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The Green Mile: The Complete Serial Novel

The Green Mile: The Complete Serial Novel

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Quintessential King
Review: This . . . this is the book that made me a Stephen King fan. Before, I never understood the fervor over works like IT and MISERY. But after reading THE GREEN MILE, I suddenly got it! He is one of the best storytellers of our century, if not all time! Thank God he's okay after his accident!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Help! I must have landed on the Planet Cornball!
Review: King lays on the corn with a trowel in this limp prison drama full of improbable situations and the tinniest dialogue ever written. Anybody expecting another Shawshank Redemption, be warned. A hulking black prisoner out of Amos 'n Andy is found to have mysterious healing powers while a bunch of dull, interchangeable prison guards chatter endlessly about what to do with him. An interminable sequence where they sneak him out of the prison to cure a terminally ill woman of cancer is sappier than Patch Adams. Seeming chapters are spent on a magical mouse with two names, after which King, having written himself into a corner, spends about a half minute to explain why the narrator, the 'bull screw' at the prison and a seemingly 'good man', would allow an innocent man to die in the electric chair. Ugh!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Does it have to be scary to be good?
Review: Why every SK book is labelled 'horror' amazes me, do these people read the book before they put a tag on it? Anyway, this is one of the best books in terms of characters I've read. You really feel a part of them - even the inmates on death-row. No it isn't the most interesting book around but it is so well written you cannot put it down. If you can handle a SK book minus the horror, and like a well written story with a little twist, give this a go.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Stephen King good.......but not great.
Review: A good book, that I would recommend to any King fan. It had a good story line, but it had just to much drama in it. I had just finished read Pet Sematary, so I was expecting this book to have more chills. But all in all a pretty good book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: an unexpected tear jerker
Review: By far one of Steven King's best novels. When read in its entirety (one right after the other), these novellas seem a little bit redundant, however considering the circumstances of how they were written, the need for the author to refresh the reader's memory is understandable. This novel is unexpectably heart wrenching. King should write more novels with the spontaeity that he wrote these. It is evident that some of the emotions seen in the character of Paul Edgecombe are reflections made by King himself on evil and injustice. The emotional quality of this novel is an unexpected yet pleasant surprise that makes this novel a must read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best of S. King.
Review: I have read most of King's books, and the most impressive, in my opinion, was Dolores Claiborne, but I think that I have to reevaluate my choice! The Green Mile is probably the best of King, and I hope that his following books match the level of this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Never has a book ever made me cry.
Review: Rarely does King put his creepiness to something so emotional. The inhuman "justice" that we deal out like cards is captured entirely within this series. By the time you put this book down, John Coffey will have reached and touched your heart.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sparkling, imaginative, and unique work from King
Review: Every few years or so, Stephen King manages to surprise even the most wary of his readers. Other than the Dark Tower series, there's precious few in King's history that's for the faint of hearted, which is a shame, because underneath the ghouls and ghosts, King is a terrifically talented writer who knows how to spin a good story. Take "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption", or "Eyes of the Dragon". King's got a magnificent ear for words, and can mix pop culture with a sense of campy wit along with terrific suspense to keep readers spellbound.

His best non-horror work, however, may just be the enormously ambitious "The Green Mile". It's proof that King is finally aiming higher: he's not just out to sell books, he's aiming for his share of literary history, as one of the few daredevils in contemporary American literature who are both prolific and good, and are willing to take some chances instead of sitting on their vaunted laurels. In the books following this one, he was going after Daphne DuMaurier and William Golding, but he starts with the biggest of them all: Charles Dickens. King is after all trying to prove that he can write under pressure: he's starting a story without having an ending, and publishing it bit by bit. He's giving us the pleasure of watching him sweat under what turns out to be a massive challenge.

King ends up with a beautiful story, told by prison guard Paul Edgecombe, who's patrolling the halls of Cold Mountain Penitentiary's death row, named "The Green Mile". Edgecombe relates the fantastical story of John Coffey, who's quite unlike anyone ever seen by both Edgecombe and his collegues. Along the way, we meet Edouard Delacroix, Mr. Jingles, "Wild Bill" Wharton, Percy Whetmore, and a whole bunch of other characters oozing with King's original touch. There's magic breathing through this story, and it touches every page.

One of the minor complaints I have is that I never read the story the way it was meant to be told: in installments. That's a drawback, because you don't get the feeling of want and of need. This is a terrific story, and on second thought, I'm glad I read it like this. Had I needed to wait for each part to be published, I think I would stalked Mr. King and invaded his house, demanding more of John Coffey and his magic touch. Reading it like this also gave me new respect for King: he's got immense talent, and he put it to use. Each part works alone, integrating beautifully to form a cohesive story. King, who has been known to fail on great expectations (see the Dark Tower series, or rather the last, fully bloated part), has instead come up with his best stuff, an original tale that appeals to all ages, that touches nearly everybody.

Great books don't have to be complicated. Often, they are: take anything written by Thomas Pynchon, and try reading it. King, on the other hand, has reduced literature to its most common element: the mass proliferation of a good story. You don't need to write complicated, modernist structures which ultimate confuse the reader. Confusion, after all, is what you'd like to avoid. King tells a story rather simply. But it's a great story. In the end, that's all that matters. This is, and I hope you'll pardon my language, a damn good story, written by a fine author with a sense of fun and amazement. In the end, that's all that truly matters.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Looking for a great book? The Green Mile is just the one!!!
Review: Most people that pick up a Stepen King novel is expection a horror plot, but this book is not that. With a book exploring prision life, you will never want to put this book down. You will always want to keep reading on. I liked the idea of the old Paul Edgcombe looking back on his prision guard days and writiing a memoir about them.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Surprisingly good! Definitely one of my favorites!!
Review: I've been a SK fan since I was a teen and everything I've read, I enjoyed. I'm used to King being scary (The Shining) or just plain gory (It) but this book was neither. I don't even know how to classify it except to say this book was excellent. It was very well written. As a previous reviewer mentioned, I knew the catch w/Coffey and I knew right away what was going on with "You're a bad man". Although this was very apparent to me, this story was in no way predictable. You think you know what's going to happen and then there's a twist. I couldn't put the book down! This was an excellent read!


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