The Green Mile (Unabridged‪)‬

The books draws you in, it’s much more than just a Story of John Coffey it tells the tales of other death row inmates and the struggles of the main character. Love. Love love this book.

Wonderful book! !I’ve read this book before so when deciding on the first book I would ever purchase as an audiobook I decided on one that I knew would be a great story. This one didn’t disappoint the reader is pretty enthusiastic but not overly so and has a great voice. It’s easy to listen to long periods of time of his voice. The book is captivating and intelligent and one of my favorites by Stephen King!

This book does not age well. It's basically a story about John Coffey, who is a classic magical negro stereotype. Despite being completely innocent of a crime for which he will soon be put to death, the main character ends up doing NOTHING to save him in the end and actually is the one who perpetrates his execution, even knowing that he's innocent. It's ridiculously frustrating to have the main character be so passionate about John Coffey throughout the story, just to sort of give up in the end, despite the fact that John Coffey has DEMONSTRABLE HEALING POWERS. All he has to do is call the National Geographic or somebody in the media/government/scientist/religious community ETC to witness the miracles John Coffey can EASILY perform at any given time, and BOOM you don't have to kill him. It's such a simple obvious solution that solves the entire problem of the plot. But no. Instead the main character gives up and executes the only black character. Of course.

The female characters are so ONE DIMENSIONAL it's painful. The main character's wife at one point actually says something to the effect of "Do you just want me to be a good wife and stay silent?" I'm paraphrasing, but it really sums up how she solely exists to support him and has zero opinions of her own, and when she does end up getting passionate (like how she chews him out for deciding to execute John Coffey) she ends up apologizing to him. Same goes for the character's female companion in the nursing home. They have zero characteristics outside of existing to bounce devil's advocate dialogue off the main character for the sake of exposition; and the only other female character is a damsel in distress that John Coffey saves. The only real agents of change are white men.

I understand this was written in the 80s, so many people would excuse these flaws because it was a very different time, however in my opinion, authors exist in society to peer into human nature, much like theatre or any other art, and reflect the truth of shared human experiences. Thus, I expect authors to be somewhat ahead of their time, especially someone as prolific as Stephen King. Good authors are prophetic -- they challenge their current time's and society's attitudes towards disparaged groups, not profit from their stereotypes. What good is art if it can't even do that?

Furthermore, the narration is painfully overwrought. How many times do I have to read the main character's lengthy descriptions how his URINARY TRACT INFECTION feels? I get it the first time. It's not necessary to describe it over and over. It's almost like Stephen King had a word quota that he contractually needed to reach. I get the sense in many overwrought, overmetaphorical, overdescriptive, overworded passages that he must have felt he was building the tension of the scene, but it totally doesn't. It's just frustrating and superfluous. Also, how many chapters about that stupid mouse does he need to include in the story? We get it, the mouse is magical or super smart or whatever. A third of the way into the book I was wondering, is this entire book going to be about a freaking mouse?