I'm currently traveling and picked up a few books earlier on in my journey, including the Green Mile, by Mr King himself. I started it first after seeing a lot of people talking about how much they loved it (including the YouTuber who introduced me to Stephen King). I expected it to be a good book but oh boy, did it exceed every single expectation I could've possibly had.
I've always loved reading but I always imagined people exaggerated when they claimed that a book literally pulled them in to the point that they felt like they were actually inside the story. This book proved me wrong.
Paul Edgecomb was an amazing narrator. His telling of the events with the parallel timeline and all really drew me in and I couldn't put the book down for hours at a time. I would be reading in the hotel corridor, completely spellbound by the story, when the segment I had been reading that day (I only read one part of the book every day) would end and hit me like a bucket of water.
Every time I would put the dots together and realise something about the mystery, I would actually be shocked enough to have to close the book for a second and think about it for a while before I could continue reading. King is known for messing up his endings but this one was perfectly satisfactory to me.
SPOILERS:
spoiler
I was absolutely enraged when Percy stepped on Mr. Jingles. King has created a perfectly hateable character in him that I've never seen before. Wild Bill is obviously much more evil in real-life terms, but as a reader he is nothing compared to Percy. I felt no pity at all when Percy was driven insane by John.
I'm not usually one to be physically affected by graphic scenes being vividly described, but Del's execution almost made me throw up. King did an amazing job with that chapter. The entirety of Book 4 is great.
When I was nearing the end of the story I kinda started hoping for a cliché ending for John, where the governor would call on the phone and tell them to stop the execution immediately. But after getting a glimpse of John's pain through Paul, I found the ending to the book very satisfying.
I was terrified when Brad walked into the shed. I was sure he would crush Mr. Jingles as Percy had attempted to do about six decades ago. I was very relieved when I found out he had died already, doing what he enjoyed doing the most.
It's probably my favourite book now. It was a 10/10 experience and I'd recommend it to pretty much anyone.
