... The first book I ever read of his was Salem's Lot (which I will review in due course!) and ever since that day, many years ago, I have been hooked on his books and all of the film adaptations of those books.
The Green Mile is one book that I have read many times and my copy is getting ... Read review
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Dead Man Walking
Advantages: Superb writing, keeps you wondering right till the end Disadvantages: can be a bit long winded for some
...personal opinion of course!). The first book I ever read of his was Salem's Lot (which I will review in due course!) and ever since that day, many years ago, I have been hooked on his books and all of the film adaptations of those books.
The Green Mile is one book that I have read many times and my copy is getting very careworn and dog-eared looking but it still comes out on a regular basis and is read again and again. Because I am ... ...in 1932, otherwise known as the Green Mile (hence the title!).
John Coffey is an inmate who is convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls (twin sisters), but there is something different about him. Well apart from the fact that he is 6 foot 8 inches tall and black. He is quiet, polite, respectful of the wardens and scared of the dark. From the outset, "Boss" Edgecome is a little intrigued by Coffey as he does not ... more
As anyone will know who knows me, I am a very faithful fan of one Mr Stephen King, author extraordinaire (my personal opinion of course!). The first book I ever read of his was Salem's Lot (which I will review in due course!) and ever since that day, many years ago, I have been hooked on his books and all of the film adaptations of those books.
The Green Mile is one book that I have read many times and my copy is getting very careworn and dog-eared looking but it still comes out on a regular basis and is read again and again. Because I am such a prolific reader, my family always know what to buy me for presents - just get me books or book vouchers and I am one happy bunny!
~~~Synopsis~~~
Paul "Boss" Edgecome is in a retirement home and whilst out on a walk one day comes across something that reminds him of times gone by. He confides in his only friend, and tells his story of his life. He goes back to when he worked on Death Row in a prison in Cold Mountain in 1932, otherwise known as the Green Mile (hence the title!).
John Coffey is an inmate who is convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls (twin sisters), but there is something different about him. Well apart from the fact that he is 6 foot 8 inches tall and black. He is quiet, polite, respectful of the wardens and scared of the dark. From the outset, "Boss" Edgecome is a little intrigued by Coffey as he does not seem to belong on death row.
This interest comes to a head when Coffey "cures" Edgecome's urine infection. Edgecome becomes convinced that Coffey has been wrongly convicted of the crime and sets out to investigate. He learns things along the way that more than convince him that Coffey is innocent and was just trying to help. Also along the way, he learns more about Coffey's gift of healing. As well as being on the receiving end of this gift, he also sees it first hand.
Also incarcerated is Wild Bill, a convicted murderer and thorn in the side of Edgecome and the other wardens. What is his connection with Coffey, who is openly petrified of him? Only time will tell through the book ... sorry but you will just have to read on to find out!
***My Opinion***
Have you guessed it yet? I loved the book! It has been read so many times that I think it is embedded in my brain!
I find King's style of writing so easy to read, he really gets your attention and keeps it throughout the book. There are times in the book where King is telling a less interesting part of the story, but my attention is gripped through the whole book. Yes there are times throughout the book where the text is a little long winded, but these are really few and far between and do not detract from the reading experience.
One part of King's writing that I thoroughly enjoy is his characterisations. He really makes the characters in the book so real that you can almost imagine what they look like. They are really believable and that is the main thing that I like about King's books, the people in the books are almost real.
I have no hesitation in giving this the full 5 star treatment as I enjoyed this book the first time I read it and have continued to enjoy it again and again through the years. I really think it is time to get a new book as the one I have is so tatty looking!
***Book Info***
Price = £5.49 (on Amazon.co.uk)
ISBN = 978-0752826752
Is it value for money? Well I would say I have definitely had my money's worth out of it again and again, given the number of times I have read the book. I have listed the price for a brand new paperback copy on Amazon UK, but my advice is to shop around; there are always bargains to be had on the internet and if you are not bothered about the copy being new, there are usually plenty second hand books to be found on Ebay.
***Bottom Line***
Well, so far I have told you I love this book, and I think it is great value for money.
