Firstly Im not adding a rating yet since I want a bit more time to think about it. Secondly, I read this over the course of about a week but had to put it down for nearly a month straight for personal reasons. Thirdly, I need to see more people praising this book for how satisfying it is to watch Percy Wetmore getting reprimanded for being Percy Wetmore. ( )

This might be King's best work, in my opinion. It's so well written that you feel like you're right there and just as horrified as Paul, Harry, Brutal, and Dean. If you enjoyed the movie, I highly recommend reading the book. ( )

Some books are worth waiting years for to read and I have certainly waited a very long time to read this one.

I have to confess I am not a Stephan King fan as Horror or science fiction just doesnt work for me but having watched the Green Mile Movie some years ago I have always wanted to read the book and when I happened to find a copy among a pile of books lately I just knew there was no time like the present.

My only problem with reading a book after watching such an iconic movie is that I am unable to imagine the characters for myself, but setting that aside.......What a phenomenal read this was Now I am actually jealous of readers who haven't read the book yet because this one is such a beautiful, compelling and brilliant story, I was blown away by the read.

The Green Mile is a unique tale of Paul Edgcombe, a prision guard in charge of death town in Cold Mountain Penitentiary. Convicted Killers all await their turn to walk the Green Mile and their date with the Electric Chair. When John Coffey is condemned for a terrifying and horrendous crime, Paul Edgecombe is confronted with the terrible wondrous truth that will change his life forever.

I went though all sorts of emotions when reading this story. The writing is vivid and the story believable and you feel and experience everything this tale has to offer. There were actually times I felt the humid heat so well described in the book. The characters are so realistic and believable, and the plot twists and turns kept me turning the pages. A little sprinkle (just a little) of magical happenings make this novel the perfect story that I will remember a long time from now. John Coffey’s character made me well up on so many occasions and yet there is a lovely sense of hope in the novel that keeps the book from becoming depressing.

I only have a tiny paperback copy of this book which I really have to replace with a hard copy for my real life bookshelf.

If you have this on your TBR Shelf ...........Do yourself a favor this summer and bump it right up to the top of the pile as this is a book you won’t regret reading and only after you have finished then watch the movie. ( )

The Green Mile is a great read. If you liked the movie, then you'll probably like the book. They have the same feel. This is actually one of the rare times when I like the book and the movie equally.

I listened to the audiobook this time and it was really good. ( )

Almost thirty years on, I'm finally reading this as a single novel. The first time, I read it in the monthly installments that came out, and enjoyed the heck out of it.

But this time? This novel has struck me like no other King novel. King has scared me. King has tugged at my heart. King has shown me evil and good, wonder and despair. He's made me laugh and made my cry. He's created characters that I loved and characters that I've despised, and even characters that have been incredibly close to people I know in real life.

He has never written a book that's affected me the way this one does. Even reading it for the second time, knowing some of the twists at the end, King's writing, his story, his storytelling, his characters, his situations...they hit me.

When a book hits me like this, I literally feel my mind splitting into two different, but equally active modes:

The first is the Reader, who still continues to move through the story, immersed in the story, and enjoying every word as it carries me on the path that King has woven. This is the part of me that's deeply affected.

The second is the Writer, who steps back a bit and sneaks over to that curtain and lifts it to take an admiring look at the inner workings of the story, the mechanics that King built so carefully and put in place to make this entire machine work so well. This is the part of me that's impressed and also trying to learn from it.

King has always been good at creating his everyman characters. They aren't rich, they aren't overly exciting...they're just you and me, but thrown into extraordinary circumstances. He's also been pretty good at creating those meaner characters, the bullies and the brutes. He's also created a lot of very good exceptional characters, Carrie White, Danny Torrance, Charlie McGee, Johnny Smith, and he's done it again with John Coffey. So, it's not these that make this novel special. They're what make it a King novel.

I think it comes down to two things.

The first is the incredible set pieces that King builds into this novel. Coffey with the two girls in the field. The first death of Mr. Jingles. William Wharton's arrival. The very bad death of Eduard Delacroix. Coffey with Melinda. Coffey with Percy, and Percy with Wild Bill, and two more scenes toward the end of the novel that enter into spoiler territory. I don't know that King's created a novel and packed such powerful scenes into it since maybe THE SHINING or IT. His novels all have one or two, but nine or ten? No. So, that's one. King was on fire with this one.

The other is how much King was able to dig into life and death and the consequences of both. How he was able to talk about the influence and indifference of God. And how he was able to build such nobility and pathos into his flawed characters that it literally hurts to see them in pain.

I don't think King ever wrote another novel like this, one so deeply affecting. But I will say, to anyone who ever doubts the man can write, this will always be the one I'll point to to prove them wrong. ( )