The Green Mile

by Stephen King

published by Signet

1996

Summary

Set in the 1930s at the Cold Mountain Penitentiary’s death-row facility, The Green Mile is the riveting and tragic story of John Coffey, a giant, preternaturally gentle inmate condemned to death for the rape and murder of twin nine-year-old girls. It is a story narrated years later by Paul Edgecomb, the ward superintendent compelled to help every prisoner spend his last days peacefully and every man walk the green mile to execution with his humanity intact.

Edgecomb has sent seventy-eight inmates to their death with “old sparky,” but he’s never encountered one like Coffey — a man who wants to die, yet has the power to heal. And in this place of ultimate retribution, Edgecomb discovers the terrible truth about Coffey’s gift, a truth that challenges his most cherished beliefs — and ours.

Originally published in 1996 in six self-contained monthly installments, The Green Mile is an astonishingly rich and complex novel that delivers over and over again.

My Review

After I finished The Stand, I wanted very badly to read another King immediately, and this book was recommended by quite a few people.  Well, THANK YOU!  If you are one of the many readers I have heard from latterly, that have wanted to read King, but aren’t fans of horror-this is the King book for you.

The Green Mile is the amazing story of of Paul Edgcombe, a prison guard in charge of death row in Cold Mountain Penitentiary.  Though set in one of the worse place imaginable, King gives us a story about goodness, kindness, and love.  I had to slow myself down from reading too quickly, so I could enjoy and absorb the story.  I hope I am wrong, but I doubt I will ever find another character like Paul Edgcome.  I actually made my husband PPV the movie the minute I finished reading the book, though in hindsight, maybe not the best idea, as I was exhausted the nest day.  He felt bad for me, since I cried for the last half hour while reading the book!

If you have read tis- please tell me your thoughts

If you haven’t-go get it, read it, then come back and share.

 

My rating

5 out of 5

 

Some awesome quotes-

“Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.”

 

“Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation.”

 

“It’s strange how pain marks our faces, and makes us look like family.”

 

“We have once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create.”

 

“I’m rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss. I’m tired of bein on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. Not never havin no buddy to go on with or tell me where we’s comin from or goin to or why. I’m tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I’m tired of all the times I’ve wanted to help and couldn’t. I’m tired of bein in the dark. Mostly it’s the pain. There’s too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can’t.”