Stephen King's The Long Walk Book Review

[@derekwilliamson5386]

One of my favorite King novels. It's so overlooked

[@MrSekeeroMan]

One of my personal favorite Stephen King books and imo it's way better than Rage.

[@DonPeyote420]

agreed

[@ambehak4758]

The story is basically symbolising life as one long journey. Each of us on our own paths and how along the way we come across people we care about and lose along the way. There is a paragraph in the final chapter of this story in the 3rd and final part where it is only Garraty, McVries and Stebbins and they are not far from Boston, which basically reveals the story's underlying message. Right at the beginning of the chapter: 'They were forty miles from Boston. "Tell us a story, Garraty," Stebbins said abruptly. "Tell us a story that will take our minds off our troubles." He had aged unbelievably, Stebbins was an old man. "Yeah," McVries said. He also looked ancient and wizened.' Garraty has seen his close friends reach old age and are close to death. The Walk is 5 days long. I believe each of those days represents each significant stage of your life, as many of us luckily live close to 100 years old. The first day may possibly represent from age 0-25, 2nd day age 25-50, 3rd day age 50-75, 4th day age 75-100. And i believe the 5th and final day where they are all dead (Garraty's ending is open to interpretation) represents death, the end of life.

[@derinaries]

ambeh ak47 That is an interesting interpretation.

[@walterjose1104]

Great anayzaltions .

[@ethorii]

I don't think the larger society is important to the story. It's clear that the society is totalitarian. It's a great vehicle to study psychology. Endurance, fear, loss, regret. No other story i know of is like it. It's an increadably compelling and unusual, harsh yet beautiful tale. I loved how it dawned on me as it did the walkers, just how bad it will get as the miles and miles go by. Most of us have walked a long way, like 15 or 20 miles at once, and been tired and glad it was over. Few people have wondered what happens when the walk goes 100, 200, 300 miles. It is intense torture that King masterfully fleshes out.

[@darksiderulz52]

It's been a while since I read the long walk. But my thoughts were these boys volunteer, because as a teenager you don't truly grasp your own mortality, and so they sign up for the fame, the prize, and the adventure. And subconsciously because most of these young men have a death wish. And from the side of the state, I took it that the state views this as an easy way to get rid of 100 people they consider to have the future potential to cause problems for the state's militaristic system. And I think really it's also a metaphor for life, how our friends come and go. Why are we here? Why do we die? And how all of our deaths are pretty ugly for the most part, etc. Those are just my thoughts, I enjoyed your review a lot, thank you for posting it.

[@jeffreypeterson3238]

My favorite Bachman/King Book. Should have been a movie a long time ago.

[@Stretch213]

Dude really. It makes the most sense .it's easy to do

[@jeffreypeterson3238]

@@Stretch213 Would be super low budget with huge financial return.

[@95kingslayer]

I was so salty that this book had 18 chapters. So close to 19! lol

[@raydiaz2772]

Probably was his point lol

[@RedSue]

Well, my daughter and I discussed the book, and based on the time it was written and the fact SK was in highschool at that time, we came to the conclusion that this is a story about the pointless Vietnam war. It all fits.

[@petergresham8532]

Great review frosty, can you comment on the 4mph speed for the walk and what your thoughts are on king choosing that speed?

[@Tori.601]

Someone suggested it should be 4 kph (2.5 mph) which makes sense. Maintaining 4 mph for 5 days seems too fast to me

[@mikefitzgerald41]

4 mph was too fast to be realistic Should have been 3 mph

[@gummy4ever]

i'm pretty sure this is connected to the larger king universe because in the long walk theres an old guy with a sign that complains about giving away the panama canal, and in christine the old guy with the car complains about people WANTING to give away the canal. so the long walk would be AFTER christine

[@DonPeyote420]

I think that the Long Walk has something to do with historical events that lead to the installation of military authoritarian regime in America. Maybe it represented some sort of event that had something to do with ending of WW2: like, for example, maybe the Germans marched prisoners for miles, trail of tears style, and the one who outlasted them all was the Major, so he decided he'd want to pass this rite of passage so to speak to the next generation. It's interesting to speculate about the world in which this takes place.

[@kayligo]

It was about Vietnam

[@jonathansoto6984]

You should do a review for The Shining

[@bishiwishii]

Yes, I'd love to see a review of The Shining too

[@megadev9099]

When that first walker gets ticketed was such a great moment to read.

[@scottyb003]

I did find my copy of the running man at a used book store, and it's in very good condition.

[@jlumley]

no spoiler alert at 14:12

[@Bhair206]

One of my favorite Bachmann books, great overview

[@andrewbetrosian2784]

I have copy with 433 pages to long walk

[@Allwillbewellnallwillbewelland]

So I'm at minute 13, and still not getting the sense that this book is being understood as the basic allegory for "the road of life " and christianity that it is.... and its pretty simply put- Garrety and the rest can't explain why they're there- except for stebbins. Because stebbins' father is the boss so he's willing to sacrifice himself to see if daddy loves him. Jesus- god thing. Everyone else does in pursuit of happiness and the prize (heaven) Even though no winner lives. Voluntarily/ annually= we live year after year. Welcome to life. You eat, shit, walk, work, die. There's your high school book report. Oh, and it was the figure of death/reaper he saw at the end that was walking ahead of him after he won, so he could win "... if he could only catch up to him..."

