The Green Mile
I guess I’m not all that much different from… everybody else who ever lived. Neither are you. We’re all walking down a green mile, living a life, of our own. The scary thing sitting at the end is the same. Through that, you and I are the same. That’s the first message I took away from this book.
The other? That not everything written is a profound statement. And that not everything I read needs to change my life. Reading a good story is ok because, just like life, there is nothing except the battle between feeling good now (call it, “entertainment”) and the knowledge that it’s temporary. Maybe the point, in reading and in life, is to feel good things in between, rather than to take away something meaningful.
Whatever place we’re going, I’d bet we don’t get to take anything with us. As far as the place I think we’re going, I’d bet we don’t need to. And, like, what does this “meaningful” thing mean anyway?
The story of this book’s existence is super neat. It’s King’s first and only ever serial novel. I’d never even heard the term “serial novel” before, so let me enlighten you: a book, released in parts, like TV shows used to be. The concept is cool in that (well, if you’re reading the bits and pieces as they come out) neither you nor the auther knows what is next. Apparently Charles Dickens released his books like that.
Speaking of Charles Dickens, I ought to start reading words that are not (a) about math or science or (b) written by Steven King. That time will wait. First, I read The Gunslinger, which is a series of 7-I-think books King wrote.
Shoot, I should say something more about the book I did read.
It really was plain ol’ good story. Each character had enough backgroundand and personality to be interesting, but not so much as to overwhelm a story of 450-ish pages. There were enough skillfully intertwined storylines to keep each part engaging. The yarn was lain out to make a beautiful shape and rolled back into its spool neatly, you might say. I liked that the manner in which the yarn was rolled, the ending, was not always good or bad or even interesting.
Sometimes I guess a little mouse just rolls the spool back to you and playtime ends.
Thanks for reading, and when you read The Green Mile, let me know what ya think. Also, send book recommendations.
With love,
-Ryan.