Level 5: The Body

by Stephen King

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Through the imagination of some of the world's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1405882379
• ISBN13: 9781405882378
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Pearson Education
• Length: 88 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 7.6" x 4.9"

Customer Reviews

The best audiobook. Ever.

What a great surprise to see this at a low price! I listened to this on cassette from my library many years ago, and it was taken out of circulation after a long run. Now I can buy my own copy. I listen to audiobooks every day. I'm a big Stephen King fan, but even if you're not I think you'll enjoy this story. The movie was good, this is much better, and Frank Muller is the best reader you'll ever hear. Sorry to hear about his passing. A great coming of age story. Enjoy!

One of my favorites

This novella is about 4 12-year-old boys who are in search of a missing teenagers body. The group consists of: sensitive Gordie, tough-guy Chris, crazy Teddy, and scaredy-cat Vern. I for one think that this is one of the most creative and well-written books I have ever read. It is completely filled with humor, drama, tragedy, sweetness, and suspense. My favorite movie is in fact based on this book, and is called "Stand By Me", starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix :-), Corey Feldman, and Jerry O' Connell. Some of my favorite, and most improtant parts in the novella, include: crossing a train trestle and trying not to get run over by a train, Chris and Gordie discussing Gordie's future, and falling into leach filled waters. The boys discover their true feelings and let them out in any way, particularly crying about it in the comfort of you best friend(s). Most importantly, the boys discover things about themselves and strengths they never knew they had. But there is a twist. The town's hoods: Ace, Eyeball, Charlie, Billy, Vince, and Fuzzy are also after the body. Charlie and Billy are the actual reason that the 4 boys found out about the body in the first place. Vern was in the right place at the right time. Charlie and Billy were discussing the body on Billy and Vern's front porch while Vern was under the porch digging for a jar of pennies that he had buried there. Vern had originally drawn a treasure map to find them again, but his mom threw it away while she was cleaning out his room. The boys and the hoods are basically racing each other to get to the body, except one group is on foot and the other is coming in cars. The question is, who will win? This story takes place in a small, woodsy Oregon town called Castle Rock. The population is small, but feels like home to most people who live there. The year is 1959, so there are many key features in the setting that make you feel as if you're back in that time period. For example, the boys hang out in an old treehouse where they can sneak smokes. I can't say enough times that this is a wonderfully realistic book. Normally Stephen King writes horror stories, and I'm glad he took the time to write something that teenage kids can really relate to, even though he puts the writing in a way that makes your heart want to explode. -Claire L.

Some parts are autobiographical

"The Body" is a novella (shorter than a novel and longer than a short story), and was originally published as one of four novellas in the collection "Different Seasons" (1982). The book "Different Seasons" contains one story for each season, and "The Body" is subtitled "Fall from Innocence". In "The Body" we are in the company of four 12-year-old boys who are very good friends. The leader of the group is Chris, a tough but smart guy from a down-and-out family with a drunken father. Chris is trying to break out of the destiny his background is forcing him into, and he's the real hero of the story. Gordie is more the intellectual and sensitive type and is second in command in the group. Gordie tells the story in the first person and sounds very much like Stephen King's alter ego. (The adult Gordie, in writing the story, tells briefly how he has become a successful writer of horror books.) The last two members of the group are Teddy, the wild one, and Vern, the cautious one. Neither Vern nor Teddy are leaders but they are each very unique and real boys, and almost as important to the story as Chris and Gordie. Chris, Gordie, Teddy and Vern set out on an adventure, a "pilgrimage" to see the dead body of a boy from another town. Their trek stretches out over two days, much longer than they expected, and involves several unexpected encounters and dangerous situations. What makes "The Body" such a wonderful story is the way we can relate to these four boys and their lives and the way they interact with each other. Stephen King does a fantastic job of writing about people in a way that makes them seem completely real and authentic. We think back to our own childhood and the struggles and the friendships and the pain of growing up. We nod in agreement to many of the things Stephen King tells us about what he has discovered as being the important things in life. It is this honesty and insight into human nature that makes "The Body" such a good story. The audio version of "The Body" lasts almost six hours and is read by Frank Muller, who does a great job. If you're not into audio books then it might be a better idea to buy "Different Seasons" as a printed book instead of "The Body", and get an additional three Stephen King novellas. The movie "Stand By Me" (1986) is based on "The Body" and was directed by Rob Reiner. The movie follows the novella quite closely, although many minor things are changed / omitted / added as is always the case when a book is turned into a movie. The most important difference is that Gordie becomes the main character instead of Chris. Included in the DVD version of "Stand By Me" is a 37-minute "featurette" with interviews with Stephen King, Rob Reiner and several of the actors (now all adult). Stephen King mentions that he thinks it's interesting that Rob Reiner made Gordie the main character, and that he had no objection to this change in emphasis between Gordie and Chris. Stephen King also confirms that much of "The Bo

Bravo!

The Body, by Stephen King, is a small masterpiece. I read it while vacationing in Maine, his neck of the woods, and laughed so hard and so often that my companions began to look at me with suspicion. I'm not at all a fan of horror stories, so The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (another fine effort) are the only novels by King that I've read and enjoyed. Say what one may, the guy can write. In fact, his book on writing is also very good.

good book

it was a pretty good book. and unlike that person who wrote that other review, i had no problem with the language. i did however have a problem with the language in his review, cause i have no clue what any of that meant, because "that isn't how most people talk" and i had no problem with the adjectives, because stephen king used adjectives normal, everyday people who aren't teachers, actually understand, unlike the ones used in the other review for this book.