The Long Walk

Rating:
Summary: A Warning
Review: I first read "The Long Walk" a few months ago, and I am still thinking about it. It's the kind of story that works its way inside your mind and stays there. The story is gripping, impossible to put down, even though for 99 out of 100 Walkers, the end is clear. The prose is very accurate and descriptive. King describes horrifying scenes without sinking into over-the-top gore for its own sake. The backbone of the story is not horror, but the connections forged between the doomed teenagers. What is truly frightening about The Long Walk is that it is not fiction, but a look at our own future. This is not a sci-fi thriller set in some fantastic future five thousand years from now. With the huge sucess of reality TV shows like "Survivor" and "Temptation Island", The Long Walk is breathing down our necks. Like "1984" and "Brave New World", "The Long Walk" strikes a chord of truth, and gives us warning of what may come. "The Long Walk" is too important to be dismissed as just another horror novel. I think everyone should read it.

Rating:
Summary: KING BRINGS OUT ALL EMOTIONS IN THIS BOOK
Review: I HAVE TO SAY THIS BOOK WAS SUPERB. THE STORY IS APPALLING, HEARTWRENCHING AND PAGE-TURNING. I FOUND MYSELF GOING BACK CHAPTERS AT A TIME JUST TO REREAD THE HORRIFIC PARTS. WHEN I SAID IT BROUGHT OUT ALL THE EMOTIONS, I TRULY MEANT IT. I CRIED MANY TIMES WHILE READING THIS STORY. I WAS BROKENHEARTED, ANGRY, HAPPY AND DISGUSTED, YET I WAS COMPELLED BY THE SUSPENSE TO CONTINUE READING.IF EVER YOU WANTED TO BE ONE OF THOSE KING-READERS WHO ALWAYS READS THE LAST PAGE BEFORE READING THE WHOLE BOOK, THIS IS DEFINITELY THE BOOK YOU'LL WANT TO DO IT TO. ALTHOUGH I DON'T EVER DO THIS MYSELF, I MUST SAY IT TOOK ALL MY WILLPOWER TO REFRAIN FROM TURNING TO THE LAST PAGE AND READING IT. THATS HOW MUCH SUSPENSE IS PACKED IN THIS BOOK. ENJOY!

Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but pretty good
Review: I've read a lot of Stephen King before reading "The Long Walk", and I can't say that this is his best work...because it's not. However, this is far from his worst...in fact, I don't think he's ever written anything bad. But some of his books are better than others.

"The Long Walk" takes place in Maine as usual. (If you're a King fan, this shouldn't be surprising.) One hundred walkers are chosen at random to particapate in the Long Walk...one of them is Ray Garraty, a sixteen year old from Maine, and is nicknamed 'Maine's Own'. He must outwalk all other ninety nine walkers to win the Prize: anything he wants. However, there are a few catches. If you slow down, you get a warning. If you stop, you get a warning. If you sit down, you get a warning. See a pattern forming? You should. If you collect three warnings, the next results in death...you're shot, plain and simple.

Throughout the walk, Garraty meets many friends, which makes the walk harder considering they're all going to die in the end...except for one, but the odds that one of the "Musketeers" are very slim.

I enjoyed this book more than others that I have read. It moves slower than "The Running Man", but faster than most others. There isn't a lot of action, however, and the book mainly focuses on the fear and the pain the walkers go through. I recommend this book if you're a dedicated King reader, but not if you're just starting off. If you have yet to open one of his novels, you might want to start with "The Running Man" or "'Salem's Lot", but these are just suggestions. Well, anyway, enjoy this one...it's quick and fun to read, not some of the massive dictionary-like novels that take months to read!

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad !
Review: I just finished reading the long walk a few days ago and i have to say that i was fasinated with the concept of the book. The idea is very original and entertaining. However the ending was disappointing. The author never tells us what happens after Ray Garraty "seems" to have won the long walk.

Rating:
Summary: Did I miss something in the end???
Review: The Long Walk was a very good book where you really feel like you are walking along with the characters every step of the way. This was an unbelievably quick read for me because I was so eager to find out who would die next. However, the ending (don't worry, I won't give anything away) left me very upset. It didn't make much sense. It was the kind of ending where it just ends with no explanation whatsoever. Aside from this absolutely terrible ending, though, the other 369 pages were extremely well written and kept my attention throughout the whole journey.

