The Long Walk

The story starts when a hundred boys from different states of America joined a yearly "Long walk" contest. The participants need to walk without decreasing their speeds and without stopping until they reach the finish line. Each time they fail sustaining their walks is equivalent to a ticket, they can only get three tickets, the next one will be a gunshot in their heads.

What made me buy this book is because it is in my favorite genre, Dystopia. Maybe, I expect too much when I'm about to read this book.
Many reviews gave it a 4 and 5 stars ratings, which means, it is one of the best dystopian novel. And besides, I read somewhere that
this is where Suzzanne Collins got her idea of her novel, The Hunger Games(One of my favorite novel).

I am disappointed when I finished the book. I felt like I wasted too much time reading the book. Though the premise of the book is
good, but I think it is poorly written. I'm not sure if King rushed the novel or if he lacks in idea when he is writing the novel.
The sub plots are so hollow that it felt that it is not really needed in the story, that they are just a filler to reach King's
word quota.

The novel is just an OK for me, nothing special or spectacular that happened in the story. I will not recommend this novel to those who are looking for a "hardcore dystopian novel".

I love King, but this is the most disappointing novel I have EVER read. I kept waiting for the story to develop beyond the surface story of walking. Nope. I kept waiting for their world to be explained. Nope. I literally threw the book down when I was done. I should have spent the time reading the instruction manual for my DVD player. It would have been just as entertaining yet more useful.

The Long Walk is a book by an elusive author named Richard Bachman—whom no one has ever met—about a bunch of kids being slaughtered in a near-future (or alternate reality) dystopian America. Which, been there, done that, right? Can’t unknown authors write about something that wouldn’t be covered again decades later? The lack of foresight here is really disappointing.

There are differences, though, between The Hunger Games and this book, particularly in that the kids in The Long Walk are mowed down by military officials rather than by each other, and that participation in this deadly event is strictly voluntary (whereas in The Hunger Games, there is little “choice” in the matter). And while I don’t think it is a bad thing necessarily for some of these teenagers to get their just desserts—seriously, have you met a teenager?—the voluntary aspect of this event is something that I had trouble with. Because we’re not just talking a few hundred mentally disturbed kids who cannot comprehend the meaning of a 99% mortality rate. We’re talking tens of thousands of kids across the country who seem to want to be chosen for competition, and whose family and friends seem even to encourage their participation. I am not sure how dystopian this dystopia is, other than that it appears to include a military-run government, but it certainly doesn’t leave one with the impression that laying low and avoiding the event entirely should be all that difficult to do, so what’s with all these idiots wanting to get themselves killed?

But still, the book is pretty good overall. It draws interesting conclusions about survival and what drives us to surpass that which we believe to be the limits of our physical capabilities (mind over matter) and it also addresses a point that I have always been able to relate to particularly, which is that it doesn’t take much more than a simple conversation sometimes to connect with another person, and in the case of The Long Walk, that connection can come to mean the difference between life and death for its characters. At the end of it all, though, it is a book that was hard to put down, and it makes one wonder why the author—whoever he is—has not been more prolific and has never broken free from relative obscurity.

Stephen Kings Schreibstil ist unglaublich. Irgendwie ist in diesem Buch ja nichts geschehen , bis auf das ein paar Jungs ununterbrochen laufen und trotzdem hab ich sowohl gelacht, als auch geweint! King ist einfach gut darin, Charaktere zu erschaffen und sie dem Leser nahe zu bringen, selbst wenn man sie unsympathisch findet, fiebert man mit. Hut ab :)

The Long Walk is a re-read for me that I picked back up for Book #7 of the Stephen King Challenge. It is also one of the original stories that King wrote as Richard Bachman. I found it funny in the prologue section entitled The Importance of Being Bachman, King writes that he used his secret alias for when he felt that he had a really dark story that needed to come out. Let me get this straight. King has stories inside him that are too dark and horrible to put his name on them? Wow! This I've got to read again.

The story reads like a combination of the inspiration of the Hunger Games and Survivor meets the Bataan Death March and a parody of the draft for the Vietnam War. It is also the first novel that King ever wrote, predating Carrie by eight years.

