The Green Mile | Stephen King
Title: The Green Mile
Author: Stephen King
I would first like to say that typing this review is quite laborious, as I have a broken right hand. Please forgive typos. I try to fix them as I catch them.
The Green Mile is Stephen King at his finest. He doesn't rely heavily on the supernatural (though it does exist to a certain extent). The characters are well-rounded and fleshed-out, from Paul Edgecomb, a prison guard, to John Coffey, a death row inmate who is innocent of his crime. The antagonist, Percy Wetmore, is despicable, and King does a great job making the reader hate him.
Mostly, this is a story of tragedy with a tinge of hope. Tears are likely shed by most readers (but not me--I don't cry much). I haven't seen the Tom Hanks movie, but I really would like to see it now.
For the casual reader, I would recommend this as a good first introduction to Stephen King. He occasionally hits a home run, and he really did so with this one. Five out of five stars from me!
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QUOTES:
"Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not."
"It's strange how pain marks our faces, and makes us look like family."
"Weird love's better than no love at all."
"I believe that the combination of pencil and memory creates a kind of practical magic, and magic is dangerous."
"I'm tired, boss. Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. I'm tired of me never having a buddy to be with to tell me where we're going to, coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world...every day. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head...all the time. Can you understand?"
"A dimwit thinks nothing is funny unless it's mean."
"A man with a good wife is the luckiest of God's creatures."
"I think that's what people most always do with the stuff they can't make out--just forget it."
"Working with him was sort of like trying to defuse a bomb with somebody standing behind you and every now and then clashing a pair of cymbals together. In a word, upsetting."
"It was sweet and lovely, that smile, perhaps the more so because it wasn't complicated by much in the way of thought."
"The world turns, that's all. You can hold on and turn with it, or stand up to protest and be spun right off."
"Atonement was powerful; it was the lock on the door you closed against the past."
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READING PROGRESS:
Last Day by Luanne Rice: 83%
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan: 37%
Rise of the Rebels by Michael Kogge: 58%
Desperation by Stephen King: NOW STARTING
Very sorry to read that you broke your hand. Ack!
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