The Shawshank Redemption [4K Ultra-HD] [1990] [Blu-ray] [Region Free] [4K UHD]

Read this book for a Film Lit class I was teaching. I loved it! I have not been a Stephen King fan, but enjoyed the read! There were moments of foreshadowing in the book that you don’t see in the movie.

Great

Stephen King is awesome

Stephen King proves he can write more than just horror with this very entertaining tale (along with THE GREEN MILE and THE BODY, reincarnated as STAND BY ME for the film version).Both the story and the movie follow the basic storyline (SPOILERS)....Andy Dufresne is a vice-president at a Maine bank who is tried and convicted of the brutal murders of his wife and her lover and is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Prison. The tale is told by the man who becomes his confident and closest pal all through out Dufresne's imprisonment Red (big difference here is he's a white Irishman, as opposed to the African American inmate played by Morgan Freeman in the movie but that's a change I approve of whole-heartedly).Unlike in the movie, Red goes into details about what he did to land in prison but I won't go into it in here.The movie does differ from King's original tale in quite a few ways, but for the most part I approve of them.For example, it makes more sense for Warden Norton to have Tommy killed rather than just transfer the kid to another prison....as long as the kid lived, there would always be the chance he would tell what he knew about Andy's case....that someone else, an old cellmate of Tommy's, actually confessed to the murders Andy was imprisoned for.I also think it was wise to have Andy walk off with the warden's money rather than just have an old pal set up an emergency 'just in case you get locked up' trust fund for him should Andy decide to escape.The story ends with Red off to finding Andy with the words, I hope. We never find out if he ever does reunite with his friend. At the end of the movie we do see the two of them reunite on the beach. I definitely love this change, we needed a happy ending with our two leading men.But King's words have their valid and strong points as well. In the book Norton actually goes out of his way to seal Andy's fate not out of fear for being exposed for his part in the money laundering schemes, but simply because he hates Andy for whom he perceives to be a self-important snob and outright tells Andy to his face he wants to see him rot. I almost wish that Frank Darabont (the movie's director) had kind of stuck to that. In the film, I get the impression that Norton almost has a hard-on for Andy, another reason he'd want to keep him in Shawshank other than not wanting to lose his cash cow or risk being arrested for the money fraud.In the novella, there are several wardens who reign at the prison during Andy's time at Shawshank. A bit more realistic in my view, as I understand it, a lot of wardens don't stay at the same prison for more than a few years. But I can understand why Darabont felt he needed to just clean cut through it and settle for just one warden (again, maybe it's just me, but as far as the movie is concerned, I always wondered the reason that Norton never left the prison for greener passions was because of his dependence on Andy, both financially wise and for other reasons).Both the short story and the movie have their strong points, but even though I like the movie a bit better, I still recommend reading King's story, it does feature a bit more backstory into our lead characters.Both are winners, so I say read the short story first then move on the movie if you haven't read it or seen the film already.

Mr King brought me into this book & I lived it with the characters as I read it. Highs & lows & everything in between. I watched the movie last week & read the book in a few days, both are excellent (although they are very slightly different).

I loved the movie so wanted to read the book. I have now read it and it is really good. Follows the movie for the most part. Not very long to read.

Even if you’ve seen the movie, this makes the story better. It is a story of hope. I loved it

An excellent book and a wonderful story of friendship, hardship, and salvation.And I read the whole thing in Morgan Freeman's voice.