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spookyreader93's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lowell309's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
abbier_14's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
2.5
I am sooo disappointed I genuinely believed this would become one of my favourite books of all time. Unfortunately I now have permanent lines in my forehead from where I have been frowning in confusion and frustration throughout the book.
When I finished the book my final thoughts were 'are you joking?????' and not in a good way
- I started this book a month ago so I barely remember how it started. I will say that if I wasn't so busy that this would have been a quicker read for me as it was digestible and smooth.
I wouldnt describe this book as boring per say, but it definitely has lots of unnecessary information. This always comes off as the main character loving the sound of their own voice, and as the characters always seem to be writers in SK novels im gonna interpret this to mean King also loves the sound of his own voice (but what writer doesnt im guessing).
I think this is my biggest weakness when reading SK novels is that it is sooo difficult to separate the main character from him, he has such an omnipresent influence throughout the whole book that it is hard to immerse yourself into it.
I did not need to read about mouse that has no relevance until the end, but then has no real pay off.
I did not need to read in depth about a mans urinary infection just for it to set up healing powers, just have him have a wound or something idk.
I did not need to read about everyone in the room and how they die when you are in the middle of the climax of the book.
- I think this books biggest weakness is the characters. Due to the story this book is trying to tell once the characters were done for the whole book unraveled.
King was terrribleee at introducing and establishing the characters, and I mean terrible. It was so bad that in the last chapter of the book there was a really significant moment but I just couldn't comprehend it as I didn't know who was talking and their role in the book.
So. Many. Names. No. One. Described.
Some level of humanity and characterisation is attempted by having the characters briefly mention having wives and children... but appart from that thats it.
This makes the book fall down as it means I lack empathy for literally all the characters. My feelings are the same for the ones that are meant to be 'good' and the ones that are meant to be 'bad'.
This is one of my pet peeves in books is where we are meant to think a character is bad just because the character whos perspective we are in thinks so.
For example, Percy is described as being terrible and annoying before we actual see the terrible and annoying behaviour. All he has done so far is just swing his batton around just in the air. It makes me actually want to support the character because I believe they are being unfairly mistreated lol. In the end Percy does become a horrible person, but it is also interjected with scenes that make me feel sorry for him? I don't know what King was going for, if we are meant to feel sympathy or like ha hes getting what he deserves.
However this can also happen on the inverse with characters described at good. For example John Coffey (lIKe tHe DrINk BuT nOT sPelT thE sAMe). I could not care less about this man. His 'goodness' is not established, the main character just has a 'hunch'. This makes the whole plot of this book practically pointless as I dont see things the same way as the main character so everything feels less poignant. I am not attached to him I was never sad, in fact I was almost frustrated and annoyed when we had to read about the main characters sympathy for him and I was like FOR WHATTTTT.
- The plot is also very frustrating and there are several things that I would change. First being get rid of the magic altogether. When I realised this book was going to have a magic element I kind of let my hopes slip a little as this was not what I was expecting. I wanted a serious, disturbing story about the criminal justice system. What I got was this little sappy fantasy book where the mean guys are mean but we are just little good guys unfairly treated by the big bad world. The 'Us vs Them' mentality in this book really annoyed me.
I also hate how Coffey is innocent I think it makes the book way less compelling. This kind of reminds me of Of Mice and Men where this guy with limited mental capacity does something horrible. What makes that book interesting is that Lennie actually DOES kill the woman accidentally, which sparks discussion over whether or not you agree with the ending and what you think should of happened to him. Instead this book gets rid of all that and has Coffey do nothing wrong to try and gain extra sympathy points.
I think this book would be WAY more interesting if Coffey had killed the girls but then the main character has a moral dilemma about killing him as he does not fully comprehend what he has done. Mens rea and all that.
But then all the sympathy Coffey would have gained from me goes out the window when HE GIVES PERCY A BRAIN TUMOUR!!!! WHICH THEN LEADS TO THE DEATH OF ANOTHER INMATE. LIKE WHAT? Im sorry but what. How are all the guards streaming with tears when executing Coffey when he literally does this.
