Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Gallery Books (2016), Edition: Reissue, 320 pages
Description
On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying...
Media reviews
Wielki Marsz
Jaka jest największa nagroda, którą można sobie wymarzyć? Wielu odpowiedziałoby pieniądze, sława czy władza. Ale jest coż ważniejszego od tych rzeczy. Największą nagrodą jest zachowanie życia. Taką właśnie tematykę podjął Stephen King w książce zatytułowanej
Show More
"Wielki Marsz". Autor znowu zaskoczył czytelników głębią swojego umysłu. Stworzył bowiem opowieść wciągającą, alegoryczną i tonącą w mrocznym klimacie.
Tym razem S. King mocą swojej wyobraźni przeniósł czytelnika na start wyścigu. Meta natomiast znajduje się tam, gdzie padnie ze zmęczenia przedostatni z zawodników. Raz w roku do Wielkiego Marszu stają młodzi chłopcy z całych Stanów Zjednoczonych. Ich zadaniem jest maszerować tak długo, aż zostanie tylko jeden. Jeden, bo pozostali zginą, jeśli spróbują wycofać się w trakcie wyścigu. Trasa marszu biegnie przez ogromne połacie kraju, a młodzi zawodnicy muszą wędrować niezależnie od warunków pogodowych czy pory dnia.
"Wielki Marsz" S. Kinga opowiada o brutalnej i bezwzglednej rywalizacji. Cel może osiągnąć tylko jedna osoba, a śmiałków jest wielu. Czy w grupie znajdą się ludzie gotowi pomóc słabszym zawodnikom? Czy chęć przetrwania okaże się silniejsza niż ludzkie uczucia?
Wędrując śladem zawodników wyścigu, czytelnik posmakuje napięcia, jakie zbudował S. King. Zagłębi się w mroczny świat, w którym obowiązuje tylko jedna zasada. Za wszelką cenę iść do przodu i nie zatrzymywać się nawet na moment. Tylko wtedy osiągnie się cel podróży i zdobędzie nagrodę.
"Wielki Marsz" to książka dla wszystkich miłośników literatury grozy. Ale z pewnością i inni czytelnicy znajdą interesujące wątki w opowieści S. Kinga. Niewątpliwie domeną tego autora jest to, że potrafi dotrzeć do wielu odbiorców. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member jseger9000
Now here's something. A virtually unknown Stephen King novel that is excellent. A vaguely science fiction novel in a fascist state that runs an annual competition called 'The Long Walk'. A group of one hundred young people (you must be under eighteen) start at the Maine/Canada border and walk
I'd always figured that Rage would be the Bachman book that was 'worth reading' because of its notorious reputation if nothing else. And yet The Long Walk blows the so-so Rage to pieces. It is a much better book. Through the course of a novel, you come to know a small group of boys, not wanting to become too attached, knowing that they must all die for the Walk to end. King is excellent not just in detailing the constant tension of literally being followed by your would be killers, but in describing all the microscopic, miserable little details of the death march. You feel like you are marching with them as the scenery rarely changes and their bodies fail.
It's very similar to a book I just finished recently, Battle Royale. It is leagues better in quality though. Battle Royale was trashy pulp trying to defend itself by pretending to be something more. The Long Walk is something more, disguised as trashy pulp.
Show More
south. You must walk a minimum of four miles an hour. Fall below that and you receive a warning. After three warnings you are shot by the impassive soldiers following behind in a half-track. The last Walker wins.I'd always figured that Rage would be the Bachman book that was 'worth reading' because of its notorious reputation if nothing else. And yet The Long Walk blows the so-so Rage to pieces. It is a much better book. Through the course of a novel, you come to know a small group of boys, not wanting to become too attached, knowing that they must all die for the Walk to end. King is excellent not just in detailing the constant tension of literally being followed by your would be killers, but in describing all the microscopic, miserable little details of the death march. You feel like you are marching with them as the scenery rarely changes and their bodies fail.
