more of King’s work. After his experience with “The Walking Dead” and the subsequent fight with AMC, Darabont basically left Hollywood. The filmgoing audience is worse off for the loss but he left some fantastic films.
This particular book is harder for me to read now. The mass market paperback print is small and my eyes are much worse than they were in 1995. I don’t want to buy it again but I could. A Kindle copy would be easier to read. I think I sort of owe it to myself to read this copy though. Not because of the money but because I have kept up with it through multiple moves and many different reorganizations and culls. It has made it this far so perhaps it can make it a little further.
The book has spent some time in the attic and it is worse off for it. The pages are turning brown around the edges. The cover seems brittle and started falling apart as I read it. I taped the book together and we will see how it goes.
I hope it holds.
I hope I can read the rest of the novellas.
I hope I can make it to 507 pages.
I hope.