Rating: 
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!
Review: In the age of real life being sprawled all over the T.V. we seem to loose where we are going. In this book you get to feel (I reall mean feel) what it is like to be put to the edge of both the mental and physical raod. This book is has become my new favorite, and I don't think that any book can top the jorney I went through with these characers. This book has got to be one of the greatest acheivemets in the litterary world. It grips you into fallowing the raods and dosen't let you stop. It's better than such novels as Red Sky at Morning and the Exorcist. If you haven't read it, do it as soon as possible.
Rating:
Summary: walk to the store and buy this book
Review: The long walk is a prime example of why so many people read Stephen King. It is the everyday made macabre. Since I was 13yrs old, and picked up a copy of The Skeleton Crew I have been hooked. It is fair to say that I love it all, but I am not so biased to say that all of his books have been masterpieces, because that would be untrue. However, having said that, this story is, quite frankly, incredible. The momentum throughout the story builds so unassumingly that you are halfway through and realize that you can feel the soles of your feet ache and the emotional panic that the main character slowly begins to feel. Only Stephen King could write page after page describing a walk and have you squirming in your own skin.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking!
Review: This book was impossible to put down from the first page to the last! I found myself truly feeling for many of the characters and I was genuinely caught up in the horror of The Long Walk. This is a book that no one (who can handle some really heavy reading) should miss. VERY convincing character development and plot.
Rating:
Summary: Getting Better
Review: This was the second finished novel Stephen King ever wrote, and it does show some marked improvement over his first effort (Rage). The premise is, of course, a bit unlikely--the chances that America would ever come under rule of a totalitarian regime could have been said to be slim even at the time that the story was written. This tends to make what I believe King's point in this story was a bit obvious. The Long Walk is a metaphor for living--The Major would be God (receiving the adulation of the people who he "torments"), and that, of course, makes for some interesting thinking as to Stebbins' role in this book, but the analogy can continue with relative ease from there. This doesn't make the book bad--in fact, since he was so up front about the book's underlying meaning (a concept that King was still naive enough to think of as a product of authorial intent) that allowed him to create an interesting and engaging story. For the casual reader, this is a book that will both provoke thought and provide entertainment. For my part, I read it in a single sitting (it only seemed appropriate), and all things considered, I can say that I genuinely enjoyed the book. In view of that, I'd recommend this book to most readers--the only people who should have substantial issue with the writing would be those overly philosophical types who demand that all art have a statement but that it be in no way explicit about saying what it has to say. A good read to be had by all.
Rating:
Summary: Simply genial
Review: This book proves that Stephen King is the Great American Writer. After reading, I have felt my feet and back aching, this is how convincing and persuasive "Long Walk" is. Stephen King's insight into human psychology is honest and brilliant. That is what is giving power to all his books: Honesty. Not to mention language skills, of course.
Rating:
Summary: THOSE WHO DIDN'T "GET" THE ENDING, PLEASE RE-READ!
Review: There has already been enough said about the brilliance of this book, (though nothing has been said about the obvious Vietnam metaphor) so I won't belabour the point. I just want to say, please people, pay attention to what you're reading! The ending is very clear. HE DIES!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read....some errors to be found
Review: This is perhaps the most riveting story Stephen King has ever written. Not the best, but definitly the most shocking. I've read this book several times and always seem to pick up new things every time I read it. Errors, of course, are to be found in nearly every book. Just a couple to keep your eye out for:1) When Stebbins throws up on day 5, it says he was warned for only the second time since the walk began. He was actually warned twice before that; once in the first minutes of the walk and the second right after Olsen bought his ticket. 2) A "shifty-eyed" character named Milligan bought it going into Augusta and a Milligan bought it on the last day. Since he made such a deal about there being two Bakers in the Walk (Art and James), if there were two Milligans, he should have made that distinction as well. I know, I know, I need to get a life. It still doesn't take anything away from this outstanding read. Poor Scramm, not realizing that nothing is a sure thing...until the end. Barkovitch, who is probably a good enough guy, never able to make friends which made the Walk tolerable for those who did. At first, I was a tad disappointed by the ending, but after reading it a couple of times, it does make sense. Garrity is walking, then running, towards the dark figure who is death. He ends up like Reggie Cotter, never able to claim his prize.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best King book, but very enjoyable.