His magic can do both evil and healing but the guards obviously disregard that as it solves their problems by removing the people they dont like. How convenient. Its attempted to be justified by Coffey saying 'hes a bad man' or whatever which sorry does not work on me.
However I will give this bit merit as it does spark discussion about whether he is in right to do that. Is this a commentary on how the state believes they have a right to end a life just because they have done something criminal in the eyes of law? Hmm. But then it just makes Coffey as bad as any other anyway so for me it just doesnt work with what the book is trying to make me feel.
And then Wharton is the real murderer? No. The murder of the two girls should have remained a mystery that would have added a way more nuanced dynamic.
I also hate how the magic had this whole long subplot where he goes round solving illnesses and the crises of the world. I just couldnt suspend disbelief that a long serving death row officer would randomly 'trust' a prisoner that much that he would go into his cell alone and sit close to him on his bunk. No matter how innocent Coffey seems I was like what? I mean they literally talked about how innocent Wharton seemed and then he suddenly turned, why would Coffey be any different?
That means I obviously hated the part where they go and save that mans wife. I also found it rich that the main character was like 'this wasnt a prison break it was more like a field trip'. HA. This is what i mean the main characters see themselves as such angels and do mental gymnastics so they dont see themselves as bad. I hate when characters are morally grey but written like they are good people. If they are morally grey LEAN INTO IT.
Don't even get me started on the modern day timeline sections.
However saying all this I reallyyy enjoyed Del and his execution. I think that was the most engaging part of the book for me I liked his character (apart from Mr Jingles). I also was sad when the main character's wife died in that bus crash in the end. Just something about the way it was written just seemed so hopeless.
- Another thing I have noticed about SK novels is that they love to be set in a time period where slurs and misogyny were acceptable. So many slurs in this book and all the wives were preparing food or standing meekly in the corner.
Obviously I accept the viewpoint that this is to enhance the immersion into the old time period, but to me it just got a bit uncomfortable and I kept picturing King writing that and idk I felt slightly weird about it.
I think it also doesnt help that the book has a bit of a white saviour complex about it. It attempts to touch on race by having Coffey be a black man, but barely skims the surface. It talks about racism enough for King to have said its included and hes not ignoring that aspect of history, but then not enough to where he can be accused of writing about something he has no experience in. It felt a little tokenistic if im being honest.
I think the main takeaway I have from this book is that I have no takeaway:
Is this a commentary on the death penalty and how its bad?
Is this trying to talk about racism like To Kill a Mockingbird?
Is this a fantasy book?
Is this about people with mental disabilities commiting crimes and what is an ethical way for them to be punished?
Who knows. All I know is that ive read it.
I am sooo disappointed I genuinely believed this would become one of my favourite books of all time. Unfortunately I now have permanent lines in my forehead from where I have been frowning in confusion and frustration throughout the book.
When I finished the book my final thoughts were 'are you joking?????' and not in a good way
- I started this book a month ago so I barely remember how it started. I will say that if I wasn't so busy that this would have been a quicker read for me as it was digestible and smooth.
I wouldnt describe this book as boring per say, but it definitely has lots of unnecessary information. This always comes off as the main character loving the sound of their own voice, and as the characters always seem to be writers in SK novels im gonna interpret this to mean King also loves the sound of his own voice (but what writer doesnt im guessing).
I think this is my biggest weakness when reading SK novels is that it is sooo difficult to separate the main character from him, he has such an omnipresent influence throughout the whole book that it is hard to immerse yourself into it.
I did not need to read about mouse that has no relevance until the end, but then has no real pay off.
I did not need to read in depth about a mans urinary infection just for it to set up healing powers, just have him have a wound or something idk.
I did not need to read about everyone in the room and how they die when you are in the middle of the climax of the book.
- I think this books biggest weakness is the characters. Due to the story this book is trying to tell once the characters were done for the whole book unraveled.
