Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Green Mile by Stephen King

34 reviews

schohayes's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book so much. SO much. It’s giving Just Mercy. It made me laugh, cry, feel nauseated, and reflect. It was horrifying and lovely and enthralling and sad all at the same time. I guess I get the Stephen King hype now!!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Pedophilia

draven_deathcrush's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The beginning was a little slow/boring, but the ending really got me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Animal death, Rape, and Violence

charley0796's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A tiny bit repetitive in places where it was originally released in parts.
Very enjoyable, moving. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Violence

a_augustine12's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Green Mile was a fantastic book. However, because it’s not typically the kind of story I read, I struggled through it. The movie is practically spot on, and I will continue to watch the movie again and again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, Murder, and Sexual harassment

ksuazo94's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Terminal illness, Violence, Grief, and Murder

gudrqa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

tifftastic87's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

It feels slightly odd to give this a five start and then say it's not my favorite book by Stephen King, but here we are. I genuinely do think that the Green Mile is one of King's greatest books and it is a five star read for me on this second time around. This one always stands out to me because it is one of the rare cases for a King work where the movie holds up for me. That being said I do have some criticisms.

I really wish the only black character in the book hadn't been King's typically magical being and that we didn't have to have him be magical for his incarceration to be in question. I do like that King made some comments early on that minorities in prison are rarely given the same freedoms, or excuses, or even pardons that white people are. But some of the use of Coffey in this story is hard to hear because not only is he incredibly large, he's incredibly dim witted. He is simply a being of instinct with a deeper sense of the world than the rest of us. He is almost childlike in some aspects, being afraid of the dark, not being able to tie his shoes etc. It is uncomfortable at times to hear it that way. 

The other thing is that listening to it as an adult versus reading it as a teen I really wanted Paul to stand up to Brad a bit more. There never was any consequences for him and that just didn't sit right with me. But then, rarely are there consequences in life. 

Criticisms out of the way, the episodic writing really made the whole feel of the book different than most other King books. Usually we sit with the main character for half to two-thirds of the story before anything really happens and we just get to know them. But with an episodic story like this, you have to get to know them organically and to me that really felt like Paul was sitting down and telling me the story of the fall of 1932 on the green mile. It felt comforting, like a story my own grandparents would have told me around a campfire. Apart from all the brutal murdering that is. 

It really felt King did some work here to make criticisms of our prison system, nepotism, and, of course, capitol punishment. There is some light commentary on how race plays into a lot of these things and I think for a book published in 1996 by an older white man, that is maybe not as common as it would be today. While the commentary was clunky and not without it's fair share of white saviourism, it was nevertheless, at least broached. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Ableism

leila_reads_too_much's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

autumn_franks_03's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Cancer, Racial slurs, Rape, Violence, and Murder

chopspy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Cultural appropriation