Review: Writing under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, Stephen King released a collection of novellas some twenty years ago. The Long Walk, which did not receive the attention of The Running Man, translated onto the big screen, and Rage, which seems to have all but disappeared due to the tragic high-school shooting incidents of recent years, is one of them. The Long Walk consists of a group of 100 applicants, chosen each year at random from all of the submissions, to participate in a 'Long Walk'. The prize? Everything and anything you want for the rest of your life. The defeat? 'Buying your ticket' out of the walk means ending your life....as you are shot by accompanying soldiers, always mindful of your pace, as you cannot fall under four miles per hour, and always watchful for 'runners' who try to escape the walk as they wear out. The walkers are not allowed to stop, for anything, or they are issued warnings. After three strikes, you are out, permanently. King delves into the minds of several of the walkers, the largest treatise being given to Ray Garrity, the book's central character. Friendships are formed, enemies are made, and battle lines are drawn as each of the boys on the walk eyes the prize waiting at an undetermined distance ahead of them. The only way to win the prize, is to outwalk, and therefore outlive, everyone else. As in most King novels, the descriptions of sights and people in the State of Maine is entertaining, especially to a native, and his exploration of the human mind is continually captivating. One of the things I have most enjoyed about King's works is his honesty of thought with characters in jeopardy or pain. Although at times his words are bitter and hateful, somehow King always manages to deliver what 'real' people think in times of crisis. The boys actually wishing each other dead, though horrible to think about, reads as utter realism from anyone competing with others for their life. How many times have you, the average person, competed against another person, and found yourself entertaining thoughts that you would never dare to put a voice to? King goes that far, and as always, his brutal words paint his characters all the more realistic. Although I don't rate this as the best King book I have ever read, it ranks with my favorites, Bag of Bones, Misery, and Rose Madder. Stephen King seems to write best, and most convincingly, when he walks away from horror, the genre that has made him the best selling author of his time. His best 'demons' are the ones that lay within us all, in our own minds. Without the advent of major plot twists and turns, and a limited 'landscape' for the book, as the boys are continually on the road, and there is no shift to exotic locations, or dream states, or other worlds, this book does manage to hold attention to the last.
Rating:
Summary: Arguably the best American short story ever written.
Review: Well, that is quite a statement, but now you're reading my review. I think Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemmingway both have a couple worthy of note, but all hyperbole aside, The Long Walk is a psychological thriller told remarkably well. This is the ultimate ghost story and is a defining work of a man who has earned recognition as one of the greatest storytellers in American history. I know, I know, I sound like another King fanatic, but truly, you can't miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: best of "bachman"
Review: Of all of the Stephen King books I've read under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman, this one is tops (or perhaps "Rage"). I picked this up for a second read after all of the reality tv shows popped up, and I still think it's scary how close we're actually getting to this scenario. For those of you unfamiliar with the plot line, one hundred young men are selected for what is called "The Long Walk," and are watched like heros as they walk and walk. No sleeping, no slowing down to go to the bathroom, nothing. Losers are shot, but the winner gets ANYTHING he wants. Care to gamble your life with 100-1 odds based on your sheer will and ability to walk hundreds of miles? King's (er... Bachman's) pace is excellent, each character's story is interesting, but the greatest of all comes with imagining the rules and regulations and possibilities of this game. One of the networks actually picked up what sounds suspiciously like a VERY toned-down version of the game in the book. It has to do with walking or some other sort of endurance for a prize. Is it art imitating life or just plain creepy? Read this book and try and find a screening of an indie movie called "Series 7" (contestants each get a gun; the winner goes on to Series 8). They pack a serious 1-2 punch to the disturbing nature of reality shows.
|
