Hey, guys! A few days back, I posted about the first book I read in The Bachman Books collection. I had already read Rage (which was interesting and mostly enjoyable) and decided to start the second book, The Long Walk. It was one of the best books I've ever read. The premise was fantastic, the characters incredibly complex and fascinating, and the writing... just perfect.
The Cover:
It shows the dotted yellow road line extending farther than you can see in the distance, a shoe that had fallen off a Walker on the ground and a storm brewing on the horizon. It works really well for this book, I think. It's not eye-catching per se, but it does link with the book in the perfect way. One of the covers that you look at after you finish reading and think, "I get it." A+ cover.
My Description (There isn't a very good one officially):
The Long Walk is an annual competition. 100 teenage boys enter each year to see who can walk the furthest and win fame and a prize of their choice. The rules are that you must keep walking at a pace of over 4 mph. If you go under that speed, you get a warning. After four warnings you are out. The catch is that when you are out, you are shot by the soldiers lining the road. There is only one winner, the other 99 must die.
Ray Garrity enters this competition during The Long Walk, and he must battle physical and mental strain just to stay alive.
My Review:
Saying that I was a ball of pure stress while reading this book would be an underestimate. Considering that it was basically a book about characters walking in a straight line, you wouldn't imagine that I would be so stressed. However, the way that The Long Walk was written, it kept me so far on the edge of my seat that I was almost on the floor. If you could read this book without getting a knot in your stomach/ experience physical pain, I would be shocked. This excitement was caused by anything and everything: a steep hill that was almost impossible to go up at 4 mph, a friend being shot for stumbling too many times, an exhausted stumble, or just the realization that literally everyone was going to die.
The mental and physical hurdles of the Long Walk were also crazy. The Walkers walked for hundreds of miles with breaking pace. Not for sleeping, eating, or even going to the bathroom. The other boys dropped like flies from everything from a cramp, to exhaustion, to the inability to continue walking in their own pus filled shoes.
If you were to ever feel guilty for sitting down while reading a book, this is the one to do it. You can't feel very good about laying in bed while reading about Garrity fantasizing about the calm, painlessness that was death.
The characters were some of the most well-thought-out and unique characters that I have ever read about. I couldn't help but to love them, but only one character would be left standing. I had to sit by as all the characters that I grew to like were slowly worn down past their breaking point, walked for miles in desperation, and then were shot. It could be quite traumatizing if you are a person who can't handle character deaths!
The plot, the characters, the ideas that it makes you think of, the writing style were all perfect. My only complaint about the entire book was the last page. It was fully wrapped up, but left for a bit of interpretation. I understand why Richard Bachman/ Stephen King did it, and it did work well for the story but I wanted a little bit more of an ending!
Even with the ending, I would recommend The Long Walk with all of my heart. It was one of the best books I've ever read. Just, please, please consider reading it!
Phrase:
Jelly sandwiches
Happy Reading!
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