Helpful Score: 6
As morbid as it sounds concidering the nature of this book I have to say it one of my favorite King books. In fact I have read it more than once, it is one of my keepers. It kept me at the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. A great read by King, I recommend it to all King fans!
Helpful Score: 5
My favorite Stephen King book. Great character development, eerie premise, plot is well set up and develops nicely.
4.5 stars out of 5
4.5 stars out of 5
Not the best King book Ive every read ,but it was the hardest to put down. I usually take a few weeks to read a king book this one i read in 48hrs I just kept wanting to know what happened next.... still a great read
Helpful Score: 4
This was so good! Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman. I missed it somehow when it came out, but thanks to this book club I was finally able to read it! This is about the ultimate contest, where the losers die. This book really makes you think about life, and what's important.
Helpful Score: 4
Stephen King is my favorite author but can get too wordy. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I think if the book was shorter it would be a lot better but I still enjoyed it. It's about a boy named Ray Garraty, participating with 99 others in the annual Long Walk. The boys have to walk 4 miles per hour, no less. If they do, they get a warning. They get a warning every minute or two and are allowed 3 ... then they "buy a ticket". When you realize what that means, the hairs on your neck will stand up on end as you wonder how and why these kids would get involved in this. It's no Boy Scout march.
Helpful Score: 3
A truly disturbing premise - made more real(?) by King's expertise at getting inside a kid's head. Where's the need for made-up monsters when we've got humanity?
Helpful Score: 2
I am a fan of Mr. King, but no, I don't love {or even like} all of his books. The Long Walk, however, is one that I just never tire of reading. There's no ghosties, no killer clowns living in the sewers, just men doing the things that men do... and that is quite scary.
ps. I bet you are absolutely exhausted when you finish this book.
ps. I bet you are absolutely exhausted when you finish this book.
Helpful Score: 2
This was my first attempt at a Stephen King novel. After reading reviews for many of his books, it seems that The Long Walk was a good place to start. The writing is different than anything I've read before. It took awhile to get used to but it does help the plot along. Halfway through the book, I just wanted to finish it just to get it done. When I was reading the end, I turned the page and the book was just finished. I was caught off guard and felt like I wasted my time reading the book. It never explains ANYTHING!
**POSSIBLE SPOILERS**It doesn't explain how the boys got into the walk or why and it doesn't even tell you what the prize at the end is or what happens! Its just a couple hundred pages of thoughts inside this kids head. **END OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
I hope to try another of his novels one day, but if they are all like this one, no thank you.
**POSSIBLE SPOILERS**It doesn't explain how the boys got into the walk or why and it doesn't even tell you what the prize at the end is or what happens! Its just a couple hundred pages of thoughts inside this kids head. **END OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS**
I hope to try another of his novels one day, but if they are all like this one, no thank you.
Helpful Score: 2
A weird story about hundreds of young men making a voluntary walk with no sleep for many miles, hoping for a "prize" of anything they desire. Only one can win. If they slow down they are warned; 3 warnings & they're shot. Surprisingly, it kept my interest throughout til the end, which was a total letdown. I sort of felt like I wasted my time.
Helpful Score: 2
This is certainly a page-turner. I found myself drawn into the story rather quickly and somehow, hoping that the faster I read, the faster the main character would walk, hoping he wouldn't get a warning from the guards. This is a tense novel - you begin reading with full knowledge that the contest can end only one way. If you're a fan of the cult movie, "Battle Royale," you'll enjoy this story a lot. And vice-versa.
Helpful Score: 2
My first real King read and I loved it. It's not what I would have thought a Steven King novel would be (I had thoughts of Carrie and Cujo in my head...) and I must say I'd be willing to read more of this style of King novel.
Helpful Score: 2
Haunting story of teenage boys that take a "walk" every May 1st---it's a walk to determine who gets to live and who will die, based on who gets the ticket!
Helpful Score: 2
As crazy as Stephen King can get, I can't help but get addicted to this book. I was a great and nerve racking book written by an amazing author. Full of suspence, drama, and a little bit of tears in some places. Everything a reader needs to keep them hungry for more.
Helpful Score: 2
This was a very good book a read way back in the '80's. I often recall bits of it from time to time.
Like the scene where Ray has to pull down his pants and fully expose himself to the crowd of on-lookers to crap in the street. One little girl shouts out "I can see his thing!" Very real dark book set in the near future of the u s a controlled by the Major.
Like the scene where Ray has to pull down his pants and fully expose himself to the crowd of on-lookers to crap in the street. One little girl shouts out "I can see his thing!" Very real dark book set in the near future of the u s a controlled by the Major.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a classic King read, It is not however, one of my favorite.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is eery and SUCH a page-turner!
The descriptions and feelings are intense. I got sucked in!
The descriptions and feelings are intense. I got sucked in!
Helpful Score: 1
A typical steven king, an easy read. But since the entire story was one theme it was pretty monotonus. Not a favorite of mine personally.
Helpful Score: 1
I read this as part of a four book compilation. This is a story I have read more than once. It's morbid, like so many of King's stories. There is something about it, similar to the Lottery, that brings me back.
Helpful Score: 1
Raw and horrifying. Reminded me of the story "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson, where society practices this horrible ritual and everyone just accepts and dreads it.
Helpful Score: 1
Really good book. I am always amazed how Stephen King can take the most mundane event or conversation and make it so believably dark and sinister. Just as a personal project read this book and then set a treadmill to 4MPH and see what you think.
Helpful Score: 1
This was hands down one of my favorite Stephen King books... horrifying, violent, and tense!