It's very similar to a book I just finished recently, Battle Royale. It is leagues better in quality though. Battle Royale was trashy pulp trying to defend itself by pretending to be something more. The Long Walk is something more, disguised as trashy pulp.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nfmgirl2
Fantastic story. Originally a short story included in The Bachman Books, this story has a great premise. Times are hard, and 100 boys begin a marathon in hopes of being the one remaining that wins a fortune that will enable them to take care of their families. This story has great character
Show More
development, and you wind up feeling gut-wrenching empathy for the boys as they are "eliminated" from the race one-by-one. This would be one of my favorite Stephen King stories. Show Less
LibraryThing member chrisblocker
I haven't quite made up my mind about Stephen King. Part of me is repelled by his trendiness; that part also recognizes an author with flaws of dialogue and resolution and an author who needs to better listen to his editor (or find a new editor). And yet the guy can craft a really riveting,
But I keep coming back because there is a draw. After a year or two away, something about King's works calls to me. Sometimes I'm glad I returned. Other times, I'm like “eh.” This time around, I am truly, genuinely surprised.
I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of The Long Walk. It's not one of the author's more notable works. The summary of the book brought to mind ideas of a potentially strong story, but greater likelihood of cheesiness. And knowing that King would have to maintain an entire novel of teenagers talking with one another frightened me.
But this novel really, truly worked. First, The Long Walk is believably scary. This isn't about killer clowns or murderous cars, it's about a society that encourages and delights in the sacrifice of its youth. Once a year, one hundred teenage boys begin walking. They cannot stop until there is only one left. What happens if they stop or walk too slowly? They receive a warning. After three warnings, they're killed. That's it. So simply terrifying. And the walk goes on day after day, because when your only choice is to live or to stop and rest, you find the will to keep going (or maybe you don't.)
But this isn't really a story about a dystopian society in love with the long walk, now is it? This is the story of war. Boys on the verge of manhood being sent on some ridiculous quest. They're spurred on by the words of a general shouting encouragement at them. They're cheered on by the patriotic fervor of the crowds that watch from the sideline, but never join the walk. They're shell-shocked and unsure why they'd even started walking in the first place. Published in 1979, The Long Walk likely was inspired by the war in Vietnam, but it could easily be about any war.
One of the things that almost doesn't work but ends up working spectacularly in this novel is the dialogue. Some of these conversations are so brilliant. Others are completely asinine. Who would believe that these individuals would have the conversations they do right after watching their neighbor being gunned down. But isn't that exactly how it is in war? Don't these soldiers become so immune to it all that while they may from time to time philosophize about life and death, they're just as likely to talk about Saturday morning cartoons? At times, the raging hormones of these one hundred became a bit over the top for my tastes, but largely I believed this group's actions and discussions.
The only area where I would've liked to have seen change was in the contemporary setting. King places these kids sometime in the sixties or seventies, I'm never quite sure. Again, this probably alludes to Vietnam, but it dates the story horribly. The boys discuss the music, the cars, and the babes of the era. In 2018, it makes an otherwise universal story sound a bit hokey at times. This was a problem that The Stand suffered from as well.
I was really pulled into this novel and I must say that while I've read relatively little of King's complete bibliography, this has been my favorite so far. There are some really wonderful passages here and the overall story is quite engaging. The Long Walk truly made me hungry for more of King's writing.
Show More
well-told story, ie “The Body.” No work better displays both sides of King than The Stand, a wonderfully constructed tale that suffers woefully from diarrhea of the pen.But I keep coming back because there is a draw. After a year or two away, something about King's works calls to me. Sometimes I'm glad I returned. Other times, I'm like “eh.” This time around, I am truly, genuinely surprised.
I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of The Long Walk. It's not one of the author's more notable works. The summary of the book brought to mind ideas of a potentially strong story, but greater likelihood of cheesiness. And knowing that King would have to maintain an entire novel of teenagers talking with one another frightened me.
But this novel really, truly worked. First, The Long Walk is believably scary. This isn't about killer clowns or murderous cars, it's about a society that encourages and delights in the sacrifice of its youth. Once a year, one hundred teenage boys begin walking. They cannot stop until there is only one left. What happens if they stop or walk too slowly? They receive a warning. After three warnings, they're killed. That's it. So simply terrifying. And the walk goes on day after day, because when your only choice is to live or to stop and rest, you find the will to keep going (or maybe you don't.)
But this isn't really a story about a dystopian society in love with the long walk, now is it? This is the story of war. Boys on the verge of manhood being sent on some ridiculous quest. They're spurred on by the words of a general shouting encouragement at them. They're cheered on by the patriotic fervor of the crowds that watch from the sideline, but never join the walk. They're shell-shocked and unsure why they'd even started walking in the first place. Published in 1979, The Long Walk likely was inspired by the war in Vietnam, but it could easily be about any war.
