Stephen King Fans discussion
This topic is about
The Breathing Method
Short Stories & Collections
>
The Breathing Method-DS
date
newest »
newest »
I found this the weakest of the four stories in the collection. It felt like a story that was only half done and I kept waiting for expansion on either (view spoiler)
I really liked this one last time I read this book. (view spoiler) It excited me the most when I read the book last because I already knew the other three stories like the back of my hand having read them and watched the movies a whole bunch of times, but this one I had like, no memory of from before.
This story was ok, classic Stephen King with meandering all over the "club" before getting to the point, but when he finally got there I was glad I followed through
I thought the story was more about The Club than the actual story inside it. I certainly enjoyed the parts with The Club more than the tale.
Has anyone read Ghost Story by Peter Staub? Great Book!! I'm thinking its the same club in both stories, and also the dedication by SK for this story was to Peter Staub and his wife.......coincidence??? I think not :)
Jasmine -- I have read 'Ghost Story' as well and enthusiastically recommend it to those who have not ... and I think you're onto something ... the atmosphere and 'texture' (if i can call it that) reminded me of Ghost Story from the start, or at least from the first visit to the club ... i'm with your mindset on that part certainlyand Esse, I agree as well ... this seemed a bit raw compared to the other stories which are highly-polished and really, imho, near perfect ... certainly among the three best King has ever written (again imho) if we can include them with the novels proper ... but this story had more the feeling of a short-story than a novella even ...
When picking up Different Seasons for this month's reading it had been years and years since I had even re-read it ... and 'The Breathing Method' was completely lost to my memory so I looked forward to it as it might seem a bit 'new' for me ... it was an interesting story all in all, not a disappointment but not a 'wow' either ... and as mentioned earlier, alongside the other three in this collection, well, it is easily lost in their long shadows ... but it was good to re-read it even if it didn't make my socks roll up and down ;)
now onto the other three ... falling behind on everything this month ;) lol
Jasmine wrote: "Has anyone read Ghost Story by Peter Staub? Great Book!! I'm thinking its the same club in both stories, and also the dedication by SK for this story was to Peter Staub and his wife.......coinciden..."I thought exactly the same thing. I read Ghost Story earlier this year and as soon as this story started in the club I felt a great familiarity. Hmmm I've been here before. lol :)
Major Spoilers:
(view spoiler)[ David, the narrator of the frame tale, is a middle-aged Manhattan lawyer. At the invitation of a senior partner, he joins a strange men's club where the members, in addition to reading, chatting and playing pool and chess, like to tell stories, some of which range into the bizarre and macabre. The club and its butler are also featured in King's short story "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands".
One Thursday before Christmas, the elderly physician Dr. Emlyn McCarron tells a story about an episode that took place early in his long and varied career: that of a patient who was determined to give birth to her illegitimate child, no matter what, despite financial problems and social disapproval. McCarron comes to admire her bravery and humor, and the implication is that he has even fallen a bit in love with her.
The patient masters Dr. McCarron's novel (for the 1930s) breathing method intended to help her through childbirth. However, when she goes into labor and is on the way to the hospital on an icy winter night, her taxi crashes and she is decapitated. McCarron arrives at the crash site and realizes that the patient is somehow still alive. Her lungs in her headless body are still pumping air, as her head, some feet away, is working to sustain the breathing method so that the baby can be born. McCarron manages to deliver the infant alive and well.
On a sweet but haunting end note, the patient whispers "Thank you" -- her decapitated head mouthing the words, which are distortedly heard from the throat jutting from her headless body. McCarron is able to tell her that her baby is a boy and to see that she has registered this before she dies. McCarron and his office nurse pay for the woman's burial, for she has no one else.
The child is adopted, but despite the confidential nature of adoption records, McCarron is able to keep track of him over the years. When the man is "not yet 45", and an accomplished college professor, McCarron arranges to meet him socially. "He had his mother's determination, gentlemen," he tells the club members, "and his mother's hazel eyes." (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]