I cannot really say more - it's a great book by a great author and it truly is captivating from the start (for me anyway)! I cannot really recommend this enough - if you like a good story, this is a great one.
Advantages: Great and gripping storyline. Disadvantages: None
...get this once I'd seen the film. It's a genuine masterpiece. Basic Plot: ----------- Following a double rape/murder of 2 young girls in a small town, a huge Black man named John Coffey is arrested at the scene and tried for the crime. He's sentenced to die in the electric chair at Cold Mountain Prison. Under the watchful eye of Paul Edgescombe and Brutus "Brutal" Howell he sees his term out, witnessing all manner of cruelties and degredation from ... ...I don't wish to spoil the book for anyone). As the book goes on one comes to realise that there's a lot more to John Coffey than first meets the eye. He has certain gifts which set him aside from the usual death row inmates, a fact which dawns upon the guards at Cold Mountain during his stay there. Principal Characters: --------------------- John Coffey : The focus for the book, a "gentle giant" of a man, serves his time at Cold Mountain Penitentiary ...
Boonoiy 19.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Green Mile - Stephen King
Advantages: Great storyline, not too short, not gory, a good read Disadvantages: Sad, a bit longwinded on occasions
...book that keeps you turning the pages all the way through. Before I start I will warn you that it is not Kings usual style of book at all, it isn't at all like Kings usual horror books. I have never been found of King because of his horror, but this is ... differnt... it has a slight hint of horror, but is mainly a captivating thriller. Yes it has gore, but for some reason that only makes it more exiting...anyway; on with the review.
General Info
... ...as a movie (which by the way is remarkably close to the book and is well worth watching!)
Plot
This amazing book is set in 1935, which if I am correct is the Great depression. The whole book is written as one man remembering his time as a warden at a death row prison. You have a variety of different characters from all the wardens to the prisoners, it is a story which expresses peoples reactions to these prisoners very, very well. From Percy Wetmore ...
Secre 30.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Green Mile - Stephen King
...book was, but reading through the other reviews I decided that this has already been done somewhat. So I decided to just tell you how it made me feel when I read it. You've probably all seen the film or read the book so you know what it's about. But how did it make you feel? For anyone not au fais with the basic plot, here it comes so hold onto your seats! The story is set in a small "death house" in 1932 in southern USA. It's narrated by an old ... ...of the death row, the cell block where people who were sentenced to death were kept, awaiting execution by electric chair; "Old Sparky." The name Green Mile comes from the fact that the walk is often called the "Last Mile" in other prisons but here it has a green floor, hence the name.
Paul Edgecombe is happy, although ill with an infection. That is until a mysterious prisoner called John Coffey arrives with seemingly astonishing supernatural healing ...
glidercwh 11.03.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Green Mile - Stephen King
Advantages: One Hell of a good read. Disadvantages: Came in parts before released as a single book.
I first read The Green Mile a few years ago, when the partwork came out, and was eager to go to the shop for the next part. It starts off with an elderly gentleman who seems to be writing his memoirs, and turns into the most gripping will they/wont they story I have read for a long time. The gentleman, Paul Edgecombe, is the boss of E-Block, in Cold Mountain Prison. E-Block is death row for them. It centres around a particular man, John Coffey, and ... ...and to death row, called the Green Mile, on account of how the linoleum is the colour of faded limes.
There are a few characters in this story. Paul Edgecombe, known as Boss Edgecombe. He is married to Jan. Brutus Howell, known as Brutal, because of his size, but he is a good guy. He is another guard, and a real friend to Paul. Dean Stanton and Harry Terwilliger are another pair of guards, who are often on the mile. There is also the electric chair, ...
Aussieme1106 07.07.2004 (14.08.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of The Green Mile - Stephen King
Advantages: it tell the story well, makes you want to be there Disadvantages: the film is not as indepth as the book
I have read the most gripping story that Stephen King has ever written this was The Green Mile. When i first bought this book just form reading the back cover it was the book that was never going to be put down. The story is focused in the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility in the 1930's, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers await death, whilst their guards watch over them. Good or evil, innocent or guilty, none of ... ...Paul Edgecomb is the head Prison guard on Death Row at the Cold Mountain Correctional Facility. When a new inmate, John Coffey, is sent to the prison for the brutal murder of two children, the guards notice something very odd about him.