Ray Garrity and 98 other late-teens entrants, in the Long Walk, begin the contest in the northern tip of Presque Isle, Maine. The purpose of the The Long Walk or why anyone would want to do it is not clearly explained. As the story unfolds, we learn that the Walkers have to maintain 4 mph, stay on the road, and cannot interfere with the other Walkers progress. If any of these rules are violated, the Walker gets a warning. After 3 warnings, they are shot and killed by one of the soldiers that are shadowing them on the side of the road in a half-track. As the hours and miles pass into days and nights of hundreds of miles, we learn about the Walkers and their stories. Meanwhile, Walkers are dropping as the miles on the road unwind. How far can they push their bodies through fatigue, weather, injury, and the unraveling of the mind?

While it may not sound like much of a premise, King tells an absolutely terrific tale. The characters are fantastically described and fleshed out. We feel their pain, their anxiety, their fears. The dread and fatigue ratchet up to dizzying levels and I feel that the ending is near perfect, as is the story. Highly recommended.

5 Blistered and Swollen Feet out of 5


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Ansié devorar este libro desde que leí su sinopsis. Una suerte de futuro distopico donde el gobierno realiza una competición anual, una caminata, a la que los jóvenes se postulan de forma voluntaria por la promesa de fama y fortuna para quien salga vencedor. ¿Qué hay que hacer? Resistir. ¿Cuánto? Más que los otros 99 caminantes. ¿Las reglas? Nunca reducir la velocidad a menos de 6,5 km/h y nunca detenerse. ¿Y si no se puede? Entonces un obediente soldado te atraviesa el cráneo de un balazo. 100 jóvenes inician la marcha. 99 quedan en el camino. 1 lo obtiene todo.

Stephen King, con la habilidosa y retorcida prosa a la que nos tiene acostumbrados, nos hace parte del camino, nos incita a acompañar a estos jóvenes mientras establecen alianzas y enemistades, mientras se cuestionan su ambición, su anhelo de probarse a sí mismos, sus razones para someterse a una competencia tan macabra. A medida que avanzan las horas, los kilómetros y gana terreno el cansancio físico pero también emocional, vamos desnudando las intenciones, anhelos y conflictos del protagonista y sus contendientes en una aventura que inquieta, perturba, conmueve y jamás, realmente jamás, te deja indiferente.

Pero King no se limita a explorar el ansia de fortuna o ese voluntario coqueteo con la muerte porque la caminata no es un suceso socialmente despreciado, no, la larga marcha es un auténtico espectáculo que lleva a la gente a aglomerarse a los costados de las carreteras para verlos, vitorearlos y apostar a favor o en contra de ellos. King alza una crítica voraz y despiadada al morboso deleite colectivo por la miseria ajena, por la deshumanización que rige en los realitys que consumimos y cómo los consumimos.

Un libro que vale mucho la pena.

Full review:

5 Stars

Stephen King does it again! The Long Walk represents a true mastery in suspense storytelling, that will keep you engaged in a horrifying tale of survival!

It’s quite incredible how the mind of a brilliant author like Stephen King works. This guy has given us a plethora of amazing works, including killer clows (IT), post-apocalyptic fight for survival (The Stand), the horrifying minds of killers and their obsessions (The Shining, Mercedes Trilogy) and so on.

What most of those classic novels have in common is a wide range of amazing characters and a vast world to build on. I mean, SK’s imagination is built on steroids, and the results are staggering. Take for instance, ‘The Stand’, where a man-made weaponized virus wipes 98% of the world and the result is an apocalyptic world where millions of dead litter the streets, and survivors struggle to rebuild and fight an evil force.

What would happen if King would not be allowed to create any world building in his story?? This is exactly what he accomplishes in The Long Walk .


Stephen King does something extraordinary with the The Long Walk! There are only 2 elements at play here: the road and the walkers! The premise of the novel revolves around a yearly contest that involves 100 boys (from 12 to 17 years) who have one simple goal:


WALK OR DIE!





If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying, and sets in motion recurring theme of the book. Essentially, SK asks the reader the question: To what extent would a human go to ensure his own survival? Stephen King pulls all his punches and offers a guttural experience of survival at all costs.

This book is downright terrifying! Don’t get me wrong, the horror doesn’t come from killer clowns, zombies or psychopath killers! It comes from the unrelenting human spirit in its quest for survival. In the book we follow a 16 year old teenager named ‘Garraty’ who leaves his mother and girlfriend to face the long ‘abysmal’ walk. In reality, to be a part of the ‘walk’, there’s a stringent battery of psychological and physical tests, and only 1% of test takers get invited in. The ‘grand prize’, is very vague, but SK leads readers to believe the sole winner can have ‘any wish he wants’.