Rating:
Summary: Bachman book
Review: This is a rare instant where I actually enjoyed a Bachman book (except for the Regulators and Desperation which were thrilling). I was actually trying to breath for the long distance walkers and at one point, even felt tired along with the characters in the book. It was that realistic. I recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: You are Stephen King and I claim my proper ending!
Review: The Long Walk is one of a handful of short novels that King wrote under the Bachman pseudonym. It seems to have sprung from the same kernel of inspiration as the more famous and more hip, but less intense "Running Man". Both novels are set in a near-future USA where the most popular form of public entertainment is watching losing contestants "buy their ticket" in a diabolical game show spectacle.

At the outset, the central character Garraty, is joined by 99 other hopefuls. The rules are simple; walk until you drop. Anyone unable to maintain a minimum pace or who attempts to escape is summarily despatched by the dispassionate military escorts. Along the way, our hero (who, importantly, is just an ordinary guy. He is YOU) is touched by friendship (McVries saves his life and keeps his spirits up), hatred (Barkovitch, who is demonised by the other contestants and ultimately becomes a pathetic sight, pleading for reconciliation), pity, horror, contempt, love, bitter humour and even a numbing morbid ambivalence through his sporadic conversations with the seemingly unstoppable Stebbins. You will have gathered by now that this is pretty deep stuff and far from being a typical King novel. The parallels between the Long Walk and each of our journeys through life are clear and profound. It made me consider my own mortality on many occasions and I salute King for achieving the almost perfect balance between exciting non-stop action and penetrating and memorable allegory.

Furthermore, the book is almost unputdownable. I defy anyone not to feel obliged to complete it in one sitting. The image of the journey, both physical and metaphorical is an extremely powerful one. Just like Garraty is compelled to put one foot in front of the other the reader feels obliged to plough on chapter after chapter to see what lies around the next corner or who is the next to drop. And drop they do! I was concerned that King may have his work cut out to maintain the reader's interest through 99 executions. He does though; from the spectacularly messy death of the wretched Olsen to the quiet and poignant demise of the "unknown boy".

For my money, I regard this as probably King's greatest achievement, so why not top marks then? Simply because ultimately The Long Walk doesn't quite deliver the goods. What would have been a very interesting theme - the boys motives for entering the Walk and the pressure placed upon them from family, friends, lovers and the wider community, is only touched on very briefly. Most disappointing of all however, was the denouement. NEVER BEFORE HAVE I FELT SO CHEATED BY A BOOK'S ENDING! OK, so we can all guess who's going to win the Long Walk, but what does the victor chose for his prize? Does he use it to hit back at authority? Does he even survive long enough to claim it? How does it affect his relationships and plans, etc, etc, etc?

I'm sorry Stephen King, but after stoking your readers' emotions to such a height, you should not leave us checking our copies of the book in case some malevolent person had torn the epilogue out!

Rating:
Summary: The Surprise Hit
Review: When you think about it, the whole plot behind The Long Walk is both horrifying and ludicrous. But once you sit down and become involved with the story, and the characters in it, it turns out to be one of Stephen King's best books. Many would think that the whole concept of the book to be boring. But it's not. I was never bored during one point of The Long Walk. King writes at a steady pace, and the novel ends up being a quick and easy read. We read along, waiting to see who will get it next, and how it will happen. Sure, you know that it's going to happen to your favorite character, but you wish that it won't, so you keep reading along. A surprising hit from Stephen King, that was written unders his alias Richard Bachman. Read the novel, and you'll know why!

Rating:
Summary: It's amazing that a story like this can work so well
Review: I'm not going to lie, from the first page to the last is all about one thing, walking. This isn't a book that wisks you away to exotic locales, high adventure and what not. It's a story about a boy in a walking race with 99 other young men. The book revolves around how these people deal with each other knowing only one of them can win the race, and live. Would you make friends with them to pass the time? Knowing that only one of you is walking away from it? Listen to their sob stories about why they need to win? With your life on the line, can you afford that distraction? That is what this book is all about, and it's fantastic. Easily one of King's best

Rating:
Summary: A Book You'll Be Thinking About Months After
Review: I'm a spread out book reader, reading any kind of genre. If there was ever a book that I would label as the most impacting it would be this one. This story could possibly be the most depressing ever created by King. It's set in a distant future where a supporting society sends 100 of their most athletic children out in a gruesome contest. In this contest these young children have to continue to walk at a steady pace until the rest of the group slows down to the point where the soldiers monitoring them kill them. In a two sentence synopsis it sounds so sick and horrible, but dragged out to create a book it creates a sense of dred that the characters inside would feel. You feel like you are walking with them, with the knowledge that you know all but one of them will be filling the page by the end. It is the most engrossing novel ever. I wanted to read it all in one sitting, and ended up reading it in two days. If you want a novel that you will never forget, this is most certainly the novel for you. It makes you think if our society will ever get to it's point and will fill your sleepless nights with thoughts for months after finishing it. Beautiful storytelling.