One of the things that almost doesn't work but ends up working spectacularly in this novel is the dialogue. Some of these conversations are so brilliant. Others are completely asinine. Who would believe that these individuals would have the conversations they do right after watching their neighbor being gunned down. But isn't that exactly how it is in war? Don't these soldiers become so immune to it all that while they may from time to time philosophize about life and death, they're just as likely to talk about Saturday morning cartoons? At times, the raging hormones of these one hundred became a bit over the top for my tastes, but largely I believed this group's actions and discussions.
The only area where I would've liked to have seen change was in the contemporary setting. King places these kids sometime in the sixties or seventies, I'm never quite sure. Again, this probably alludes to Vietnam, but it dates the story horribly. The boys discuss the music, the cars, and the babes of the era. In 2018, it makes an otherwise universal story sound a bit hokey at times. This was a problem that The Stand suffered from as well.
I was really pulled into this novel and I must say that while I've read relatively little of King's complete bibliography, this has been my favorite so far. There are some really wonderful passages here and the overall story is quite engaging. The Long Walk truly made me hungry for more of King's writing.
Show Less
LibraryThing member edgeworth
(DO NOT READ STEPHEN KING’S INTRODUCTION – SEE BELOW)
The Long Walk is the second of four early novels Stephen King published under the pen-name Richard Bachman (because his output was well over one book a year, more than his publisher was comfortable with for his “brand”) but apparently
The Long Walk, apparently like the other Bachman books (it’s the first of them I’ve read) features no supernatural elements, but is still rendered so clearly in King’s unmistakeable, humble, small-town American prose that I’m surprised his pen-name wasn’t scuppered in the first review. It first appears to take place in a dystopian future, but it’s gradually revealed as the book develops to be a sort of alternate present where World War II played out very differently – there are passing mentions of German air-raids on the eastern seaboard of the US, and another war in California in 1953. King makes the references sparingly, and always in passing, successfully employing the technique of hiding the grand changes in small details.
In any case, The Long Walk takes places in some past or present or future America, fascist and dystopian, an America in which every year 100 teenage boys participate in the Long Walk – “the national pastime.” It begins in Maine (of course), on the Canadian border, with the 100 boys walking south along Interstate 95. There are no rest breaks and the Walk does not stop for any reason, including bad weather or nightfall. They’re supervised by a group of armed soldiers riding alongside them in a half-track. If a participant lags below four miles an hour, he receives a warning. After three warnings, he is “ticketed” – a euphemistic phrase which is unclear at first, but is soon revealed to the reader when a boy named Curley gets a charley horse and becomes the first walker to get his ticket:
Four carbines fired. They were very loud. The noise travelled away like bowling balls, struck the hills, and rolled back.
Why would anyone participate in an event where failure means death? The last remaining walker wins the Prize – “anything you want for the rest of your life.” At least, that’s the ostensible reason. At least some of the boys are suggested to be suicidal, or to not have fully understood the ramifications and the reality of the Walk. One, a boy named McVries, confesses to the protagonist that he’s in the Walk partly out of spite because his girlfriend broke up with him.
The protagonist is a 16-year-old Maine native (of course) named Ray Garraty, but King wisely narrates the book in third person, so it’s entirely up in the air as to whether Garraty will be the last man standing or not – and I won’t spoil it.
There are no twist endings, no grand escapes, no sudden changes. The novel begins with 100 walkers who are gradually whittled down to one, and it’s horrifying. Truly and utterly and viscerally horrible. Stephen King is obviously renowned as a horror writer, but I’ve never found his books frightening, exactly – I’ve enjoyed them because they present fascinating speculative scenarios, like The Stand or The Mist or the Dark Tower series. Even some of his lower rate work like Cujo or Firestarter I’ve enjoyed, not because I was ever at any point horrified by it, but just because it presented an unusual and gripping scenario.
The Long Walk, though, is a non-horror book that’s genuinely horrifying. Part of it, I suspect, is because we all know what it’s like to feel sick of walking – I was exhausted just the other day after trawling around the Melbourne CBD doing Christmas shopping. The concept of being forced to walk on and on and on, for 72 hours or more, even as your calves are burning away, even as your feet swell with blisters, walking forever down and endless road, knowing that if you stop you’ll die – that’s horror. That’s immediately identifiable. I can’t really imagine what it would be like to die of the superflu in The Stand or be killed by one of the spider-monsters in The Mist, but I can very easily comprehend how it would feel to be forced to walk non-stop with a gun at my head. And it’s not just the strength of the concept – The Long Walk is a very readable, fast-paced and well-executed book.