Helpful Score: 1
Another favorite from Stephen King, and another paperback on my shelf that's almost too ragged to read. The Long Walk (originally published under King's pseudonym, Richard Bachman) is one of those books that gets better the more times you read it. The premise is actually pretty flat -- In the not-too-distant future, a group of 100 teenage boys is selected each year to participate in The Long Walk. Basically, the participants in this reality show death march begin walking in Maine and continue south as a group until they can walk no longer. If they drop beneath a certain speed, they're shot. If they stop for any reason (no bathroom breaks here, folks), they're shot. Blisters and head colds are a matter of life and death in this especially brutal race.
That said, there's not much action in this book. The story focuses on the relationships and friendships that emerge among the walkers, and how these individuals change along the journey. As always, King draws characters that are memorable and very real. He parcels out information about them little by little, allowing the reader to get to know them alongside the other Long Walkers. It's hard not to get emotionally involved when they fall, one by one, along the side of the road.
The ending is typical King -- is it a happy one? Does the "winner" get his "prize?" I've read the book many times and I still can't make up my mind. But I challenge you to read it and draw your own conclusion.
That said, there's not much action in this book. The story focuses on the relationships and friendships that emerge among the walkers, and how these individuals change along the journey. As always, King draws characters that are memorable and very real. He parcels out information about them little by little, allowing the reader to get to know them alongside the other Long Walkers. It's hard not to get emotionally involved when they fall, one by one, along the side of the road.
The ending is typical King -- is it a happy one? Does the "winner" get his "prize?" I've read the book many times and I still can't make up my mind. But I challenge you to read it and draw your own conclusion.
Steven King has done it again! Kept me spellbound and reading in anticipation until the end. Excellent book a must read for King fans.
one of my favorite short stories by King and one I always thought they should make into a movie... Id watch it!
It shows you the lengths and reasons people might go too if they really wanted to be rich or needed the money.
It really made me think. I usually like most of Kings books and when this was printed with his short storied under his bachman pseudonym it was my favorite in the whole book.
It shows you the lengths and reasons people might go too if they really wanted to be rich or needed the money.
It really made me think. I usually like most of Kings books and when this was printed with his short storied under his bachman pseudonym it was my favorite in the whole book.
I was really able to become friends with the characters and forget I was reading a book and that I didn't know the people. I cried. I loved this book!
----My favorite Stephen King book----
Disturbing. I just imagine myself on the walk. What would I do. Could you imagine?
Quick reading. Not a long book.
I can never forget the story.
Disturbing. I just imagine myself on the walk. What would I do. Could you imagine?
Quick reading. Not a long book.
I can never forget the story.
This was a great read. One of King's best definately. Any King fan will like it.
It's a very dark coming-of-age novel, though I wouldn't say that it's horror. This is one of my favorite books of all time, and Ray Garraty might be my favorite fictional character. I would actually describe this as being thematically similar to the also excellent "Hunger Games" trilogy, although with less of a political bent and more psychological insight. Stephen King is great at getting inside the minds of characters in extraordinary circumstances, and you will feel the impact every time one of these boys "gets their ticket."
This is a good read. It is typical King-Bachman fantasy that holds you until the end.
I actually enjoyed this book, although it was quite sad. I wasn't sure where it was going, and the ending was so very sad, but it was a good book and held my attention!
An excellent metaphor for human struggles, temptation, suffering, determination and character. The reader will easily relate to some one in the story and may see themselves in more than one light as they travel with the walkers. Although not 'classic King' this is a must read for any follower of his writings, as the alter ego Bachman illuminates a side of King that should be recognized.
A classic from someone soon to be famous!
This is obviously a very early work of Stephen King. Some of his eerier stuff is just starting to come out. Awesome!
I really enjoyed this book, some of Stephen King's books get a little to far out for me to follow. This story kept me interested from the beginning to the last page.
This book is abouta boy who enters this contest to see who can walk the farthest and if you win you get all these wonderful things but if you lose you will have to see what you get.
I enjoyed it very much. It has a wonderful forward from Stephen King, "The Importance of Being Bachman"
This is one of my favorite Stephen King books. I could not put it down!
This book was so awesome I wish I hadn't listed my copy. The struggle of the Long Walk was so interesting and as usual King turns what seems to be an innocent setting into pure fear.
Another "gotta have it" by Stephen King!
The premise of the book is good, the character development is good, the highs and lows of the main characters are interesting. The low rating is because the book offers no closure to the main character, no closure to the event (The walk), and no revelation on how or why the event takes place annually. When I got to the end I was actually checking to see if some pages were missing. Very disappointing ending after the roller coaster ride with the main characters.
The premise is an interesting idea. It could have been an interesting read, but it wasn't. I read past page 100 & stopped, but I did read the last chapter in hopes it would finally explain why there was this event once a year called "The Long Walk." Why boys voluntarily signed up for it. Why people allowed it to take place. What prize did the winner win? None of this was explained. It could have been a great vehicle for some of the boys to tell their stories, but it only went into that superficially without depth or emotion. It wasn't even particularly well written. I love many of King's book, but not this one. I am very disappointed
Stephen King! This is a book I have re-read several times.
On the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk," a deadly contest of endurance and determination, where each step could literally be their last.
Very suspenseful, but I realized that I had already read it in the first 12 pages.
Good book. Wonderful condition.
Every year, on the 1st day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk." Among this year's chosen crop is 16 year old Ray Garraty. He knows the rules: that warnings are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, sit down, That after 3 warnings...you get your ticket. And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that ther can only be 1 winner in the Walk-the one who survives...
The version I have was printed in 1996 and has a different cover than the one shown. This one has a road with a fence and a skeletons head on it and is a dark blue color. The spine on this book has some lines from its previous owner but is still in more than good enough condition if you are just wanting a good book to read and pass along. If you're a collector you would want a different copy. Thanks!
