The Green Mile vs The Ruins: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Horror, Fiction
The Green Mile
“This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain.”
The Green Mile is a 1996 serial novel by American writer Stephen King. It tells the story of death row supervisor Paul Edgecombe's encounter with John Coffey, an unusual inmate who displays inexplicable healing and…
1 film adaptation
vs
The Ruins
Two young couples are on a lazy Mexican vacation—sun-drenched days, drunken nights, making friends with fellow tourists. When the brother of one of those friends disappears, they decide to venture into the jungle to…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Readers rate The Green Mile highest: The Green Mile 4.5 · The Ruins 3.9.
- The Ruins is the quickest read — about 6 hours vs 8 for The Green Mile.
- The Green Mile has the widest readership — 377372 ratings behind its score.
- The Green Mile runs the darker storyline; The Ruins stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The Green Mile | The Ruins | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.5 (377372) | — |
| Hardcover | 4.4 (649) | 3.6 (229) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (4) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (1002) | 4.0 (397) |
Reception
| The Green Mile | The Ruins | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 377372 | 397 |
| Editions | 91 | 9 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 254848 | — |
| Reading it now | 9085 | — |
| Written reviews | 17799 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 17677 | 4441 |
| Pages | 465 | 336 |