SK writing is fascinating here. The dialogue he creates between contestants is filled with comedy, tragedy and at times pure anger. Many different types of relationships between contestants are fostered. SK recreates the typical high-school drama that most of us have encountered. Different ‘cliques’ are established during the ‘walk’, and as many friendships as rivalries are formed. Ultimatelly, it is the transformation in all of the contestants during the walk, that is most felt by the reader.

The Long Walk represents a true embodiement of human survival in a horrifying contenst of life and death. SK gives us a psychological masterpiece, that is unique from many of his works, and should be a delight to read to most readers.

5 Stars

I kind of blame Stephen King for reality television.

That’s not fair because he certainly wasn't the first person to do stories about murderous games done as entertainment, and it’s not like he produced Survivor or Big Brother. However, two of the books he did under the Richard Bachman pen name before being outed are about death contests done to distract the masses in dystopian societies. So whenever I see an ad for those kinds of shows I can’t help but think that the people who make that trash read those books but saw them as great TV concepts rather than horrifying visions of the future.

The scenario here is that 100 teenage boys volunteer to be part of an annual event called The Long Walk. The rules are simple. You start walking and keep up a speed of 4 miles per hour. If you fall below that pace you get a few warnings. If you don’t get back up to speed immediately, you get shot. Easier than checkers, right? Here’s the real rub: You absolutely cannot stop. All 100 boys walk until 99 of them are killed. Last one still teetering around on whatever is left of their feet then wins the ultimate prize.

On the surface you could say that this concept that could seem silly or absurd. Why would anyone volunteer for this? Answering that question turns out to be one of the best parts of the book as King moves the walkers through stages while things get progressively worse for them on the road. What King tapped into here is that realization that deep down we all think we’re special, that things will always work out for us, and this is especially true when we’re teens with no real ideas about consequences and our own mortality.

While the story focuses on one character it really becomes about all of the walkers, and we get to know them through their conversations and how they deal with the death that is literally nipping at their heels. Eventually the grim reality of their situation sets in, and we also view how the boys react to realizing the true horror they signed up for. We also learn a bit about the world they live in, and it’s an interesting minor aspect established in a few stray bits that this is essentially some kind of alternate history where World War II played out somewhat differently.

I’d read this several times back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but hadn’t picked it up in the 21st century so it felt like there’s a dated element to the way that Long Walk functions. The boys essentially just show up in whatever clothes they have and they start walking with little fanfare. It almost seems like a contest at a county fair instead of something that captures the nation’s attention. There’s some explanation given about how they don’t want crowds or TV cameras around as distractions at the start until the walkers get settled into the routine.

However, that doesn’t seem to fit with the idea that the event is being orchestrated as a distraction and weird kind of motivational tool. If the story were told now there would be a lot more about the media coverage, and the whole thing would probably have a corporate sponsor. Plus, the walkers would have matching shoes and uniforms designed to look cool and keep them walking longer. They’d also probably have a more sophisticated method than soldiers with rifles and stopwatches dispatching the lollygaggers, too. This doesn’t hurt the story at all, though. Instead it gives the whole thing a kind of dated charm like watching a movie from the ‘70s where everyone is smoking and people have to wait by the phone.

One more note about Stephen King: The man really needs to have a spoiler warning branded on his forehead. I had to stop following him on Twitter after he spoiled major events on both Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. My friend Trudi had part of The Killer Inside Me ruined for her by King's introduction in which he described several key twists. I was listening to an audible version of this that had an intro from him talking about why he did the whole Richard Bachman thing. In it, he casually gives away the end of The Running Man novel. Fortunately for me I'd already read that one, but Uncle Stevie clearly just doesn't get the concept and why it pisses people off.

Overall, The Long Walk held up to my memories of it as one of the better King books as well as having a chilling idea at the heart of it. Sure, some might say that the idea of contest that dehumanizes people for entertainment to make things easier for a fascist ruler is far-fetched. On the other hand, this TV show will be premiering a few days after a certain orange pile of human shaped garbage takes power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTNZr...

It’s a Richard Bachman world, people. Get ready to walk. Or maybe run.