The Green Mile
by Stephen King · first published 1996
63% recommend25% neutral13% critical
Why HN recommends it
An emotionally powerful prison story that lingers long after the final page. The audiobook narration by Frank Muller creates an immersive listening experience.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Green Mile is a 1996 serial novel by American writer Stephen King. It tells the story of death row supervisor Paul Edgecombe's encounter with John Coffey, an unusual inmate who displays inexplicable healing and empathetic abilities. The serial novel was originally released in six volumes before being republished as a single-volume work. The book is an example of magical realism. The Green Mile won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel in 1996. In 1997, The Green Mile was nominated as Best Novel for the British Fantasy Award and the Locus Award. In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's Th
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Fiction - Three Body-trilogy, Cixin Liu - The Children of Húrin, Tolkien - The Silmarillion, Tolkien - The Hobbit, Tolkien - Lord Of The Rings-trilogy, Tolkien - The Green Mile, Stephen King Non-fiction - Practical Vim 2nd ed., Drew Neil - Pestens år: döden i Stockholm 1710, Magnus Västerbro
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗…flicking between sections to refresh my memory on certain points. But with a good fiction book I can just relax and let the words wash over me and get lost in the story. My favourite book on Audible is The Green Mile by Stephen King read by Frank Muller. It's an experience that can't be matched by a physical book. The narration is top notch and you feel really invested in the story.
on “Are Audiobooks as Good for You as Reading?” ↗…social interaction difficult, so my emotional are mostly on the surface anyway. Crying for me is the best form of emotional release. I cry at the big ending in films, I cry at the end of amazing books (The Green Mile totally destroyed me, I was in business class on a plane at the time, blubbering my eyes out...). On balance though, I also get very angry often. I guess you can't have one without the other...
on “Crying” ↗Read the book. I was in the same camp as you. Most of his writing is just hack nonsense. But, some is well written (The Stand, Misery, Shawshank, The Green Mile, Cujo, for example). He's just inconsistent. Seriously, read the On Writing book. It really set his theory up for me to understand exactly why he's inconsistent. You can read his books and tell when…
on “Ask HN: Mind bending books to read and never be the same as before?” ↗…if someone’s deep empathic nature made them feel personally responsible for a death beyond their control – to the point of suicidal ideation - and was then imprisoned for it? Haven't you ever read The Green Mile?
on “Unlucky numbers (shoddy statistics that put nurses in prison for serial murder)” ↗A bit off-topic but as an aspiring author I’m blown away by serial writers, after reading Stephen King talk about it in his intro to the Green Mile, which was serialised. Today, we could write an entire draft novel and discover major plot holes and smooth them out before a single paragraph makes its way into the public eye. Serial writers have…
on “Gods, Gurus, and the Search for the Holy Grail: Bach Recordings from 2018” ↗Stephen King released The Green Mile in serial form like this. He said it was a major challenge because once the chapter is out there it’s committed, so you can’t go back and fix major plot holes that you didn’t foresee at the time.
on “When six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months (2020)” ↗…well. King certainly has a tendency to push fetishized characteristics that take the place of earnest characterization. This is certainly true of the Stand, the Dark Tower series, the Shining, Insomnia, Green Mile, and probably many others of his works. This is not an original take. See one popular opinion here: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/stephen-king...
on “Shelley Duvall has died” ↗…The Stand and Misery. I have read most of his stuff except for anything released in the last 3 years or so. I think even his short stories adapt better to movies as well…Shawshank, Stand By Me, The Green Mile…all three to me are simply awesome movies but were heavily adapted from the source story. Misery was good as well, but I kind of blame the casting of Kathy Bates as a genius move that really made that…
on “King vs. Kubrick: The Origins of Evil (2020)” ↗