King was terrribleee at introducing and establishing the characters, and I mean terrible. It was so bad that in the last chapter of the book there was a really significant moment but I just couldn't comprehend it as I didn't know who was talking and their role in the book.
So. Many. Names. No. One. Described.
Some level of humanity and characterisation is attempted by having the characters briefly mention having wives and children... but appart from that thats it.
This makes the book fall down as it means I lack empathy for literally all the characters. My feelings are the same for the ones that are meant to be 'good' and the ones that are meant to be 'bad'.
This is one of my pet peeves in books is where we are meant to think a character is bad just because the character whos perspective we are in thinks so.
For example, Percy is described as being terrible and annoying before we actual see the terrible and annoying behaviour. All he has done so far is just swing his batton around just in the air. It makes me actually want to support the character because I believe they are being unfairly mistreated lol. In the end Percy does become a horrible person, but it is also interjected with scenes that make me feel sorry for him? I don't know what King was going for, if we are meant to feel sympathy or like ha hes getting what he deserves.
However this can also happen on the inverse with characters described at good. For example John Coffey (lIKe tHe DrINk BuT nOT sPelT thE sAMe). I could not care less about this man. His 'goodness' is not established, the main character just has a 'hunch'. This makes the whole plot of this book practically pointless as I dont see things the same way as the main character so everything feels less poignant. I am not attached to him I was never sad, in fact I was almost frustrated and annoyed when we had to read about the main characters sympathy for him and I was like FOR WHATTTTT.
- The plot is also very frustrating and there are several things that I would change. First being get rid of the magic altogether. When I realised this book was going to have a magic element I kind of let my hopes slip a little as this was not what I was expecting. I wanted a serious, disturbing story about the criminal justice system. What I got was this little sappy fantasy book where the mean guys are mean but we are just little good guys unfairly treated by the big bad world. The 'Us vs Them' mentality in this book really annoyed me.
I also hate how Coffey is innocent I think it makes the book way less compelling. This kind of reminds me of Of Mice and Men where this guy with limited mental capacity does something horrible. What makes that book interesting is that Lennie actually DOES kill the woman accidentally, which sparks discussion over whether or not you agree with the ending and what you think should of happened to him. Instead this book gets rid of all that and has Coffey do nothing wrong to try and gain extra sympathy points.
I think this book would be WAY more interesting if Coffey had killed the girls but then the main character has a moral dilemma about killing him as he does not fully comprehend what he has done. Mens rea and all that.
But then all the sympathy Coffey would have gained from me goes out the window when HE GIVES PERCY A BRAIN TUMOUR!!!! WHICH THEN LEADS TO THE DEATH OF ANOTHER INMATE. LIKE WHAT? Im sorry but what. How are all the guards streaming with tears when executing Coffey when he literally does this.
His magic can do both evil and healing but the guards obviously disregard that as it solves their problems by removing the people they dont like. How convenient. Its attempted to be justified by Coffey saying 'hes a bad man' or whatever which sorry does not work on me.
However I will give this bit merit as it does spark discussion about whether he is in right to do that. Is this a commentary on how the state believes they have a right to end a life just because they have done something criminal in the eyes of law? Hmm. But then it just makes Coffey as bad as any other anyway so for me it just doesnt work with what the book is trying to make me feel.
And then Wharton is the real murderer? No. The murder of the two girls should have remained a mystery that would have added a way more nuanced dynamic.
I also hate how the magic had this whole long subplot where he goes round solving illnesses and the crises of the world. I just couldnt suspend disbelief that a long serving death row officer would randomly 'trust' a prisoner that much that he would go into his cell alone and sit close to him on his bunk. No matter how innocent Coffey seems I was like what? I mean they literally talked about how innocent Wharton seemed and then he suddenly turned, why would Coffey be any different?
That means I obviously hated the part where they go and save that mans wife. I also found it rich that the main character was like 'this wasnt a prison break it was more like a field trip'. HA. This is what i mean the main characters see themselves as such angels and do mental gymnastics so they dont see themselves as bad. I hate when characters are morally grey but written like they are good people. If they are morally grey LEAN INTO IT.
