Publishing information: Paperback; 384 pages
Publisher: Signet; 1 April 1999
ISBN: 978-0451196712
Standalone
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson
Amazon
Synopsis: "On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as ?The Long Walk.? If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying...
On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as The Long Walk. If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying..."
Stephen King is one of those prolific authors who manages to take a mundane daily activity and turns it into a ghastly story. The Long Walk is the story about a near future America where 100 teenagers are required to do an annual event where they are to walk a pre-selected route until there is one left. You can't stop and only receive three warnings before the military vehicle that is shadowing you takes you out of the competition permanently. You can gain additional warnings if you can hold off for a few hours without receiving a warning. This is King's dystopian YA novel that has a lot in common with Hunger Games and Battle Royale.
This year's Long Walk takes place in Maine and Ray Garraty is the clear favorite as he has the home field advantage. Along the way he meets the other competitors and they all have ver distinct personalities. They run the gambit from the odd to the jock. It typical King fashion you have the juvenile dialogue that seems to take place in every one of his books. As someone who hasn't read a King book in a while I forget how grating it can be as it seems to always revolve around genitalia. It gets old, real old quick.
Ray Garraty is your typical teenager he dreams of his girlfriend and worries about his future, no matter how short it might be. He also worries about his family and his fellow competitors. While he is the protagonist he never rose above the others or fell below them. Not much is remarkable about him. Thankfully the book was short as it would have been hard to finish the book with such a mundane lead character.
One of my biggest issues with Stephen King is his endings. The guy does a wonderful job of building up the story and to a degree the suspense but, for me, he always falls apart in his conclusions and The Long Walk is no exception. It is the main reason that this book didn't get a higher score as the final payoff of the book didn't get it done for me. The ending just didn't have the punch I was expecting and hoping for, instead it just peters out and doesn't reward the reader for going on the journey.
Overall 6/10
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