The Body cover art

The Body

An iconic story from the No. 1 bestseller, and the inspiration for the film Stand By Me

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The Body

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Frank Muller
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About this listen

The No. 1 bestselling author Stephen King's timeless coming-of-age novella, The Body - set in Castle Rock and originally published in his 1982 short story collection Different Seasons, and adapted into the film classic Stand by Me - is now available as a stand-alone publication.

We'd all listened to the Ray Brower story . . . he was a kid our age

The small town of Castle Rock is tuning in to the news of a young boy who has gone missing from a nearby town.

Gordie Lachance and his three friends set off along the railway tracks on a quest, determined to become famous by officially finding the boy's body.

But their journey becomes a rite of passage, and as they cross the railway trestle and the tracks begin to hum, the boys encounter an intimation of their own mortality.

Adapted into the 1986 classic film Stand By Me, The Body is an iconic exploration of friendship, loneliness and adventure, an unforgettable coming-of-age story by master chronicler of small-town adolescence and universal experience, Stephen King.

(P) 2016 Simon & Schuster Audio©1982 Stephen King
Anthologies & Short Stories Coming of Age Genre Fiction Ghosts Horror Psychological Short Stories Thriller & Suspense Scary Fiction Small Town Suspense

Critic reviews

King readers know that he is an absolute master of the long story
The genius of King is not the fecundity of his imagination, great though it is, but the empathy he can create between reader and character
An incredibly gifted writer
All stars
Most relevant
I love this story and I also love the movie, in fact I think the film might be better, totally recommended.

film or book????

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Always loved the movie so I got this. Was 100% worth it, almost better than the film.

just as good as the movie

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Really good story about childhood adventure. My only criticism was (and this is one feature of a lot of his books) the chapter intermissions that detract from the main story itself. In this case it was the stories written by the narrator Gordon. Other than that a very good read.

Great story

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Well narrated. Characters are exactly as seen in picture form. Enjoyed very much. Very well paced.

Film is better but enjoyed very much all the same.

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absolutely brilliant I love the film stand by me what I loved about this book is that it goes into more detail than the actual film itself but also watch the film over and over would recommend this to anyone.

the body

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