Episode Twenty-Apt Pupil Review

Stephen Kingcast

Constant Reader

Tv & Film, Arts, Arts:books, Books

4.7 • 680 Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2014

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this week's review, I continue our six-week journey through Stephen King's novella collection: Different Seasons, with the story: "Apt Pupil." Despite the lack of supernatural elements, I argue that this is Stephen King's most horrific story at this point of publication. Join me as I take a deep dive into the squalid mind of Todd Bowden as he discovers that evil takes many shapes, and often times resembles the man who looks back at you from your mirror. Make sure you stick around next week when I review Bryan Singer's adaptation starring Brad Renfro and Magneto himself, Sir Ian McKellan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I can't seem to face up to the facts.
0:05.0	I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax.
0:09.0	I can't sleep because my bed's on fire.
0:13.0	Don't touch me. I'm a real life wire.
0:17.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Stephen King's
0:19.0	One Man's Musings on the Works of Stephen King. Each week I'll review one entry in the bibli to the Stephen King cast, one man's musings on the works of Stephen King.
0:22.3	Each week I'll review one entry in the bibliography of Stephen King in the chronological order of publication.
0:28.0	Today we will examine the novella Apt Pupil from 1982's collection different seasons.
0:33.6	This is the second novella I will examine, the first of course, having been Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.
0:39.7	Now this is my second time reading Apt Pupil.
0:42.2	The first time when I was young, way too young to really grasp the disturbing nature
0:46.5	inherent in this story and make no mistake.
0:49.5	This is a very, very disturbing story.
0:52.5	But I'm going to get into that. Before I begin my review, let's
0:55.2	just take a look at the Wikipedia summary, so I'll have a foundation upon which I can
0:58.9	build my analysis. In 1974, Todd Bowden arrives at the doorstep of elderly German immigrant
1:06.3	Arthur Denker, accusing him of being a wanted Nazi war criminal named Kurt Dussender.
1:11.8	The old man initially denies the allegation, but eventually acknowledges his true identity.
1:17.1	But rather than turning Dussender over to the proper authorities, Todd asks to hear highly
1:21.8	detailed stories about his crimes, having recently become interested in the Holocaust.
1:26.9	However, Todd still threatens Dustinder with exposure should he refuse his demands.
1:32.3	Over the next several months, Todd visits Dussender daily, under the pretext of reading to him,
	...

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