[@BLINDTUBEMARES]

Love it. I always thought it was about Vietnam (or war in general) or you could say it's about capitalism- survival of the fittest at any cost for the ultimate prize

[@AmyBlackRoseCena]

Survival of the fittest definitely sounds accurate, but then again a 5-day long walk through multiple weather conditions and just the exertion on your body can turn the fittest person into a shell of himself in almost no time as we see.

[@BLINDTUBEMARES]

That's it. A simple idea for a horrific story@@AmyBlackRoseCena

[@AmyBlackRoseCena]

@@BLINDTUBEMARES Especially what it does to your mind as we see with Barkavoch (sorry about the spelling, I only have the audiobook version)

[@BLINDTUBEMARES]

I'm inspired! I'm going to give it listen. Last time I read this was about thirty years ago!@@AmyBlackRoseCena

[@javeydones5163]

This book was about a 6/10 for me. It was not bad. My biggest gripe is that due the story simply being about a long walk, the story is told almost entirely through dialogue and it becomes a little difficult to figure out who’s talking sometimes. We hear lines from like 80% of the boys who walked, it gets confusing and a little boring when the dialogue isn’t broken up by some other event. The events that break up the dialogue typically are one of the boys getting their ticket and dying. I guess simply put, the book is a bit slow for me.

[@ambehak4758]

Agreed. I kept thinking who is talking right now and i kept trying to remember which name belonged to which number. There are parts in the middle of this story where it just feels like Stephen King is waffling on for no reason and it kind of makes you lose interest.

[@AmyBlackRoseCena]

I suggest looking into the audiobook cuz that's how I've been " reading it " and I've already listened to it three times because I in a weird sense identify with it right now because my legs and lower back are practical useless so I feel for these boys when their bodies start to go out on them. Even when you listen to the book yes it is hard to keep track of who's talking sometimes, but I believe it would be easier as opposed to reading the book in print because each person has their own distinct voice

[@southernstacker7315]

Glad this is getting a movie. Battle Royale reminds me of this.

[@catrinadollsandsugarskulls9865]

I have the same exact copy of the bachman books the black and gold. Thabk God for used book stores. I try to buy all of my books used if I can.

[@Ang417]

CatrinaDollsAndSugarSkulls yep I found a used copy as well 😊

[@turtleanton6539]

I hope I can find it

[@Reneebenson]

Please tell me garrity lives

[@backup_r5401]

Great review. Thanks!

[@jeffhearn3658]

Re-read this recently and really enjoyed it again and wanted to hear more on others thoughts about the book. Great job, appreciate your insights.

[@poochie9001]

Please do Rage next It was the first book I read voluntarily (out of school)

[@walterjose1104]

I was taught Stephen King when I was first in and Junior high by a friend of mine of their name Edward Easton they used to read to me because I had hard time interpreting some of the English words from there I became a tremendous fan of the books and of the writings from what I noticed about the writing with Stephen King he puts in metaphors in that has to do with the story, but in a alternate universe I "ll give you an idea of what I mean when you talk about the road ,maximum overdrive immediately came to my mind ( not to mention chirstine also)then I think about what you said with the tower if we go back and we look at the The dark Tower there's a lot of statements that mcconnelly(!in the film the dark Tower) makes that he says oh there's different universes and different chapters of how things are working we also hear about this when he speaks about it and it and it he knows how to get into your deepest fears and and knows how to get to you the reason I say it is also because we hear about it also and graveyard shift where they speak in the book it's a bat but in the movie it's a rat .but I believe a lot of these side stories that like you said the world war II and things like that they're the alternate universe of what would be good if the tower didn't exist and my opinion maybe it's true maybe it's not if we go back and look also at the mist when they explain it like the soldiers explained in the film the mist that they were working on some time portal dimension to open and get through different dimension s also to go back to maximum overdrive the reason the machines had taken over was due to the fact that Russian satellite was hit by alien asteroid or meteor now we go back and we look at creepshow the farmer is hit by the asteroid also and he didn't listen which stars Stephen King( can i get a ride lady 🤣😭🥴) and if we look at cat's eye when the guy try to stop smoking nobody knew how that one company or corporation got all that information to kind of figure out how this guy was smoking still and how to get to his wife and everything so, in my opinion I believe the dark Tower serves as the center of evil and that the leader of the dark Tower sends out people from different I would say chapters to go through different dimensions to cause different mayhem in different dimensions and different places and my opinion this might be way off but this is the only way I can understand or I think why Stephen King puts these weird stories that are from the stories a story within the stories you like to say. Never know .

[@Mumscup]

A Vietnamese war tale from USA side ,Shown on tv, ever lasting death and feck up s on show on Tv ,young men volunteers,nothing gained but blood pain pressure and death.Clever review matey.

