#CastleRock #Readathon ‘Rita Haworth And Shawshank Redemption’ by Stephen King

About the book…

#1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King’s beloved novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption – the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award-nominee The Shawshank Redemption – about an unjustly imprisoned convict who seeks a strangely satisfying revenge, is now available for the first time as a standalone book.

A mesmerizing tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption is one of Stephen King’s most beloved and iconic stories, and it helped make Castle Rock a place readers would return to over and over again. Suspenseful, mysterious, and heart-wrenching, this iconic King novella, populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, is about a fiercely compelling convict named Andy Dufresne who is seeking his ultimate revenge.

Originally published in 1982 in the collection ‘Different Seasons’ (alongside “The Body,” “Apt Pupil,” and “The Breathing Method“), it was made into the film The Shawshank Redemption in 1994. Starring Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins, this modern classic was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, is one of the most beloved films of all time and is IMDb’s top-rated movie of all time.

My thanks to the wonderful Tandem Collective UK for having me along on their Stephen King,71st birthday celebrations, tagged on Instagram as #KingForADay .

They have a readalong (for 7 of his novellas, published individually dfor the first time as part of Hodder’s ‘The Ultimate Storyteller Collections’) and a readathon where some will read all 7 in a week.

I was randomly selected to read ‘Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption’ which I was thrilled about ,and will tie in with my Castle Rock readathon as there are links to that world from this.

Even though it started out as a quarter of Different Seasons, under the ‘Hope Springs Eternal‘ sub-heading, it packs an awful lot of story into its 144 pages.

Narrated by long time Shawshank resident, Red, it is next to impossible not to ‘hear’ the voice of Morgan Freeman, despite the character being described as a red headed Irishman. The actors in The Shawshank Redemption’ made such a fantastic job of indelibly imprinting themselves on the social psyche, that despite having read this on multiple occasions, prior to and after watching the movie, all you can see are Morgan and Tim Robbins in the roles of Red and Andy Dufresne.

Red’s voice is the one that tells the tale of Andy Dufresne, arriving at the Shawshank prison in Castle Rock, Maine, and therefore everything must be viewed through his interpretation of events, and the reader must decide if he is a reliable narrator. His time in prison, for the death of his wife, neighbour’s wife and child, has meant that he has done his growing up on the wrong side of the bars, and he makes the reader aware that when you are removed from sold called, polite society, the normal rules do not apply any longer.

Andy Dufresne has been accused of killing his wife and her lover, as there is no death penalty, he has been sentenced to life in Shawshank.

To the staff, the governors and those with power, redemption to them looks like taking the bare minimum care of these individuals, and releasing them when they are too old to be a danger to society any longer. What that means is taking a young man, breaking them in and sending them into a world that they are no longer equipped to deal with.

To Andy, redemption comes in the form of bending the penal system to allow the prisoners to expand their skills sets, using bargaining powers , such as he has, to create opportunities for himself and the other inmates, and not letting his hope of release die. Proclaiming his innocence from the very start, it is clear, as a casual observer, that Andy’s reliance on his narration of the facts did not help him in the slightest during his trial. His faith in the justice system has allowed him, an innocent man, to be incarcerated. He lacks the self awareness to realise just how he comes across: cold, slightly smug and matter of fact.

He refuses to bend to the ‘sisters’, the most terrifying bunch of prisoners who demand a literal pound of flesh and take what they could be given, willingly, by a lot of the men at Shawshank because the fear and pain they inflict enhances their pleasure. It is like the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, and whilst the sisters make a beeline for him, he has no hesitation in standing up for himself, again and again until they leave him be.

Rita Haworth comes into it as an introduction to Red, he is a man who can, if you have the wherewithal and require a certain something, he can get it for a price-included in this is an implicit understanding that discovery with these items should never be linked to Red’s name. As well as the poster, he requests a rock hammer and rock cloths. A pretty innocent request, quickly seen as non lethal in the way Andy picks, polishes, and sculpts the prison ground into things of beauty. His art is a perfect allegory for his personality, his outlook and the way a human with resilience can make something quite special from the very dirt beneath his feet.

Over the course of the 27 years that he is in prison, Andy becomes aware of the way that it is being run, and sets himself up as a valuable asset due to his banking knowledge. However, in doing so, when he comes across evidence which could prove his innocence, he gets no support from the governor as he feels that Andy has no learnt his lessons yet-and also, Andy has become the golden goose, so who would help him get out?

But as the subheading of the novel states, ‘Hope Springs Eternal’, and as the posters change over the course of the years, to women like Raquel Welch, and Linda Ronstadt, what doesn’t change is Andy’s belief in the power of a man to prepare for the hurricane(as he explains to Red)and get his ducks all in a row in case he went down for murders which he never committed.

His faith in himself, and that implacable stubbornness is what keeps him going, and lights a spark in the other prisoners by the way he relentlessly badgers for library funding, sets up trust funds for the other prisoners, helps them apply for appeals to their sentences and so forth. Because hope is contagious.

There are some wonderful standout moments in here which will break your heart, make you cry and in the next beam the hugest smile. These men are prisoners, people who have done things which launches them outside of  society’s expectations of proper and good behaviour. They do not deserve redemption, and , some are beyond redeeming. However, in the tale of Andy and Red, and I am being careful here for anyone who hasn’t read this novella or seen the movie, friendship, humility, grace and a belief in the power that you get out of life what you put into it, is a redemptive arc in and of itself.

A beautiful, near flawless piece of writing which is quintessential King, I cannot recommend this enough.

Links to the wider King Universe-

Apt Pupil-Andy Dufresne is consulted by Kurt Dussander in the next Different Seasons novella, pre-Shawshank

The Body– the young Teddy Beauchamp’s uncle, also named Teddy, moved to Castle Rock, from Chamberlain (where ‘Carrie’ is set) to open up a stationary shop.

‘IT’– Eddie Corcoran’s father went down to Shawshank for a spell, for murder.

‘If It Bleeds’-Shawshank is name checked in ‘Mr Harrigan’s Phone’

‘Sing Of Susannah’-not only is Rita Hayworth’s first name actually Susannah, a character named John Cullum mentions working in Shawshank

11/22/63– Shawshank namechecked again

‘Needful Things’– Town bad boy, Ace Merrill , returns to Castle Rock following a stint in, you guessed it, Shawshank!

‘Dolores Claiborne’-the titular character threatens her husband with incarceration there for the crimes he has committed.

About the author…

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, ‘Mr Mercedes’, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both ‘Mr Mercedes’ and ‘End Of Watch’ received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel ‘Sleeping Beauties‘ with his son Owen King, and many of King’s books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including ‘The Shawshank Redemption‘, ‘Gerald’s Game’ and ‘It‘.

King was the recipient of America’s prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine

Links-https://www.stephenking.com/

Twitter @StephenKing

@HodderBooks