"They walked through the rainy dark like gaunt ghosts, and Garraty didn't like to look at them. They were the walking dead."

On the first day of May each year, one hundred boys will take part in "The Long Walk". Breaking the rules results in warnings. More than three warnings and you'll get your ticket and you're out of the race.

I've felt for quite a while now that my top 10 Kings are pretty solid - before reading this I had about 13 or 14 left to read and none of them really seem like possible contenders (apart from maybe The Green Mile). In particular, I never thought a goddamn Bachman book would break the top 10 (we have a rocky relationship me and Bachman). And yet here we are! The Long Walk didn't just break into the top 10, but the top 5!

From the outset I thought The Long Walk would just be another dystopian novel (I say "another" quite loosely as surely this was one of the first?), but boy was I wrong. Below the surface, this book touches upon so many different themes and topics, like mortality, identity, friendship, and countless others. If you've followed my King journey you'll know that I'm a huge fan of the books in which King tackles death, grief, loss and mortality. That's kinda my wheelhouse. All of these rank in my top 10: Pet Sematary, Duma Key, Lisey's Story, Bag of Bones… and stories like The Woman in the Room and The Last Rung on the Ladder (both of these appear in Night Shift, which is also on the list). The Long Walk is heavy on both mortality and death.

King started writing this when he was eighteen. EIGHTEEN. And yet this will surpass many of the books I read in my lifetime. I'm not sure how much editing was done between his first draft and when it was actually released, but either way, this is a fascinating idea for a book. Only King could make the story of one hundred boys walking down a road so fucking nail-biting and engrossing. It is dripping with tension and dread. My heart would be racing in my chest - when some of those boys stumbled I would be screaming "GET UP" in my head!

So many King books have had an impact on me, but this has been one of the most impressive. When I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it or talking about it. I almost wanted to stop strangers in the street and tell them all about the amazing book I was reading. I had to settle for telling my boyfriend all about it instead - but even then he was kinda like "So?" *shrugs*… and that's the thing. The plot sounds interesting, yes, but it's the immersive experience you have when reading this one that really sticks with you. It's the characters you get to know. It's the looming black cloud of death that hangs over these boys. I cried on countless occasions during this read - death is a very real fear for me, and when I think of what these boys must have been going through, it got to be too much at times.

As for the characters themselves, King has written them all in such a way that they're very individual, with their own personalities and traits. McVries in particular stands out for me. You get the impression he may not have been the best person in the world before this experience, but he becomes a really decent guy throughout the walk, he becomes someone for our main protagonist, Garraty, to lean on. I love McVries <3 and Stebbins too!

It's a brutal read, it's heartbreaking, there are certain scenes you'll simply never forget - but ultimately, it's worth it. It also gave me one of the worst book hangovers I've ever had, I'm so thankful for podcasts and people online who will allow me to dwell in this story that King created for a little while longer. It's emotionally exhausting and physically draining, but its monumental impact will stay with me forever.

5 stars.

4.0 Stars
More dystopian than horror, this was a surprisingly engrossing story. I always thought that the premise of this book was a bit ridiculous, but I’m glad that I finally took a chance and read it for myself. The actual story is quite simple and I do wish there had been more focus on world-building to give more backstory to the walk. Yet what made this book work so well ended up being the characters. I found myself very invested in the boys and felt quite deeply for their struggles. This is definitely one of the best Stephen King books that I have read.

3.5 stars

This dystopian-style thriller novel is brutal - there's physical death, sure, but the brutality is more through the struggles of walking so ridiculously far, the psychology of the warnings and not knowing when the next person would fall. Even the horrors of squatting quickly in the street and using the bathroom in front of a crowd. Awful stuff.

You'd think it would be hard to fill a book with a "walk", but King manages it well through tension, suspense, dialogue, developed friendships, different personality types colliding, and the limitations of the human body. I know I definitely couldn't have made it far. Someone told me it was an analogy with the Vietnam war and so many signing up with idealized, youth-filled hope. During the walk itself the boys realized they made a mistake in signing up, that it was too late, that it was horrible, and ended up resenting the crowds, Mayor and those who ran the walk. Would have been so nice to be able to slaughter the crowds and those soldiers! Sickening.

The characters were well-sketched, and I grew attached to some of them. I had no idea who would go and when. King likes shifting POV but he keeps it straight through the main character Garrity this time.

The book was interesting and engaging, although there was some small issues. One is the bizarre focus on sex. I know these are teenage boys but some of this felt misplaced. Also a little of it grew tiresome after awhile, and it was such a bleak feel that is normal in dystopians, but hard to enjoy and follow enough for a higher rating. Also I'd like to have known more details on some of the mains and why they chose to join the walk.

Stunning novella. Easily my favourite of Stephen King's "Bachman" period

Essentially a long walk into madness

The Long Walk is a short story by Richard Bachman, aka a much younger and much more cynical Stephen King. It centers around Ray Garraty, one of the 100 boys selected to participate in this year’s Long Walk. What is the Long Walk you ask? Exactly what it sounds like: a long fucking walk.