The Long Walk is clearly, to some extent, a war parable. King’s early drafts were written in the mid-1960s, and the spectre of Vietnam looms large – the televised draft lottery, the act of making new friends only to watch them die soon after, the jingoistic support from the nation at large, and the pointless nature of the whole fucked-up scenario. From a vantage point in 2012, it is horrifically inconceivable that young American and Australian teenagers were conscripted to fight in a civil war in South-East Asia, and – this is the kicker – that they would watch it happen on television, on a knife-edge, sitting on the couch with their families as their numbers were drawn out of a barrel like a fucking Powerball to see if they’d be sent off to die. That’s absolutely sickening, yet it happened. Every chapter in The Long Walk begins with a quote from a game show, including one from Chuck Barris saying, “The ultimate game show would be one where the losing contestant was killed.” There’s a definite sense in The Long Walk of the worlds of entertainment and violence colliding, of bread and circuses in a terrible time and place. The walkers gradually grow to hate the crowds that line the highway, knowing full well that the people of America are baying for their blood. (I doubt Battle Royale or The Hunger Games ever would have been written without The Long Walk.)
I read the first half of The Long Walk interspersed with Around the World on a Motorcycle, which I think was a mistake. This is the kind of book that should be read quickly and exclusively – maybe even in one sitting – to best mirror the relentless, onward march of the characters themselves. The Long Walk is one of the best books King has ever written, alongside The Mist and the better books of the Dark Tower series. It’s a book that’s just as powerful today as when it was written, a book that’s excellent for both adults and its target audience of teenagers, and a book that I can highly recommend to everyone.
(One final note, unfortunately a negative one – the particular edition I read of this book, the Signet reprint from 1999, includes an introduction from Stephen King called “The Importance of Being Bachman.” On the third page of this introduction he casually spoils the ending of The Running Man, another novel he published under the name of Richard Bachman, and one that I intend to read. I was flabbergasted that an author would do this to one of his own books. I stopped reading it at that point, so for all I know he also spoils the ending of The Long Walk – and, hey, maybe the endings of The Stand and The Dark Tower and The Mist. Just don’t read the introduction, even after you finish the novel.)
The Long Walk is the second of four early novels Stephen King published under the pen-name Richard Bachman (because his output was well over one book a year, more than his publisher was comfortable with for his “brand”) but apparently
Show More
it’s also the first novel King ever started writing, long before even Carrie.The Long Walk, apparently like the other Bachman books (it’s the first of them I’ve read) features no supernatural elements, but is still rendered so clearly in King’s unmistakeable, humble, small-town American prose that I’m surprised his pen-name wasn’t scuppered in the first review. It first appears to take place in a dystopian future, but it’s gradually revealed as the book develops to be a sort of alternate present where World War II played out very differently – there are passing mentions of German air-raids on the eastern seaboard of the US, and another war in California in 1953. King makes the references sparingly, and always in passing, successfully employing the technique of hiding the grand changes in small details.
In any case, The Long Walk takes places in some past or present or future America, fascist and dystopian, an America in which every year 100 teenage boys participate in the Long Walk – “the national pastime.” It begins in Maine (of course), on the Canadian border, with the 100 boys walking south along Interstate 95. There are no rest breaks and the Walk does not stop for any reason, including bad weather or nightfall. They’re supervised by a group of armed soldiers riding alongside them in a half-track. If a participant lags below four miles an hour, he receives a warning. After three warnings, he is “ticketed” – a euphemistic phrase which is unclear at first, but is soon revealed to the reader when a boy named Curley gets a charley horse and becomes the first walker to get his ticket:
Four carbines fired. They were very loud. The noise travelled away like bowling balls, struck the hills, and rolled back.
Why would anyone participate in an event where failure means death? The last remaining walker wins the Prize – “anything you want for the rest of your life.” At least, that’s the ostensible reason. At least some of the boys are suggested to be suicidal, or to not have fully understood the ramifications and the reality of the Walk. One, a boy named McVries, confesses to the protagonist that he’s in the Walk partly out of spite because his girlfriend broke up with him.
The protagonist is a 16-year-old Maine native (of course) named Ray Garraty, but King wisely narrates the book in third person, so it’s entirely up in the air as to whether Garraty will be the last man standing or not – and I won’t spoil it.
