The Long Walk

This post first published July 31, 3013.

Author: Stephen King
First Published: July 1979
Publisher: Signet
370 pages (mass market paperback)
 
So, I have this sister who is a huge, die hard Stephen King fan. She loves all his books, owns all of them and has read nearly all of them. For years she has tried to get me to read one of this books, but I kept turning her down because I know Stephen King writes a lot of horror and I’m not a horror fan at all. Not just with books, I don’t watch horror films either and I don’t go in haunted houses, or do anything scary really. I don’t like being scared or grossed out or anything like that! :( Anyway, she finally got me to read The Long Walk because it’s not horror and I finally decided to try it.

The Long Walk is about a fictional event where 100 young teenage boys walk along a road through several states, in a sort of race. The last one to survive wins and the prize is that they can have anything they desire. What I mean by surviving is, there are a set of rules that the participants must obey or else they will be shot. The most obvious rule is that you must keep walking at a certain pace, forwards, no matter what. You get three warnings, and after that, there are no warnings.

It’s a fascinating and morbid idea, and it kind of reminded me a little teeny bit of The Hunger Games or Battle Royale since only one survivor is allowed. Unlike those two though, this isn’t an actual battle to the death, and also, I never really figured out what the purpose of The Long Walk is. In the previous two titles I mentioned, the battle game is a sort of means to control the population through fear. I imagine The Walk is based on a similar premise, though the participants are strictly voluntary and are actually allowed a certain time period to back out. So … I don’t know why anyone would sign up for this, even if the prize is super tempting. Maybe that’s the point though? Only the most desperate will join for the prize?

This was definitely more of a psychological book than a plot orientated/action type of story. The long and short of the plot is exactly what it sounds like — 100 boys walking and one by one, they are eliminated. I found it an interesting story idea, but I wasn’t over the moon about the book like my sister is. I think that is partly due to the fact that I just orient myself more to action/plot books to begin with, as opposed to character-driven stories.

My sister and I had a conversation about the book after that pretty much amounted me saying, “It was okay, but they just walked the entire story” and my sister saying, “Yeah, but it’s so good! The characters are so interesting!” So, there you have it — two different opinions on the book. I did like  it, but I just wasn’t able to see what was so crazy thrilling about it. She’s convinced that this book is amazing, I’m of the opinion it’s just okay.

Anyway, hooray, I read my first Stephen King book! And I liked it, overall! This doesn’t mean I will be jumping into all his books now because I’m pretty sure I’m still going to stay far away from anything horror related; but I know Mr. King writes non-horror books too so maybe I will give those a shot in the future.

My Rating: 3/5