Gallery Books The Long Walk

May I start by asking Amazon to pay their fair share of UK taxes. Those clever accountants may have all these creative schemes to stop you paying UK taxes, but it gets no hospital built or stops A/E's/Maternity Units being closed or indeed pot holes filled. Do the decent thing like your customers do and pay UK taxes, please.Seller well done, would use again, top marks.

It's kind of hard to give this book a start rating on this scale as it probably sits somewhere between three and four for me. So why? There is a deep emotional tale here and anyone who has done a long hike - though probably not four miles an hour for several days with the threat of being shot - will recognise elements of these emotions and the incessant need to keep putting one foot in front of the other, however this is not really the point of the plot I feel. It has been suggested by some readers that there is no real plot and sure, if you compare this book to some King novels then there is something of simple feel to this one. There's no supernatural element, no time travel etc but there is a plot, it's just that it mainly seems to be in metaphor form. What I mean is that there seems to be an undercurrent that the long walk, though a real thing in the story, seems to represent life for the 100 young men who embark on it. On their way they make and meet friends, witness deaths, discuss politics, age, go through every life emotion and the main character, Garraty constantly thinks about the life he has left behind. That there is a prize - all your heart's desire for the rest of your life - may refer to either a good pension or simply paradise beyond. Though I must admit I almost abandoned half way through as I couldn't see the story going anywhere and you don't really get a sense of rooting for any of the characters. You kind of just don't really care. However, my main focus for reading was that dystopian world's fascinate me - both as reader and writer - and I always hope and need to know what caused them and the finer details which this book fails to deliver. It seems to be set in the time it was written which is all the more confusing making one fleeting referral to an incident in Santiago in the 1950's and an attack on a German base. So it may be that it is intentionally alternative history - I don't know as I haven't looked into any dissection on Wikipedia. But this side of it left me feeling a little cheated. Having said that though, if you peservere it does keep you gripped, as well as maybe a little disappointed at the end. And I do wonder if the book was the primary inspiration for the Hunger Games. If you read it you will know what I mean.

Only few people can manage to write an entire book about a group of boys walking. This is evidence of King's ability to sustain a story. This is a good psychological novel investigating the inner thoughts and experiences of a group of people participating in a horrific game show. The book holds its suspense by revealing slowly the fate of the participants/contestants/walkers who drop out. Also there are some interesting hints to the social environment that created such a place where the murder of young kids is acceptable as national entertainment. It seems that WW2 did not end in 1945, but continued with the Germans taking the war to the US mainland. It seems that a 'change' happened that turned America into a fascist dictatorship where people frequently dissapear at the hands of the 'squads'. Did the Germans win the war in this historical hypothetical? The focus of the book is not this imaginary background however but the psychology of people competing against each other for the ultimate prize, keeping their lives. I recommend this to fans of King and everyone else as well. I would have enjoyed more information on the society behind the crowd of spectators. One wonders how far we are from watching our own 'long walks'. Don't we enjoy already humiliation on TV? Don't we have people kill eachother in boxing rings? Don't many of us cheer at news of people getting murdered (criminals, terrorists, law reformers)? One wonders.

I enjoyed that, but it made me tired!The book wasn't a chore or long winded by any means, but the "walk" felt so long!While reading you really start to relate to each of the characters, you start to feel their pain, to begin to hope for them, hope they can just keep going on just a little longer.This was completely different to anything else I've ever read by king/Bachman. I think it's probably one of his least popular books, but in my opinion it's probably up there with the best.Recommend to any king fan!

I didn't expect this book about teenage boys to have much of an impact on me, being a woman in my early 40's. BUT I was totally consumed by it... I read it whilst ill & in pain & I felt every bit of pain they went through, physically & mentally. I laughed (crazily) & cried out loud, & then when it finished I actually grieved for the book! So much did this book engulf my fragile state of mind at the time, that I read it again straight away, something I have never done before.This book is more than just a story about boys walking a race, to me it was so reflective of life.A surprising book, that deep thinkers will not be able to put down if they allow themselves to me immersed into its pages.