There are no twist endings, no grand escapes, no sudden changes. The novel begins with 100 walkers who are gradually whittled down to one, and it’s horrifying. Truly and utterly and viscerally horrible. Stephen King is obviously renowned as a horror writer, but I’ve never found his books frightening, exactly – I’ve enjoyed them because they present fascinating speculative scenarios, like The Stand or The Mist or the Dark Tower series. Even some of his lower rate work like Cujo or Firestarter I’ve enjoyed, not because I was ever at any point horrified by it, but just because it presented an unusual and gripping scenario.
The Long Walk, though, is a non-horror book that’s genuinely horrifying. Part of it, I suspect, is because we all know what it’s like to feel sick of walking – I was exhausted just the other day after trawling around the Melbourne CBD doing Christmas shopping. The concept of being forced to walk on and on and on, for 72 hours or more, even as your calves are burning away, even as your feet swell with blisters, walking forever down and endless road, knowing that if you stop you’ll die – that’s horror. That’s immediately identifiable. I can’t really imagine what it would be like to die of the superflu in The Stand or be killed by one of the spider-monsters in The Mist, but I can very easily comprehend how it would feel to be forced to walk non-stop with a gun at my head. And it’s not just the strength of the concept – The Long Walk is a very readable, fast-paced and well-executed book.
The Long Walk is clearly, to some extent, a war parable. King’s early drafts were written in the mid-1960s, and the spectre of Vietnam looms large – the televised draft lottery, the act of making new friends only to watch them die soon after, the jingoistic support from the nation at large, and the pointless nature of the whole fucked-up scenario. From a vantage point in 2012, it is horrifically inconceivable that young American and Australian teenagers were conscripted to fight in a civil war in South-East Asia, and – this is the kicker – that they would watch it happen on television, on a knife-edge, sitting on the couch with their families as their numbers were drawn out of a barrel like a fucking Powerball to see if they’d be sent off to die. That’s absolutely sickening, yet it happened. Every chapter in The Long Walk begins with a quote from a game show, including one from Chuck Barris saying, “The ultimate game show would be one where the losing contestant was killed.” There’s a definite sense in The Long Walk of the worlds of entertainment and violence colliding, of bread and circuses in a terrible time and place. The walkers gradually grow to hate the crowds that line the highway, knowing full well that the people of America are baying for their blood. (I doubt Battle Royale or The Hunger Games ever would have been written without The Long Walk.)
I read the first half of The Long Walk interspersed with Around the World on a Motorcycle, which I think was a mistake. This is the kind of book that should be read quickly and exclusively – maybe even in one sitting – to best mirror the relentless, onward march of the characters themselves. The Long Walk is one of the best books King has ever written, alongside The Mist and the better books of the Dark Tower series. It’s a book that’s just as powerful today as when it was written, a book that’s excellent for both adults and its target audience of teenagers, and a book that I can highly recommend to everyone.
(One final note, unfortunately a negative one – the particular edition I read of this book, the Signet reprint from 1999, includes an introduction from Stephen King called “The Importance of Being Bachman.” On the third page of this introduction he casually spoils the ending of The Running Man, another novel he published under the name of Richard Bachman, and one that I intend to read. I was flabbergasted that an author would do this to one of his own books. I stopped reading it at that point, so for all I know he also spoils the ending of The Long Walk – and, hey, maybe the endings of The Stand and The Dark Tower and The Mist. Just don’t read the introduction, even after you finish the novel.)
Show Less
LibraryThing member TobinElliott
The first time I read this novel, thirty-odd years ago, I literally have no memory of it. I don't remember it having any effect on me whatsoever.
Today, having finished it for the second time, I have no idea how that could have happened.
This is a bleak, visceral, gut-punch of a novel. It's King at
For the bulk of this audiobook, I listened while walking. The real landscape fell away and I was on the road with Garrity and the others. There are three scenes in particular, none of which I'll spoil, that stand out. I'll just say that, the first one, that I heard as I started out this morning, had me actually slowing my own walk and whispering, "get up! Get UP!" I felt the fluttering of my heart in my throat.
The second and third scenes are both deaths toward the end of the novel, and both of them had me choked up and blinking away tears.
It's not often that reality falls away, and the reality of the book becomes my world. It's not often that I read a story and don't consider the machinations of that guy behind the curtain, pulling the levers.