The Rules: Keep walking. Keep up the pace. If you don’t, there are armed guards there to put a bullet in your head. Get too tired? Get shot. Stop to chat? Get shot. Run off and try to get free? Get shot. Slow down? Get shot. Catch pneumonia and struggle to keep up? Get shot.

What happens if you are the last man standing walking? Well, you get whatever you want for the rest of your life, or so the story goes. You get all the riches. You get comforts unimaginable. But will it matter if your mind is gone?

This book is just one giant mindfuck from start to finish. We are inside the mind of Garraty and we get the firsthand experience of what it’s like to walk nonstop day and night through the elements. He’s supplied water and a lovely food supplement that’s squeezed through a tube along with some crackers for good measure.

Garraty is interested in learning about the other boys who willingly volunteered to partake in this walk, the biggest sporting event of the year. He’s still not sure why he volunteered, but it’s buried somewhere deep in his mind. Will he find the answers he is looking for? Will he come out on top or will his be one of the 99 bodies scattered along the side of the road?

I loved this book the first time I read it many years ago, and I loved it even more the second time around on audio. For a book where the premise seems simple and boring, it is an enthralling read. No matter what format you choose, you will not be disappointed.

Tengo un problema con este libro: me encanta y no me convence al mismo tiempo.

*Lo que me encanta: que arranca directamente en el tema central (no se demora como en otros libros del autor), los personajes y todo lo que les ocurre, como van mutando. Es adictivo, lo empesas y no lo podes soltar, necesitas terminarlo.

*Lo que no me convence: no hay motivo para esta competencia a muerte, no hay una razón de porque se implementó y que finalidad tiene. En realidad no tiene un motivo de ser, es puro entretenimiento sádico, pero no es verosímil en mi opinión que una sociedad acepte y aliente algo así sin una razón de ser. Incluso en la época antigua las peleas en el coliseo no eran a muerte sino hasta vencer (aunque la mayoría no se rendía hasta la muerte), y no era tan sádico como esto, acá es literalmente para mí un modo de tortura tomado como un juego por la sociedad.
Hay otros libros donde también se arman mecanismos para producir muertes y observarlas por un público pero tienen un fundamento. 3 ejemplos:
-Los juegos del hambre: es un modo de venganza y recordatorio de quien tiene el poder
-La lotería de Babilonia, de Borges: es una metáfora de cómo una sociedad conserva tradiciones aunque ya no tengan sentido.
-Maze runner: es un experimento científico con una finalidad determinada.

*Final: hay una cuestión que me molesta…

ALERTA SPOILER

Ya sabemos quién va a ganar la carrera desde el principio porque narra la historia desde la perspectiva de este personaje, por tanto sabemos que el tiene que ganar para poder contarlo. Podríamos pensar que se podría morir y cambiar de perspectiva el narrador, pero cada vez que avanzamos más en la historia en menos probable y finalmente no ocurre.

Les dejo un video sobre el decálogo de King (por si les interesa): https://bit.ly/48YnNaa

Il King degli esordi mi lascia senza fiato.
Un racconto dalle tinte forti, capace di trasmettere sensazioni disturbanti e di sgomento. Un mondo distopico in cui 100 ragazzi si dirigono verso il loro destino.

Seguire i personaggi passo dopo passo è tremendo. King non viene pagato a numero di pagine scritte e si vede (forse perché si tratta di uno dei suoi primi romanzi :). Non si dilunga, non approfondisce, ma offre un racconto folle, senza fronzoli, volutamente spietato e d'impatto.
La sofferenza, la paura e la presa di coscienza che il protagonista acquisisce sulla folle scelta di aver partecipato alla gara permette al lettore di rimanere al suo fianco e condividerne le sensazioni.

Ci si chiede cosa li abbia spinti a partecipare, la risposta potrebbe essere banalmente nell'ottenere l'ambito premio finale, nella passione giovanile, nel mettersi alla prova, ma qui si rischia tutto, sembra che i partecipanti non ne siano pienamente consapevoli.

Siamo gli occhi del protagonista, al principio non abbiamo idea di cosa ci aspetta, veniamo a conoscenza delle regole man mano che avanziamo, in un crescendo di orrore e panico, dolore e follia.

Estraniante e geniale.

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The King of the beginnings leaves me breathless.
A story with strong colors, capable of transmitting disturbing and dismaying sensations. A dystopian world in which 100 kids head towards their destiny.

Following the characters step by step is terrible. King is not paid by the number of pages written and it shows (perhaps because it is one of his first novels :). He does not linger, he does not go into depth, but offers a crazy story, without frills, deliberately ruthless and impactful.
The suffering, the fear and the awareness that the protagonist acquires on the crazy choice of having participated in the competition allows the reader to stay by his side and share his sensations.

One wonders what pushed them to participate, the answer could be trivially in obtaining the coveted final prize, in youthful passion, in putting themselves to the test, but here everything is at risk, it seems that the participants are not fully aware of it.

We are the eyes of the protagonist, at the beginning we have no idea what awaits us, we learn the rules as we progress, in a crescendo of horror and panic, pain and madness.

Alienating and brilliant.

