391 pages
English language
Published Nov. 7, 2016
In an ultraconservative America of the not-too-distant future when America has become a police state, the annual marathon is the ultimate sports competition. One hundred boys are selected each year to enter a grueling 450-mile marathon walk. The game is simple: maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you're out--permanently. The winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life; but a single misstep could be the last.
In an ultraconservative America of the not-too-distant future when America has become a police state, the annual marathon is the ultimate sports competition. One hundred boys are selected each year to enter a grueling 450-mile marathon walk. The game is simple: maintain a steady walking pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings and you're out--permanently. The winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life; but a single misstep could be the last.
I didn’t know what to expect, really, going into this. The writing was so engaging that it made a walk something incredibly interesting. It wasn’t that it was to the death and all the other darkness it entailed, it was the humanity and the emotion that King put into the characters. A truly excellent read
I picked this up after seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie. While King does a decent job of making the characters relatable, or at least understandable, not a whole lot happens plot-wise outside of each boy "buying their ticket." Sure, Garraty is thrust into introspection and asks after his friends’ reasons for signing up, but the story is missing a complete list of all the walking tips, a peek into the government’s twisted values, or the spectators’ grisly fascination. I would have liked more details about how The Long Walk came to be, why so many young men would take the exam and walk based on the harrowing reality, or why the Major created the event. Knowing more about the dystopian world would have provided a hell of a lot more intrigue, yet I was left wondering what service the Walk truly provided the country and the people within …
I picked this up after seeing the trailer for the upcoming movie. While King does a decent job of making the characters relatable, or at least understandable, not a whole lot happens plot-wise outside of each boy "buying their ticket." Sure, Garraty is thrust into introspection and asks after his friends’ reasons for signing up, but the story is missing a complete list of all the walking tips, a peek into the government’s twisted values, or the spectators’ grisly fascination. I would have liked more details about how The Long Walk came to be, why so many young men would take the exam and walk based on the harrowing reality, or why the Major created the event. Knowing more about the dystopian world would have provided a hell of a lot more intrigue, yet I was left wondering what service the Walk truly provided the country and the people within it. There are snippets of a world, but you're never given the broad strokes of the culture that paved the way for such a brutal annual event. I'm hoping the movie offers more context, and I have high hopes based on the screenwriter.
God I love this one so much. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to read something cover to cover, but this is one of the rare ones that keeps me pushing through the eye strain. A severely underrated classic in its simplicity.
