Friday, October 25, 2013

Cephalopod Coffeehouse Chat – The Green Mile

From the ArmChair Squid: 
“The idea is simple: on the last Friday of each month, post about the best book you've finished over the past month while visiting other bloggers doing the same.  In this way, we'll all have the opportunity to share our thoughts with other enthusiastic readers.”

I’ve seen the movie multiple times over the years. The Green Mile starring Tom Hanks and the late Michael Clarke Duncan is hard to watch, especially uncut with all its horrible details laid bare. I never want it to end the same even though I know it can end no other way. Not only because the movie script demands it, but because the characters and storyline do as well.

The movie is based on the book of the same name by Stephen King. Reading it enlightened me since it went into depth and gave closure to the characters, telling what happened after. I liked that. The cinema version was nearly word for word in many spots. No surprises. 

What kept me reading, even though I knew how it would end, was the example of a writer who never stopped learning his craft. I have Mr. King’s book, On Writing, dog-eared and coffee stained, by my computer at all times. But it isn’t like experiencing the master at work up close. 

For a writer, a good book is our classroom. Note the use of nouns and the placement of verbs. How a significant adjective can spark a whole brain full of pleasure.

Read The Green Mile for pleasure, read it to compare it to the movie if you want. But writers, absorb it like an instruction manual. It comes from a man who loves his job.


9 comments:

  1. I admit I've not read the book, only watched the movie. And it is a tough one to watch.

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  2. I've seen the movie (which is, yes, very tough to watch), but never read the book. I do, however, love On Writing. My copy, too, is sitting on my desk.

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  3. I never saw The Green Mile & didn't realize it was based on a Stephen King novel. Looks like I've got some catching up to do! I've heard many good things about "On Writing," and even though I'm more of a reader than a writer, I would like to own this book.

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  4. The Green Mile was a great story and the movie was damn good, too.

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  5. Oh! I didn't realize you were joining us this month. I shall take the liberty of adding your link to the list, if you don't mind...

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  6. I have a lot of respect for Stephen King.

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  7. Thank you for your good wishes about my reveal on Marcy's blog! And huge congrats on your awesome best-seller status. I read a review on Matthew Keith's blog (I was there to hit him up for a review! lol) and Wilder Mage sounds fantastic!

    I adore The Green Mile and most everything else SK writes. And Koontz. And McCammon. They put the bar pretty high for the rest of us, don't they? :-)

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  8. Book famously released in installments, which I took pains to track down years later, and was not at all sorry to do so. There are subtle differences between the book and film, although even discounting that it's still very much worth reading even if you've already seen it, as with any King story.

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  9. I remember the book coming out in installments (I worked at a bookstore at the time) and how crazy people were going for it. I have never read it but will put it on my list. Thanks!

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