Don't even get me started on the modern day timeline sections.
However saying all this I reallyyy enjoyed Del and his execution. I think that was the most engaging part of the book for me I liked his character (apart from Mr Jingles). I also was sad when the main character's wife died in that bus crash in the end. Just something about the way it was written just seemed so hopeless.
- Another thing I have noticed about SK novels is that they love to be set in a time period where slurs and misogyny were acceptable. So many slurs in this book and all the wives were preparing food or standing meekly in the corner.
Obviously I accept the viewpoint that this is to enhance the immersion into the old time period, but to me it just got a bit uncomfortable and I kept picturing King writing that and idk I felt slightly weird about it.
I think it also doesnt help that the book has a bit of a white saviour complex about it. It attempts to touch on race by having Coffey be a black man, but barely skims the surface. It talks about racism enough for King to have said its included and hes not ignoring that aspect of history, but then not enough to where he can be accused of writing about something he has no experience in. It felt a little tokenistic if im being honest.
I think the main takeaway I have from this book is that I have no takeaway:
Is this a commentary on the death penalty and how its bad?
Is this trying to talk about racism like To Kill a Mockingbird?
Is this a fantasy book?
Is this about people with mental disabilities commiting crimes and what is an ethical way for them to be punished?
Who knows. All I know is that ive read it.
feanors's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
feministcowboy's review against another edition
4.0
I’m not sure how I feel about Paul’s UTI being such a pivotal plot device, but that Steven King for ya I guess.
ssaba's review against another edition
2.0
I DID NOT like this book. And I’ll try to summarise what I didn’t like in the following lines.
1. This book was written in a very descriptive manner. Which I did not enjoy.
2. This book is too long. It could have been easily 250 pages rather than 600.
3. It rambles too much about the mouse, I actually got mad whenever I read the name “Mr. Jingles”.
4. Also, when he spells the words for the character with an accent it was excruciatingly difficult to comprehend what they were saying.
5. There quite honestly nothing positive in this book, not a single “Horay” or “yay”.
Reading this novel was full of ups and downs. At first, it was great, but then it got lousy, then it got good again, and then it got worse. For me personally, I think a book should be mostly either exceptional or acceptable to get rated higher than 2 stars. And this book was not it.
1. This book was written in a very descriptive manner. Which I did not enjoy.
2. This book is too long. It could have been easily 250 pages rather than 600.
3. It rambles too much about the mouse, I actually got mad whenever I read the name “Mr. Jingles”.
4. Also, when he spells the words for the character with an accent it was excruciatingly difficult to comprehend what they were saying.
5. There quite honestly nothing positive in this book, not a single “Horay” or “yay”.
Reading this novel was full of ups and downs. At first, it was great, but then it got lousy, then it got good again, and then it got worse. For me personally, I think a book should be mostly either exceptional or acceptable to get rated higher than 2 stars. And this book was not it.
dcole3's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
mainereading's review against another edition
4.0
"We had once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create." - Stephen King, The Green Mile
"We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long" - Stephen King, The Green Mile
'The Green Mile' was a beautifully tragic story. I really enjoyed reading this, and it made me very emotional throughout the entire book. I really felt for the characters, especially John Coffey, and a couple of them I fucking despised! You know a book is good when it can bring out so many emotions from you. This book is short for a Stephen King novel, and it doesn't go overboard with the supernatural stuff. So if you enjoy Stephen King, I highly recommend this book!
"We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long" - Stephen King, The Green Mile
'The Green Mile' was a beautifully tragic story. I really enjoyed reading this, and it made me very emotional throughout the entire book. I really felt for the characters, especially John Coffey, and a couple of them I fucking despised! You know a book is good when it can bring out so many emotions from you. This book is short for a Stephen King novel, and it doesn't go overboard with the supernatural stuff. So if you enjoy Stephen King, I highly recommend this book!