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Every year that I've done this column, Highly Recommend Months have been some of the most fun and interesting experiences this column has produced. There is an author I have gotten recommendations for since the beginning and I finally have enough of their work in the box to hand them the entire month. I speak in hushed tones because I'm not entirely sure he hasn't mastered astral projection so he can appear behind people and hit them in the head with a shovel. No- I'm not reading books written by John Boehner. And no-as far as I know Elvis didn't write any books either so he is not the King I refer to. No, this whole column is Stephen King from start to finish. I was going to save this for October but decided now would be the best time. Why? I got way behind last month as my own novel wouldn't stop coming fast and furious. The muse has slowed down a bit. Since the rules of the 52 Book Challenge states the number of books is decided by the number of books of initial publication, I decided to pick up the pace a little with King's famous serialized novel. It's sort of cheating but y'know what? I didn't write all the rules. (Actually I did help my friend revise the rules last year but this one hasn't changed.)
- The Green Mile: Book One - The Two Dead Girls by Stephen King:
The story takes place almost entirely on death row in a prison. It details the lives of prisoners awaiting death row through the view of one of the guards. However you get back story of one prisoner in particular- John Coffey, who seems to be both brutal but also somewhat childlike-at least at first. There is also a mystery about a mouse. The real grab of the book is the atmosphere. King captures the feeling of The Great Depression well. The book itself- the first of a serialized novel- while it takes some of the elements from the style of the pulps it doesn't quite imitate them. It takes the form many of the pulps wished they could have taken. The characters talk like real people from the 30's and not the way most people in magazines or movies from that time spoke. The story is more or less complete unto itself. What happened to the girls is resolved. There are a number of dangling subplots however which is how good series should function. Where does Steamboat Willie/Mr. Jingles really fit in? Does Paul get over his urinary tract infection? What about the warden's wife? What's the matter with her? What happen the day Wharton came to the prison? So many of these characters have many more stories to tell -
Which brings us to
- The Green Mile: Book Two - The Mouse on the Mile by Stephen King:
The story continues - this one encompassing the ongoing tale of Paul Edgecombe's day to day life at the prison with the origins and mystery of Mr. Jingles the mouse. We also get a lot more on the jackass guard Percy. This volume really focuses on what most of the guards are willing to do to hold onto their humanity given what their job is. Which really begs the question about Percy. Not only does he not seem to care but he seems to revel in being a complete jackass. King does a good job of making us actually care how most of the people in the cells of E Block are treated. Since they are all convicted murders that takes quite a bit of work. Most of the other ongoing subplots keep going. Paul still has his urinary tract infection. The Warden's wife is still ill and has a brain tumor. In those days it was pretty much a death sentence. Since it is mostly flashback, John Coffey is not in most of this book so that thread is left dangling.
But he is in -
- The Green Mile: Book Three - Coffey's Hands by Stephen King:
This is where the mystical element that King is known for begins to come into play. No more borderline anthropomorphic mouse. And thanks to the furthering subplot of the mystery of John Coffey, we say farewell to a few other minor subplots. However, sticking true to King's own style and the demands of the 1930s serialized novel midpoint- it's like a hydra. For every subplot he brings to an end, two more take its place. Some you can kind of tell where they are heading. Others are strange. King tells you exactly what's going to happen but when you get to it, some how it still seems shocking. That's sort of hard to do. In one sense this is the weakest of the books so far. The other two seemed like complete books unto themselves with either a connecting subplot or an extra epilogue chapter to connect them. This one almost seems like the series might have been better served as a much longer book but making the series have fewer books. Still I enjoyed it immensely and I can't wait to read the next volume.
Luckily - the joy of the omnibus edition is that I didn't have to -
- The Green Mile: Book Four - The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix by Stephen King:
This is the book that the other three books spent so long foreshadowing. What exactly did Percy do to finally get the other guards at the prison so pissed at him? What terrible things happened to Delacroix? Well it starts with Percy doing something terrible to Mr. Jingles. It leads into some more of the mystery surrounding John Coffey and ultimately one of the most disgusting things I've had to imagine in a real long time. King does it masterfully . Delacroix is a horrible person but King makes you care when the terrible things happen to him. The book spends just as much time on the aftermath of Delacroix's execution as it does on the events itself. This is good because it allows the reader to understand the mindset of Edgecombe and company have, which allows more of the little subplots to start weaving together going forward.
- The Green Mile: Book Five - Night Journey by Stephen King:
The penultimate chapter of The Green Mile deals with the guards taking John Coffey out of prison to use his mysterious gift for good. You see them doing some nasty things but considering they do them all to Percy, the reader is left more or less okay with it. Percy finally gets what is coming to him. They set out to do some good but there is a cost. Just why or how this occurred is not yet explained. Though it seems no one walks away from this chapter completely unharmed save for- well-no that would be telling. It's the type of story that the less you know going into it the better it seems. This one seems much more self-contained than the other book which is odd considering it is very close to the end of the series. The ending seemed like a real ending save for the very last sentence.
But the story ends -
- The Green Mile: Book Six - Coffey on the Mile by Stephen King:
This is the volume where it all comes together. Every subplot and twist and turn finally take shape. Each chapter reveals something new. Up until the midway point of the book I wasn't really quite sure if Coffey committed the murder or not. (Though there is a blatant clue in John Coffey's initials.) Stephen King has done plenty of non-horror and fantasy stuff before- however the answer is finally made clear as are quite a few other mysteries, particularly those involving the life of Paul Edgecombe since leaving his job as a prison guard. The end is tragic for almost all concerned but at the same time cathartic and satisfying. Of the entire King novels, movies and short stories I have encountered this series ranks as one of my favorites.
Next: Star Trek: The Original Month
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