The way 'the green mile' was written made me feel as if I was there like a as an extra guard on duty, watching Paul Edgecomb taking the prisoners along the green mile to death row. The book is deeper in texture and ...
watchfulspice 10.01.2001 (26.08.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of The Green Mile - Stephen King
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Advantages: King at the peak of his "serious" fiction phase Disadvantages: None that I can think of...to be honest
THE GREENMILESTEPHENKING
I remember when I first saw this movie. I loved it! Tom Hanks was Paul Edgcombe. I was also glad that I had not read the book first. Most any time a book is adapted into a screenplay they butcher it (especially Steven Kings books). Since I love to read I wanted to read this book even though I already knew the story. I was also curious to see if I would like it as much as the movie. I will say I was pleasantly suprised.
The GreenMile is one book that I have now read many times and my copy is getting very careworn and dog-eared looking but it still comes out on a regular basis and is read again and again.
About the Book
In the beginning of the book we are introduced to an elderly Paul Edgcombe. He is living in a nursing home called Georgia Pines. He is writing the story ...
Advantages: Thought-provoking book on an interesting subject Disadvantages: Not for the faint-hearted
Isn?t it strange how some books start to fade as soon as the final page has been reached while others haunt the reader for weeks, months and even years thereafter? It?s over a year now since I read ?The GreenMile? by StephenKing and yet the main characters have stayed with me, forcing me from time to time to give consideration to the issues that they faced, and the unresolved questions in my mind that they raised. Whenever I hear of a prisoner in the U.S. on death row awaiting their fate, I find myself thinking of the occupants of the state penitentiary in Cold Mountain in the year 1932 as it is portrayed in this novel. If I see a comment advocating the re-introduction of the death penalty in this country, I wonder if the proposer has thought through the details of how they would implement it.
Paul Edgecombe, the narrator ...
Advantages: Emotional, tragic, epic. Disadvantages: Some may not like plodding style.
John Coffey arrives at Cold Mountain Penitentiary ready to walk "The GreenMile" for the murder of the twin girls under his protection. Prison Guard Paul Edgecombe has a duty to ensure even the most psychopathic of murderers such as Billy "The Kid" Wharton journey along the mile towards the electric chair is a peaceful one. Why then does Paul start to doubt Coffey's guilt and what does Coffey mean when he says, "I tried to take it back but it was too late"?
StephenKing's "The GreenMile" is that rarest of beasts, a novel that has a wide appeal crossing numerous genres along the way. Perhaps it is because it was originally written as a six-book serial that King is able to defy genre and write so expressively but either way the results are impressive. This is a novel that refuses to be pigeonholed.
Part supernatural-thriller, part ...
The Green Mile. Those who walk it do not return -- because at the end of that walk, at the Cold Mountain penitentiary, is the room in which sits the electric chair. It is 1932. The newest inhabitant of Death Row is a giant black man, John Coffey, convicted -- apparently on his own admission -- of the senseless and brutal murder of two little girls. Executing a man is never easy, but at first sight taking society's revenge on Coffey is one of the easier jobs chief guard Paul Edgecombe and his fellow warders have had to do. But nothing is as it seems with John Coffey, and around him unfolds a story both bizarre and horrifying. Whether he is an evil murderer or a holy innocent, Coffey has strange powers, which may yet offer salvation to others, even if they can do nothing to save him. THE GREEN MILE is perhaps the finest novel yet by one of the world's greatest storytellers, by turns warmly human and shatteringly horrific, and unputdownable from first page to last. See all Product Description
Compare The Green Mile - Stephen King to other similar Horror Books »
Stephen King's claim to fame ; Superb atmosphere ; Sublime plot ; A vivid imagination that stretches all supernatural boundaries ; Probably responsible for some of the best horror films of the 70's and 80's
Some unessesary background in the first half ; Kubrik mucked up the story too much ; Could have been much more (*)
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