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A review by kepheus
The Long Walk by Stephen King, Richard Bachman
2.0
Let me admit it up front...I didn't get it. It was a perfectly serviceable story, but it doesn't hold up over time. That's not to say there's anything in particular about King's writing that anchor it to a particular time. But, given the volume of dystopic fiction hitting shelves and screens over the past several years - as much as I love Fallout, I'm sick to death of all forms of zombies - The Long Walk just doesn't hold me the way it once might have.
None of the characters are likable in any form. The assertion that all the boys are, for some reason or another, looking to die seems all the more apropos given how generally flat they are. Garraty is a sad sack who's never quite sure even why he signed up, even though he felt he just had to do it. Other than Stebbins, none of the boys ever offers a good reason. Are they in it just for pure greed? Then why are so few of them seemingly prepared? Stebbins, Scramm, Mike and Joe seem likely contenders (and Vegas had good odds on them), but they seem to be the exceptions. And yet they all unsurprisingly fall by the wayside for the local boy who couldn't be bothered to take a 5 mile hike along parts of the course.
And why are they walking through Maine? Yes, I get it, it's King's stomping grounds. All well and good if The Walk was a state-run thing, but it's a national contest. Seems pretty unfair to always start in the northeast when most states won't even get to see it.
I think that's the thing that got me the most about this story. There's so much backstory here we don't know and aren't told. I can forgive the lack of background in a short story, but this was long enough that I want...I need that level of world-building. Garraty is not someone who will fight a system that is willing to cheer 99 boys to their death, but it'd be nice to have an idea of how it got to a point where that became the norm.
None of the characters are likable in any form. The assertion that all the boys are, for some reason or another, looking to die seems all the more apropos given how generally flat they are. Garraty is a sad sack who's never quite sure even why he signed up, even though he felt he just had to do it. Other than Stebbins, none of the boys ever offers a good reason. Are they in it just for pure greed? Then why are so few of them seemingly prepared? Stebbins, Scramm, Mike and Joe seem likely contenders (and Vegas had good odds on them), but they seem to be the exceptions. And yet they all unsurprisingly fall by the wayside for the local boy who couldn't be bothered to take a 5 mile hike along parts of the course.
And why are they walking through Maine? Yes, I get it, it's King's stomping grounds. All well and good if The Walk was a state-run thing, but it's a national contest. Seems pretty unfair to always start in the northeast when most states won't even get to see it.
I think that's the thing that got me the most about this story. There's so much backstory here we don't know and aren't told. I can forgive the lack of background in a short story, but this was long enough that I want...I need that level of world-building. Garraty is not someone who will fight a system that is willing to cheer 99 boys to their death, but it'd be nice to have an idea of how it got to a point where that became the norm.