A review by lucrezi
The Long Walk by Stephen King, Richard Bachman
5.0
The Long Walk is the first Stephen King novel I read as a younger adolescent and, upon rereading, it's still the best. I'm not really a fan of his more supernatural stories, as I much prefer the horrors of reality.
I'm surprised that he started writing TLW as a college freshman. It's not as rough as you'd expect; I mean, yeah, King's prose is rough when he intentionally writes it so, specifically his trademark stream-of-consciousness writing that borders on ranty.
And he didn't overdo it here, thank goodness. His writing suited the setting and the events of the Long Walk and gave a good picture of what was going on in Garraty's head while he walked and walked. To be honest, TLW's third person POV and Garraty are far more expressive and real than that of many recent YA novels (and to think, those ones are written in first person).
I really hope The Long Walk gets a movie, with actors who can accurately portray the physical and psychological suffering these one hundred boys go through. And with the popularity of The Hunger Games, hopefully soon!
I'm surprised that he started writing TLW as a college freshman. It's not as rough as you'd expect; I mean, yeah, King's prose is rough when he intentionally writes it so, specifically his trademark stream-of-consciousness writing that borders on ranty.
And he didn't overdo it here, thank goodness. His writing suited the setting and the events of the Long Walk and gave a good picture of what was going on in Garraty's head while he walked and walked. To be honest, TLW's third person POV and Garraty are far more expressive and real than that of many recent YA novels (and to think, those ones are written in first person).
Spoiler
It suffers from a rushed ending, what with how he handled McVries' and Stebbins' (especially Stebbins) deaths. McVries is one of the more important secondary characters and his exit doesn't receive the same dramatic treatment as Art Baker's, and Stebbins just collapses without an explanation. I wish King hadn't blazed through those last few pages. The last line is pretty damn powerful though.I really hope The Long Walk gets a movie, with actors who can accurately portray the physical and psychological suffering these one hundred boys go through. And with the popularity of The Hunger Games, hopefully soon!