But for a few hours, I was a teenaged boy, walking endless miles with 99 others.
This is one of King's best novels.
Today, having finished it for the second time, I have no idea how that could have happened.
This is a bleak, visceral, gut-punch of a novel. It's King at
Show More
his cleanest, his writing is tight, concise, and heartbreakingly real. He makes every warning terrifying, and every death is felt, as it should be.For the bulk of this audiobook, I listened while walking. The real landscape fell away and I was on the road with Garrity and the others. There are three scenes in particular, none of which I'll spoil, that stand out. I'll just say that, the first one, that I heard as I started out this morning, had me actually slowing my own walk and whispering, "get up! Get UP!" I felt the fluttering of my heart in my throat.
The second and third scenes are both deaths toward the end of the novel, and both of them had me choked up and blinking away tears.
It's not often that reality falls away, and the reality of the book becomes my world. It's not often that I read a story and don't consider the machinations of that guy behind the curtain, pulling the levers.
But for a few hours, I was a teenaged boy, walking endless miles with 99 others.
This is one of King's best novels.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bookworm12
I think my feet actually hurt when I finished this one. It’s dark, but like a train wreck, you can’t look away. A group of 100 teen boys must walk until there is only one left alive. Stephen King’s compulsively readable style can make almost anything thrilling. A slow walk towards death
“They walked through the rainy dark like gaunt ghosts, and Garraty didn't like to look at them. They were the walking dead.”
Show More
sounds tortuous even to read, but he makes it an unputdownable book. “They walked through the rainy dark like gaunt ghosts, and Garraty didn't like to look at them. They were the walking dead.”
Show Less
LibraryThing member ct.bergeron
Every year, on the first day of May, one hundred teenager boy meet for an event know throughout the country as «The long walk». Among this year's chosen crop is 16 years old Ray Garraty. He knows the rules: that warning are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, sit down. That after 3
Show More
warnins... you get your ticket. And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that there can be only one winner in the Walk, the one that survive. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmecham
I've only read a handful of King's works. This one piqued my curiosity for some reason. I wasn't disappointed. The story got it's claws into me and didn't let go. Pretty disturbing stuff and a very intense read.In this day and age of over-the-top "reality" television, I could almost imagine
Show More
something like this being televised in the not-too-distant future (Pay-Per-View). What a crazy world we live in. Show Less
LibraryThing member booknivorous
I picked up this story and carried it over three long days. Maybe it was the timing, taking breaks for life between pages, or the slowly revealed wrongness of Ray Garraty's seemingly very normal world, either way I found it an affecting and mesmerizing book. Written as Richard Bachman, Steven King
Show More
allows himself to write without the hinderance of optomisim, a trip away from King's normal theme of good vs evil into something, perhaps, more ominous. Show Less
LibraryThing member andyray
this is a very, very looooong walk indeed. there are two stephen kings. One wants to be known as the author of some fairly and really good books, and the other wants to crank out "B" novels. Richard Bachman should have been published by Gold Medal originals in mass market paperback. All of
Show More
Bachman's books (with the possible exception of "The Regulators") deal with one subject and the plot and story is linear. There is no subplot to speak of, and the characters are forgettable as you flip the last page. The only thing the Bachman books do is keep you turning the page, mostly through description. I read them because I love Gold Medal originals! Show Less
LibraryThing member kellepa
An under-rated Bachman/King classic. I appreciate it for its social criticism (more relevant today than when it was written, in my opinion) and, as an endurance athlete, for its depiction of an endurance event taken to its extreme.
LibraryThing member kmoynihan
A somewhat lesser-known King book, but one I found very enjoyable. I read it in the span of three days, simply because I couldn't put it down.
LibraryThing member kieselke
The long Walk is a great book. This book is about a group of boys who sign up for a walk kind of like a walk for cancer but it is way twisted. So these boys go on a walk that lasts a really long time and they can only take a few breaks. The breaks only last for a few minutes and if they take longer
Show More
than there supposed to then these guys with guns will kill them. The last person that gets to the end gets to live. I like this book because it kept me interested. You don’t know who will be the next guy to get shot or who will be the one that lives. What I didn’t like about it, is it is a little slow in some parts Show Less
LibraryThing member cvc7278
Imagine a lottery style system that doesn't just pick a number, but gives the person who holds the ticket a chance to compete for the prize. Well, that is in a nutshell what the "Long Walk" is. Whoever can walk the longest wins, only problem is, if you stop walking, your dead.