I'm not recovering from this one... this book now lives in my head, rent free, for the rest of my life

The plot is incredibly simple, a group on 100 teenage boys have to walk no slower then 4miles per hour until there is only one left. No end in sight. Not until everyone else is dead.

The group joke with each other, form bonds, save each others lives and keep each other going for as long as they can. There’s more comradery then I expected.

About halfway through this book I learned King wrote this as a teenager around 1966, when the Vietnam war had been going on for nearly a decade. Young men sent off to die, never knowing when the war would end.

It makes sense that in this book you have so many families and spectators showing up to cheer the boys as they pass.
The physical and mental exam that the boys had to take.
How this entire walk is voluntary.
That the prize is never explicitly said (it’s whatever you want), and the reasons they volunteered is not given.
While the commentary on war is not explicit it penetrates the story in a way that I cannot unsee.

You see the downward spiral into madness and overall despair, as those you care about die around you. How they use little moments to keep them moving (not wanting to die in the dark, not until they see their girl…)
It questions the value of life in the midst of such suffering, how people are animals watching the suffering of others, the love you feel to those around you.

The tiny moments of world building about the military and those with certain political believes being “squaded” That feel like not enough but it tells you everything you need to know

Except for the watermelon man I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM!!!

I remember my local library having a copy of 'The Long Walk' under the Richard Bachman pseudonym back before it came out that he was King. I was always intrigued by the premise, but didn't ever check it out. I wish I had because this feels like a book written to be read by young men.
King wrote it in high school I believe, and that shows in the fact that he lays things on as thickly as he does. Despite (or maybe because of that) the book mostly works. It's certainly gripping and engagingly told and the central premise (every year in a near future America 100 young men walk until only one of them is still going) is immediately gripping. It's basically 'The Lottery' meets 'They Shoot Horses Don't They?' and it has more raw power than something like 'The Hunger Games' which dilutes its political message with an actual plot. The plotlessness of 'The Long Walk' should be a problem, but in King's hands it isn't. You basically know what is going to happen from the first page, but he still mananges to keep it gripping. I think that's largely down to decent character work. The boys on the walk might not be likeable, but they do feel quite realistic and you grow to care about them.

Dziwna książka. Czytałam dla pomysłu, ale uważam, że styl pisania go zepsuł

(4.5) Every time someone asks me which Stephen King book I would recommend, I mention this one. After reading quite a few of his books, it's still my favorite!

The downward spiral into madness and overall despair were very well written. Reading this book literally made my body ache.

I do wish there were a few more details about the world, how the long walk came about, etc.
The ending wasn't fully satisfying, as seem to be most endings for SK, but I enjoyed the book anyway.

These shoes are made for death walks and that´s where the characters go just one of these pairs of shoes is gonna walk home living too.

The true darkness comes with the historic real life examples that come to mind while and after reading this work, as it was, is, and will be a trend to kill people with death marches as special kind of psychological torture, as the victims have to watch their friends and family being killed one after another by the guards or sport fans next to the death race track.

Following the sick rules of war and human mentality, it´s a perfect method to show both the enemy and the own population who is boss, as the immense suffering and agony of the moribund are the easiest and cheapest marketing for ones´ dictatorship. Citizens will shiver and don´t dare to protest, enemy soldiers will be demotivated before even entering the country, just perfect.

With future medicine or even just normal, good medical support for the victims it could become an endless circle of pain to show who owns the country, continent, and finally the world, not to forget the irony of giving the best cures and drugs to people who are determined to die, wasting it that way, and very probably not giving free general health insurance to the own population adds another layer of perversion and a very real innuendo to the mix.

It could be used for the marketing of different products, sponsors for the victims, and a huge tourism and entertainment industry around it too, with different routes all through the evil world dominating empire, with different topics, logos, single sponsors, including all kind of Hunger Games elements, varying difficulty levels, terrains, climate zones, rules how victims can or can´t kill another or the audience and guards, if the audience can freely or for high fees take part in the fun, different groups of victims selected by age, gender, or race, for instance just young white men for groups who are into that, etc. The options, both for propaganda and deterrent, are manifold.

Did I mention casting shows or the good old fashioned random selection with stylish, music video like, bada bing, reality TV satirizing elements? Not sure how much of it is already out there in the newer fantasy and young adult genre, as I am sticking on the classic Sci-Fi and fantasy authors ( I am old) I am used to read, like the blood on the festering soles of the feet of the road runners, beep, beep.

King said about one of his novels, I am not sure if it´s this one or The running man he wrote under the pseudonym Richard Bachmann too, that he wrote it in 2 or 3 weeks (if it was already part of the dawn process of his cocaine multi drug use phase that would explain it) and the astonishing thing is that one doesn´t notice that fact, as it´s perfect, easy going entertainment others may need years to write or even never be able to write it. And he is just like „Hold my beer“, coming back soon later, „There´s your novel.“ style.

I am a bit missing the metaplot, big scene, worldbuilding element in many of Kings´ new works, where there is paranormal activity always spooking around, but nothing compared to his older novels or the Dark towers series, which is a shame, as he was brilliant at creating big pictures in combination with the amazing characters too.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...