I’ve never been a Stephen King fan. I find his writing to be over-descriptive, meandering and full of filler. Of course, there are some rare books of his that I do enjoy. One of them is “The Green Mile.” Yes, I’ve also seen the movie so I’ll talk about both here.
First, I’ve known about “The Green Mile” for decades. I never had time or interest in ever reading the book or watching the movie until this year. I have no idea what prompted that change but here you go. I read 100 pages of the book first, watched the movie and then completed the book.
The book was originally published in “Victorian Style” where each part was published as one book and released months in between. The story is about Paul Edgecomb, a death row supervisor whose life, along with everyone else’s on “The Green Mile” (the name of the death row) when a GIANT inmate named John Coffey is sentenced to death for the murder of two young girls. However, Paul starts to think he’s innocent when he finds out that Coffey can magically heal people.
While there is that one magical/supernatural/whatever you want to call it element, the majority of the book is told straight. Every character is well-written, the story is interesting and nicely paced and the narrator, Paul, grabs you from page one and doesn’t let go.
While I enjoyed the book, I felt the movie was much better. Tim Hanks as Paul, Michael Clark Duncan and John and Bonnie Hunt as Jan do phenomenal jobs in their roles. The movie also felt a lot more impactful than the book. Tell me you didn’t cry at the final execution with a straight face.
While the book is still wonderful, I will always say the movie is better because the actors do what King can’t: make you cry and love the characters. That’s not to say you won’t like the book version of the characters, they are great. It’s just the wonderful actors make these characters theirs and elevate them to eleven.
Tags: Stephen King., The Green Mile
Sanrock Reviews 