The Green Mile

This book fills me with so much melancholy that I find it hard to pick up another book in fear of losing this feeling. The movie is done well. It helps me to visualize during the reading.

What an experience. Definitely one of my favorite books of all time now.

Not just an engaging story, as you expect from Stephen King, but one that transports you into another world. I finished emotionally exhausted, after living all of the joy and pain. And, tough or not, get ready to shed some tears. Absolutely wonderful, in spite of the terrible truths from that world and ours.

This is an amazing, page turner of a book! Yes, it's a big book, but it goes by so quickly, because you find yourself unable to put it down! I've read it 3 times now & know that I'll read it again! Definitely worth the read!

I finished reading in about four days..took a bit to get into easily then flew past the rest..great story and incredibly enjoyable..rambled just a tiny bit but nothing you can't get though..highly recommend reading at least once!

I've a project to read two books by each of the ten novelists who will be lecturing at the Maui Writers Conference this summer. When I finished The Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul, a serial horror novel which the author says he was encouraged to write by King's success with The Green Mile, I took a break to engage in another pending project; to compare the book and video versions of The Green Mile.My stepdaughter is an avid reader and a Stephen King fan. After enjoying the video version of The Green Mile, I asked her if the book was significantly different. She said it was very similar, but varied in some respects. It occurred to me that comparing the two might be helpful in understanding the difference between book and script writing.It was. Both the movie and the book are five-star. Despite their similarities, they have a different feel, and doing both is a worthy endeavor. I recommend you read the book first, but that's not crucial.My review technique was to read about a scene, study its video version and then read some more; I used the rewind button frequently. This method percolates up some interesting trivialities. In the movie, Coffey says, "as lonely as a sparrow in the rain," but in the book he says "as lonely as a robin in the rain." King is an expert writer in every respect, and I'm certain his research is faithfully done. I suspect "robin" was a boo-boo though. Stephen King hangs out in New England, where robins are plentiful. Coffey is a southern boy, and not too bright. He never saw a robin.Another triviality that smacks of a research problem is the year. The events in the book happen in 1932, whereas the movie is set in 1935. Some Hollywood sharpie may have noted that a crucial prop was not available in 1932. I couldn't spot the problem, perhaps because I wasn't born until 1936.Maybe the clip from the Fred Astaire movie shifted the date. Although watching movies in the "Resource Room" at the Georgia Pines home for "wayward droolers" is featured in the book, the tear-jerking dancing scene is not. Congratulations Hollywood, you gave me a real Kleenex moment. I doubt if even a master like Steven King could write that cry, however, or even want to. Hollywood has the advantages of sight and sound to stir our emotions. Movies, after all, are drama; a combination of facial expressions, artful camerawork and musical scoring designed to grab us in the groin. Writing, on the other hand, can suck us into the minds of the characters, and make us think.That is why I say the feel of the two versions, two unlike mediums, is different. This is a story about death. While reading the book, I shuddered on occasion with a sense of mortality, my mortality. King made me droop his book onto my lap as I stared at the willow tree out back, he having reminded me that my time is running out.The video, on the other hand, often had me wiping my eyes, as much from laughter as the pathos, the response to good actors playing out a predicament and making it feel real. Still, even with the facilities of the pause and rewind buttons, the movie is about this scene, then the next one, and moving right along. How often have you walked out of the theater after the show before you could begin to think about it?The acting is excellent. Expressions, pauses, posture and stutters suggest what is going on in the character's head, but they cannot compete with the power of the written word. When Paul and his wife visit Melinda, who is dying from a brain tumor, King writes for Paul: "...my eye happened on the blue hearth rug by the fireplace. It occurred to me that it should have the shade of tired old limes, because now this room was just another version of the Green Mile." Hollywood can't do that.Writers work with protagonists, whereas scriptwriters work with stars. Although the movie dialogue is usually verbatim the book, the best lines from Brutus and Dean, like "What happens on the Mile, stays on the Mile," are given to Tom Hanks. In the book, when Brutus and Paul (Hanks) confront Percy in the room with Old Sparky, Percy drives the end of the scene and forces the handshake. In the movie, Tom Hanks never loses control of the altercation. Hollywood's tendency to sharply distinguish between its villains and heroes sometimes overly exaggerates reality, although it was not offensive in this case.There are some subtle differences for the role of women. In the book, King points out that only two women attended Delacroix's execution; there are several in the movie. In the book, Paul's wife pointedly excuses herself when the men plan their risky mission, whereas in the movie she is an influential participant. Hollywood, I suppose, is more politically sensitive than King.There are only two major differences between the two works. In the book, Paul sleuths the solution to uncertainties about the death of the Detterick twins. The movie accomplishes this with dramatic visualization by making one of King's incrediblenesses more incredible. I prefer King's version; too much hard to believe stuff upsets my stomach.The other significant difference is that the movie version eliminates the sub-story with Brad Dolan, the Georgia Pines orderly. To me, this is an important plot echo, a twist on the theme of mortality. Its omission underscores the difference between the two forms, the visual versus the thoughtful. Similarly, after reading the book, you might remember what John Coffey said about Old Sparky; "They're still in there. I hear them screaming." King put it in Italics; the movie left it out.As an amateur (i.e. unpublished) novelist, I sought to understand the difference between book and script writing. I found my answer just as the credits began scrolling up the tube. "Screenplay written by Frank Darabont, based on a novel by Steven King."

It’s a good book

This is such a beautiful (and brutal) story, masterfully told by one of the greatest writers of our time. I couldn't put it down, but also couldn't slow the pages as I knew the end was near. This is an absolute must-read for all who enjoy great literature..

Great story, easy to read

Pues quien haya aunque sea visto la película sabrá lo buena que es la historia

Ergreifend. Typische Stephen King Philosophie und sein Stil. Verfilmung mit Tom Hanks unübertroffen.

This book just proves that Stephen King is not just a horror writer and is easily our eras version of Charles Dickins!The book, originally released in six mini-episodes, has been collated in this version. The story follows senior prison officer Paul Edgecomb, who is in charge of "The Green Mile," the death row wing of the prison. Paul retells his tale from the residential care home where he resides of the execution of John Coffey in the 1930s.This book is so wonderfully written that you easily travel back to the depression era of 1930s America. You can easily visualise the scenery as well as the amazingly written characters.It is easily seen why this film was commissioned into a movie, and the movie is an amazing interpretation of the book, with great actors like Tom Hanks, however in my opinion as much as I love the film, the book is so much more magical.I highly recommend this book, and this will hold a special place in my mind for a long time

I recommend it to everyone