T.C. Hillier's Reviews > The Green Mile

I’d neglected to read this book as a younger me, prior to having watched the film. While it may be viewed as a mistake, I think perhaps it’s a blessing. As an adult, having lived through certain things in my life, I was able to understand the deeper level to this story. Never have I resonated so closely with a character in a story, than John Coffey.
See, while I believe most people may view this character as perhaps a gift from God, an angel, someone with supernatural powers, a healer, or the like, and perhaps that was the intention of King, but I can see him as something that exists in reality. The ‘thing’ that I resonate so closely with. A highly sensitive empath (HSE).
Whilst being a HSE can typically make the person extremely caring, compassionate, and understanding, it is also a heavy burden with huge cognitive costs.
A few lines from The Green Mile resonated so deeply in me that it caused me to take breaks from the book.
“I’m rightly tired of the pain I hear and feel, boss.”
“I’m tired of people bein ugly to each other. It feels like pieces of glass in my head. I’m tired of all the times I’ve wanted to help and couldn’t.”
“Mostly it’s the pain. There’s too much. If I could end it, I would. But I can’t.”
“That’s how it is every day. All over the world.”
“I’m sorry for what I am.”
Incredible story. It hits so deep into the soul.