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whatharryread 's review for:
The Green Mile
by Stephen King
At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, condemned killers await death strapped in 'Old Sparky'. However, the Green Mile has never seen anyone like John Coffey, sentenced for the rape and murder of two young girls. But is he the devil in human form, or is there something very, very different about him…? This is the story about what really happened, told by his warden many years later.
I haven’t read anything from Stephen King in a fair while, and this was a great one to whet the appetite again. I’ve heard only positive reviews about this one, and even about the film adaptation, and it’s fair to say it lived up to the hype.
It’s hard to write anything original about King as a storyteller, but this one fits all the classic tropes around his stories. It’s truly a ‘Classic King’ kind of book:
> Characters: The key cornerstone to any King book, but once again nailed here. So many are likeable, but in this book, particular attention goes to those that were truly horrific- Percy Wetmore, fair play, you’re a proper bellend.
> Plot: King is is labelled under the horror genre, but I think that’s unfair, and ‘The Green Mile’ does a great job of challenging that perspective. This one, whilst dabbling in the supernatural, was much more of a true, human-based story and did feel quieter, though no less memorable.
> The ending: A criticism I’ve often seen thrown at King is that his ability to nail an ending can be hit/miss. I haven’t read enough to truly form a reliable opinion on this, but from what I have read, I can see where this comment comes from. In this book? Not true. He nails the ending, in a beautiful combination of a bittersweet reflection of “what if?”
The only thing that prevents it from being 5 star were a few plot points that just didn’t quite work for me- Mr Jingles may be the MVP of mice, but his section was far too long. No spoilers, but this combined with the “after-effect” of our main characters’ interaction with John Coffey did seem a little pointless too.
TLDR: Stephen King can write. Capital W-write.
I haven’t read anything from Stephen King in a fair while, and this was a great one to whet the appetite again. I’ve heard only positive reviews about this one, and even about the film adaptation, and it’s fair to say it lived up to the hype.
It’s hard to write anything original about King as a storyteller, but this one fits all the classic tropes around his stories. It’s truly a ‘Classic King’ kind of book:
> Characters: The key cornerstone to any King book, but once again nailed here. So many are likeable, but in this book, particular attention goes to those that were truly horrific- Percy Wetmore, fair play, you’re a proper bellend.
> Plot: King is is labelled under the horror genre, but I think that’s unfair, and ‘The Green Mile’ does a great job of challenging that perspective. This one, whilst dabbling in the supernatural, was much more of a true, human-based story and did feel quieter, though no less memorable.
> The ending: A criticism I’ve often seen thrown at King is that his ability to nail an ending can be hit/miss. I haven’t read enough to truly form a reliable opinion on this, but from what I have read, I can see where this comment comes from. In this book? Not true. He nails the ending, in a beautiful combination of a bittersweet reflection of “what if?”
The only thing that prevents it from being 5 star were a few plot points that just didn’t quite work for me- Mr Jingles may be the MVP of mice, but his section was far too long. No spoilers, but this combined with the “after-effect” of our main characters’ interaction with John Coffey did seem a little pointless too.
TLDR: Stephen King can write. Capital W-write.