LibraryThing member wordygirl65
One of the few books that I actually threw across the room because I was so engaged in the story and I couldn't bear what was coming. Such an emotional response is rare, and I only had this happen one other time. Not surprising it was also a Stephen King novel; "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". Both
Show More
were gut wrenching reads that literally had my heart in my throat and my stomach tied in knots. Both of these books were so psychologically intense that I really did physically throw the books across the room. To get a reader that invested is rare, and after a few more years healing time I'll go back and read them both again. Show Less
LibraryThing member Marlene-NL
This is my favorite short story by Stephen King.
I have this story in Dutch and in English.
Read it so many times I have to wait a few years, 2 to 3 so I can re-read again. Highly recommend.
Beste korte verhaal van Stephen King naar mijn mening. Ben dit dan ook nooit meer vergeten.
I have this story in Dutch and in English.
Read it so many times I have to wait a few years, 2 to 3 so I can re-read again. Highly recommend.
Beste korte verhaal van Stephen King naar mijn mening. Ben dit dan ook nooit meer vergeten.
LibraryThing member Marlene-NL
read this as a short story and this is one of my favourite if not my favourite short stories by Stephen king. I think I've read it at least 3 times if not more and I highly recommend reading this. Try to avoid spoilers!
LibraryThing member abbylibrarian
Every year, 100 teenage boys are accepted into the Long Walk. The object? To walk farther than all the other boys. They walk constantly, not allowed to slow down or stop. If a boy does slow down below 4 miles an hour, he is warned three times and then shot. At first this book was like a car
Show More
wreck... it was gruesome and terrible, but I couldn't seem to look away. But once I looked past the gore, I was fascinated with the boys' motivation for being in the Walk. And, of course, I wanted to know who would end up winning. Pick this one up if you like psychological thrillers and don't mind blood and guts. Show Less
LibraryThing member grigoro
I'm not a big Stephen King reader, but a great review drew me to this book. It is incredibly grim, but I couldn't put it down. 100 teenage boys compete to be chosen to walk The Long Walk, and the walk ends when there is one boy left. As each walker one-by-one slows down, stumbles, becomes hurt or
Show More
exhausted, he is shot dead. The dynamics between the boys is what kept me reading even as they were dropping off like flies. Oh, and seeing who would be left standing..oops, I mean walking. Show Less
LibraryThing member HollyinNNV
Manipulation. If I had to describe TLW in one word, it would be manipulation. Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King, seeks to manipulate the reader of TLW throughout the entire book. First, let's introduce you to a bunch of characters that you are probably going to feel empathy for pretty quickly. They
I had hoped that there would be some redeeming element to TLW. I've read some fantastic dystopian books recently, Children of Men, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver and Brave New World. Those books have an essential element that TLW lacks. I'm not even sure I can put my finger on it. But, a deep dystopian story, TLW is NOT.
I don't recommend this book.
Show More
are boys just like you know in your daily life. They are your brother, son, nephew, neighbor-maybe even someone just like yourself. And you are going to watch these boys go through a little bit of self-learning, and then they will die. No noble cause here-just walking to their deaths. It will be bloody, horrible and nauseating. And then the book will end. Feeling manipulated yet? Because it only took me a short while before I was seriously questioning why I was reading the book in the first place? There is no surprise. There is really no lesson. And guess what? I don't want to get to know these boys. I don't want to grow to care for them or care what happens to them. I don't want to be manipulated by Mr. King.I had hoped that there would be some redeeming element to TLW. I've read some fantastic dystopian books recently, Children of Men, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver and Brave New World. Those books have an essential element that TLW lacks. I'm not even sure I can put my finger on it. But, a deep dystopian story, TLW is NOT.
I don't recommend this book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bookwormteri
This is one of the most disturbing stories that I have ever read. The horror of these young men walking for the Prize and becoming friends and watching each other get their "tickets", well, it is just nauseau inducing. A well written horror story that should be read by everyone who enjoys horror
Show More
and likes to think. Every aspect of this story is scary to a bone deep level. The crowds, the possbility that this is (or could be) our world, the boys themselves....So good! Show Less
LibraryThing member Veeralpadhiar
This novel was better than what I had expected. One thing I liked about this story was the rawness with which it was handled. No flashy gadgets, no mind-boggling futuristic technology to keep track of the Walkers. Nothing. Just some soldiers following the Walkers in a military vehicle with
One question that kept nagging at my mind at all the times while reading this was that WHAT actually happened to the world that it started going ape-shit in 'The Long Walk'. I was concerned for a while thinking that King was not going to answer that even at the end. But as it is Stephen King, he told everything that needed to be said in just one sentence in the 14th chapter. And never ever mentioned or even elaborated it again intentionally.
