10 Best Non-Horror Stephen King Stories You Must Read
5. The Green Mile
You cried at the movie adaptation. Admit it. It's OK. It's just proof you have a heart.
When the film version is so good, is there any point in reading the source material? Short answer: yes.
The book's release was rather - please forgive the pun - novel. King decided to take a cue from the authors of the past - most notably Charles Dickens - who would release their prose in a series of volumes, rather than just the one, as is done today. King released the six volumes that make up this tale of magical realism across six months in 1996.
The story switches between the past and the present, as nursing home resident Paul Edgecombe tells the story of a death-row prisoner he countered as a prison guard back in 1932. Man mountain John Coffey has been convicted of the rape and murder of two little girls. What makes this act politically sensitive is the fact that the perpetrator is black and the victims white, facts that would make such a crime volatile today, but incendiary back in pre-Civil Rights era America, which inform the racial setting of the novel.
But Coffey is more than meets the eye. At first he just seems incredibly cowardly (he's afraid of the dark), but also incredibly empathetic. These features arouse suspicion in Edgecombe regarding the prisoner's supposed actions, which are thrown into complete doubt when Coffey displays the ability to magically heal Paul's urinary tract infection, and bring a dead mouse back to life. This realistic world-building topped off with a non-realistic development is typical of King.
In the end, despite the revelation that a fellow prisoner, William Wharton, was responsible for the girls' deaths (John had been trying to revive them when found), Coffey is still executed. He is at peace with this ending of his life, however, wanting to be done with the pain of the world which he feels so acutely. It's the last execution Edgecombe takes part in, much to his horror.
We're left with a curious issue to ponder: what is the price to pay for the punishment of such wonder and beauty? Positive and negative religious aspects appear throughout a number of King's stories, who has a complicated relationship with religion. Thankfully, he's not the type to hit you over the head with such thoughts.
Take John Coffey's initials. Remind you of anyone?