The Green Mile (1996) By Stephen King

"Sometimes there is absolutely no difference at all between salvation and damnation."

The blessing and curse of Stephen King's literary career is that he has a lot of output, and much of that is quite highly spoken of by enjoyed of horror and literature. This means there is a lot to read, for better and worse. I've been working my way through his most notable efforts, such as 'Pet Sematary' and 'The Shining', but this, my next read, was one of the more unusual novels of King's, in that it wasn't a horror.

"It's strange how pain marks our faces, and makes us look like family."

The book, of course, inspired the highly acclaimed film of the same name, which is considered one of the best of the 90's, and rightly so. I have seen this film a few times over the years, so it was fair to say that I was very familiar with the general details of the story, although I was certainly keen on exploring the intricacies left out of the cinematic adaptation.

"We have once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create."

I love reading King books, because he has a wonderfully smooth diction, which is very easy to read and often has a flow to it unlike many other authors. With that said, this book was still heftier than the vast majority of books I've read recently, so posed an interesting but potentially draining and time consuming challenge. It took me a fairly long time to get through, mainly because of my own limitations with mental energy, but I enjoyed the story, regardless.

"We each owe a death, there are no exceptions, I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long."

King supplied an excellently endearing and personable protagonist for his reader's to traverse the narrative through - in fact, probably the ideal vehicle to explore this particular story. I like that this story occasionally flashed back to the "present day" - not only did it allow the main arc to breathe a little, but it gave a wider perspective of both the events and many of the characters within it.

"Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not."

Overall, whilst I'm still slightly unsure about where exactly this book ranks on my list of Stephen King books, I can be sure that it places in the upper echelon of that list. I would say that this book's biggest strength is its ability to break its reader's heart, despite knowing what was going to happen, as well as how it was able to create interesting and complicated relationships with characters, particularly some of the inmates. Despite how long it took me to read, I thought this was a very good book.

"On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job?"