Well, I could just say how great this 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 man whom we find out is Paul Edgecombe, the ex-chief 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 powers. All manner of strange goings on begin to happen and you'll have to read on to find out what happens, but believe me don't try to guess, because you won't be right!
Several issues were raised by the book, one is the case of capital punishment. It seems barbaric doesn't it (don't worry I'm not a campaigner) just an ordinary someone who read an extra-ordinary book. It just seems over the top, to go in that fashion must be terrible, and some states in the US still do it today.
The fact that you know such a terror is awaiting these cons almost makes you empathise with them. Even though the likes of Edward Delacroix have committed terrible crims they all seem rather helpless and this really brings you down to the levels of the guards, they are in a similar situation to you as you read the book. They are faced with the quadry, do they sympahise with these people, or let them suffer, after all they have done terrible things havn't they?
It makes you question yourself, and the fact that the book is written with the main character as a guard, a guard who sympathises to a certain extent. This draws you in, until you meet Percy, the epitamy and embodiment of what you feel you should really be, harsh and unfair to these people. So what does one do?
What you can't fail to do is turn over page after page of this novel, every word seems to string you onto the next with the skill King has forged over his years of writing in this Genre. He is truely a master at what he does, and he writes not only to entertain, but to envelope the reader in a world that they cannot escape from. A world that is filled with relative insecurities and uncertainties. A world very much like our own.
I don't read alot and this is one of the books that I couldn't put down, do read it and do enjoy it. It will scare you, thrill you and more importantly make you question yourself and your views.
READ IT!
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