It's not much of a spoiler as far as the story goes, but for me, it answered something that I wanted to know right from the start.
The lights filled the sky with a bubblelike pastel glow that was frightening and apocalyptic, reminding Garraty of pictures he had seen in the history books of the German air-blitz of the American East Coast during the last days of World War II.
Show More
chronometer in their one hand and a rifle in the other one. Really, what else do you need?One question that kept nagging at my mind at all the times while reading this was that WHAT actually happened to the world that it started going ape-shit in 'The Long Walk'. I was concerned for a while thinking that King was not going to answer that even at the end. But as it is Stephen King, he told everything that needed to be said in just one sentence in the 14th chapter. And never ever mentioned or even elaborated it again intentionally.
It's not much of a spoiler as far as the story goes, but for me, it answered something that I wanted to know right from the start.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MarkSouza
This little gem is one of King's finest works. A group of boys representing every state in the country vie for fame and fortune in cruel contest of endurance and attrition. Behind a riveting story is a larger brilliant metaphor subtly drawn.
LibraryThing member Todd_Russell
I'm going back through and rereading the Bachman Books trying to decide which one was Stephen King's best. This is one of the front-runners about Ray Garraty, "Maine's Own" making The Long Walk across Maine. If you walk too slow, you get a warning and too many warnings and the guards shoot you
I think what keeps this from being a five star read for me--and I'm admittedly nitpicking--is that I wish King would have shown more madness from the Walkers experiencing sleep deprivation and fatigue in the final third of the book. After several days the remaining Walkers should have broken down more mentally.
This is a strong 4.5 star read, however, and highly recommended. It's intriguing how King maintains and keeps reader interest in a story with almost no flashbacks and backstory. It's all about the walk and Walkers, as it should be. And I loved how dark King painted the Mayor character. Great stuff!
At the beginning of each chapter he starts with a quote, often one from a game show host. The reality game show element of this story reminds me a lot of The Running Man, another Bachman book.
From a formatting on the Kindle perspective, there is an annoying apostrophe spacing error with each 's so it comes out looking like this this: man 's man's. Not sure what happened there, as the rest of the formatting is solid.
I loved the ending of The Long Walk. It's much darker than most King endings but in line with most of the Bachman book endings. This is one reason why King chose the Bachman pen name, so he didn't feel obligated to end things as positively. Then again if you read King's Pet Semetery that doesn't exactly end all warm and fuzzy either.
Show More
dead. I think what keeps this from being a five star read for me--and I'm admittedly nitpicking--is that I wish King would have shown more madness from the Walkers experiencing sleep deprivation and fatigue in the final third of the book. After several days the remaining Walkers should have broken down more mentally.
This is a strong 4.5 star read, however, and highly recommended. It's intriguing how King maintains and keeps reader interest in a story with almost no flashbacks and backstory. It's all about the walk and Walkers, as it should be. And I loved how dark King painted the Mayor character. Great stuff!
At the beginning of each chapter he starts with a quote, often one from a game show host. The reality game show element of this story reminds me a lot of The Running Man, another Bachman book.
From a formatting on the Kindle perspective, there is an annoying apostrophe spacing error with each 's so it comes out looking like this this: man 's man's. Not sure what happened there, as the rest of the formatting is solid.
I loved the ending of The Long Walk. It's much darker than most King endings but in line with most of the Bachman book endings. This is one reason why King chose the Bachman pen name, so he didn't feel obligated to end things as positively. Then again if you read King's Pet Semetery that doesn't exactly end all warm and fuzzy either.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PhoebeReading
This nice piece of King juvenilia presents a fairly cohesive alternate history setting and strong characters. Unfortunately, the prose is a bit jerky and repetitive and it hasn't aged too well--the vision of the future here is definitely dated. I'm impressed that King was able to stretch what could
Show More
easily seem to be a somewhat flimsy concept into such a fairly thorough novel--though I do think it could have been trimmed down by about fifty pages. Show Less
Awards
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1979)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1979
Physical description
8.25 inches
ISBN
150114426X / 9781501144264