The Breathing Method

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One pager: Sanda Stansfield

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Stephen King

The Breathing Method

I never really took the time to read anything that Stephan King has written and because of that I didn’t really know what to expect and was quite surprised with what I read in the end. I never heard of the breathing method before and certainly didn’t think it was something used during the delivery and I was quite surprised of the turn of events in this novella. It was obvious from beginning that something bad was going to happen to Sandra but I think that anybody who has heard about Stephen King would have guessed so. Never the less, I was actually quite surprised with how much I liked the story and it even pushed me to look into some other works of the same author. The novella is good for anybody who wants something quick, easy and thrilling to read. The story is very well written and it drives the reader to want to know more of what happens and because of that I would recommend it to other horror and thriller fans.

My review

Summary

Narrator of the tale, David Adley, is invited to an unusual New York club by his superior George Waterhouse where members share personal stories that range from funny and heartwarming to grotesque and chilling. On one Thursday evening before Christmas Dr. Emlyn McCarron tells the story of The Breathing Method. The story takes place during the 1930s when Emlyn meets a new patient ,Sandra Stansfield, who is pregnant with a child out of wedlock which was seen as disgraceful at the time. Dr. Emlyn is impressed with Sandra's determination to keep the child although she has no one to relay on but herself and is in danger of losing her job. He teaches her the Breathing Method, which was then rarely used to help mothers deliver. Sandra is decapitated in an accident right in front of the hospital while on the way to deliver her child. Dr. Emlyn is on the site of the accident and is shocked to see that Sandras decapitated body is still breathing. He safely delivers Sandra’s baby boy and all through the delivery her decapitated head and body work to sustain the breathing method to help the delivery. The baby is born alive and well and Sandra finally passes away. The club is shocked by the chilling story.

Stephen King interview (1993)

Creative Writing advice and tips from Stephen King

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portlan, Maine on September 21, 1947. He is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Many of his works have been adapted into movies or tv shows. He published 61 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, and five non-fiction books. After he graduated from the University of Maine he started selling his short stories to magazines. His writing career started in 1967, when he published his first professional short story "The Glass Floor". Since then he wrote many works and today he is recognized as the 'King of Horror'.

Stephen King

"I felt a recurrence of that chill and her response, which had nothing to do with my question, hardly made me feel easier. 'I have a feeling, Dr McCarron, sometimes quite a strong feeling, that I am doomed.' Silly, melodramatic word! And yet, gentlemen, the response that rose to my own lips was this: Yes; I feel that, too..."

"Even after only six years' practice, I had become used to seeing women who were trying to cope with a twofold problem: not just the fact that they were pregnant and must plan for the new arrival, but also the fact-what most of them saw as a fact, anyway-that they had entered the valley of the shadow of death. Many were actually trying to put their affairs in coherent order so that if they should die, their husbands would be able to carry on without them."

"At last, still looking into the fire, bent slightly forward so that his forearms rested on his thighs and his clasped hands hung in a knot between his knees, McCarron began to speak."

“Come again, if you like; don't wait for an invitation.”

“During that same five-week period I went to the library and checked out four volumes of Archibald MacLeish's poetry (I had three others myself, and had already checked through them); one of these volumes purported to be The Complete Poems of. I reacquainted myself with some old favourites, including my favourite MacLeish poem, 'Epistle to Be Left in Earth.' But I found no poem called 'The Toll' in any of the volumes. “

My quotes

Stephen King

The Breathing Method

• Genre: horror novella
• The Breathing Method was first published in a collection of novels called Differen Seasons in 1982. The Breathing Method was a finalist for the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella.
• Setting and time: The story takes place in an unusual gentlemen’s club in New York where members tell unusual personal stories one of which is The Breathing Method. The particular story of The Breathing Method takes place in the 1930s in New York.