The Green Mile

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
This novel (now complete in one volume) taps into what Stephen King does best: character-driven storytelling. The setting is the small "death house" of a Southern prison in 1932. The charming narrator is an old man looking back on the events, decades later. Maybe it's a little too cute, maybe the pathos is laid on a little thick, but it's hard to resist the colourful personalities and simple wonders of this supernatural tale. As Time magazine put it, "Like the best popular art, The Green Mile has the courage of its cornier convictions ... the palpable sense of King's sheer, unwavering belief in his tale is what makes the novel work as well as it finally does". And it's not a bad choice for giving to someone who doesn't understand the appeal of Stephen King because the one scene that is out-and-out gruesome can be easily skipped by the squeamish. The Green Mile was nominated for a 1997 Bram Stoker Award. --Amazon.com

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Customer reviews

review by: delirious_quixotic date: 2008-07-16 rating:
utterly amazing, different read - highly recommended
wow. i can't recommend this book enough
touching and memorable -
written with such skill and creativity -
heartfelt and full of beauty and tragedy.
it is of course the story of a group of prisoners and guards waiting or working on 'the Green Mile' a version of death row and the adventures and feelings they experience.
it is an amazing novel - collected together as a single volume it is wholly satisfying and an amazing read.
Stephen King has had a lot of hits and misses in his career but this is one of the very best he ever wrote. less horror, more supernatural, less gore, more heart.
anyways, wholly recommended - a study in amazing writing, a heartfelt story of tragedy and beauty and a very different satisfying jaunt with some very memorable characters.
10/10

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review by: The Reviewer date: 2008-07-03 rating:
Masterpiece
I don't think I can fault this book, I really don't see how as I found it moving and compelling throughout. The characters were fabulous from the prison guards to the inmates to the other supporting cast, Percy is one of King's greatest creations and beats the hell out of his other evil supernatural (etc) villains on the 'love to hate factor'.

The story was wonderful and deeply mooving. I have seen the film and so guessed what to expect but I found the book moved me much more than the film did (which was equally as good). Although some of King's foray from the horror genre doesn't work in my opinion, The Green Mile certainly did work and so much so I believe it to be one of the finest pieces of writing I have ever read.

It took me a day to read and a day well spent it was.
Truly amazing 5/5

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review by: date: 2007-11-25 rating:
CLASSIC!
hard to put this book down - you just have to get this no matter if you like King or not

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review by: date: 2007-04-28 rating:
'The' King novel?
Okay, so I'm not a big King fan. What I have read is okay, but nothing special. That said, Carrie was cool. Then I came to The Green Mile... This is a wonderful book. It deals with such huge themes on such an intimate level, you can't help but be drawn in and captivated. But it's not just the story, or the characters that get you, it's King's writing - it just seems so much farther above his normal standard. For example - `She was black as the ace of spades and as beautiful as the sin you never had nerve enough to commit.' Wonderful stuff! And that's only on page 4. Okay, the book isn't heaving under such evocative narrative, but it's such tiny touches that raise it above the norm.

As for the story/characters? Well, John Coffey does so little, yet does so much. And isn't his fate a reflection on how we really do treat good people in the real world? Isn't King simply holding up a mirror for us, something good writers often do? Who can't be moved by what happens to Coffey and by the predicament Edgecombe finds himself in? Very moving and frighteningly realistic in its worldview.

It's certainly a book I'll be returning to again - a thing I do not do easily!



review by: date: 2007-02-26 rating:
Heart and gut wrenching
I was eager to read this book even though I have already seen the film. Despite this fact I was still hooked, thrilled and extremely moved by this story. Obviously there wasn't the same sense of surprise with the unfolding events, nevertheless I thought this was a superb piece of fiction. I liked the format; the six parts gave you a natural break in reading and built the suspense beautifully. Poignantly written, it had me in tears many times; a previous reviewer summed it up perfectly by saying if it didn't stir up your emotions you must be dead.

Like the film this will rank as one of my all time favourites. Read the book, watch the film (in that order, but if you have seen the film already read it anyway) you won't be disappointed.

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