[@steviejohn9502]

will be made into a movie coming out soonish

[@welovetofloat]

I want to search for this collection!

[@kayjay1196]

They have it at a library at my college. A little chilling since Rage is in it. Lol.

[@katkal3]

i didnt get the ending , where protagonist(cant remember the kids name) wins race and just keeps walking and walking , maybe im dense but i didnt get waht happened. so it marred the experience but i really dug Roadwork. Such a sad story and i love sad stories

[@tkurz3071]

That is why I personally love the Bachman Books...None of "Bachman's" stories have happy endings.

[@SoftwareAgentsTV]

I think the point is that winning the race doesn't matter because Garrity went nuts from the stress of the Walk.

[@kayligo]

Because by then all he knew was that he better walk or he’ll die so he just keeps going

[@bruhmoment552]

He was too far gone to stop walking. All he knew by the end of the walk was "You walk or you die" so Ray walked until he couldn't anymore. I think partly thay Ray was too far gone such as hank to where he could only walk and nothing else but maybe also partly that he thought that even if he was the last man walking, that he would be shot dead.

[@thomasferriday]

I would greatly enjoy if you reviewed Christine. The film that accompanies it isn't bad either.

[@ladyyuna2000]

I have that book but I didn't read it yet I am still reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King.

[@electrichorseman7158]

One my favorite books .thank you for your review

[@InKY09]

I felt liked getting through the book was a slog, which is appropriate given the subject matter. Since the book was written in the ‘70’s, the walkers’ dialog is dated - and I doubt that many kids and teens would have been quoting passages of poetry or pulling authors’ names out of their heads in any era. While a few hints about the walkers’ universe were dropped here and there, I would have loved for more to have been revealed; top it off with an abrupt and inconclusive ending, and I was left regretting the time I invested in this book.

[@quincydewhart9361]

Oh! And do the joe hill books oneday brother!

[@gayleoverly7613]

I think Ray bought the ticket a few miles back. Notice how many warnings he got away with

[@cyberpimp29]

Frank Darabont has the rights - I wish he would hurry up and adapt this to a film already! Hes the right director; come on man!

[@John_Longbow]

André Øverdal has got the go ahead to direct a movie based on this book.

[@cyberpimp29]

@@John_Longbow yes sir, I read that also. As to why Darabont dragged his feet on this, I have no idea. Im thrilled this will be made into a film; I wish it was Darabont...

[@jomic9060]

u mean listening to this is like taking a non stop long walk to boston?

[@cartooningfanart]

Brillant review 👍 please make more stephen king review

[@saucymauve]

Im looking forward to seeing the movie:)

[@cyberpimp29]

Someday...I hope....

[@Reneebenson]

U do know who richard backman is right??

[@thuggedoutwhiteboy4203]

Thank you so much I think that the long walk is About how most of us will die in war

[@glassman8697]

I think it’s sad that Stephen King says he believes in God , but refuses to practice the Faith. Yet he puts a lot of spiritual topics in his books...

[@carterdahl9654]

The average walking speed is 3.1 mph so that sucks

[@Reneebenson]

I didnt think that was very clear

[@saeed7099]

Thinner is the best of the lot. Easily

[@frankatchison1617]

Survivor type up there!, Strawberry Spring.,Old is good!

[@quincydewhart9361]

Please do Regulators!!!!!! Frosty!

[@WildNorthWestern]

They chose to do the walk cause they were ready to die and they had non purpose left in life so they chose to do the long walk. Stebbins tells garrity in the book. Now garrity you have to look deeper and I think it's because his father gets squated.

[@kayligo]

I think that’s why Garraty wins, he has something to live for.

[@DroTalks]

Great review, this would make a great movie, a damn great movie. Just need to answer the why of the walk at the end and boom, box office glory :)

[@TheJericho1123]

thanks for spoiling the ending.

[@Stretch213]

Bachman s are classics

[@DroTalks]

Everything comes from and goes to the tower :)

[@steveniccolai4472]

God if this is only your second favorite Bachman book then I definitely have to read Rage

[@AmyBlackRoseCena]

Good luck finding it. Like he said, after the Sandy Hook shooting King took it out of print and I can't even find it on audible which I find really insane

[@FINALSTANDFOLEYOFFICIAL]

Great video man, gonna find myself a copy.

[@SoftwareAgentsTV]

a gutwrenching book

[@quincydewhart9361]

And the Stand!!!!!!!

[@quincydewhart9361]

I think you do that one! The stand

[@wendyadams8549]

Finale talk of a movie 👍👍👍👍👍👍😀

[@Felixkeeg]

I really should pick up the Tower series, I suppose...

[@amayacomics]

Thanks!

[@jazzsolocup3291]

The Long Walk literally sent me into massive depression lol

[@turtleanton6539]

Hahahahahahahha I can see that

[@priest1896]

Good book 👌🏾

[@elichaitman3294]

And blaze

[@frankatchison1617]

AWESOME!!!😛

[@JustinMBailey]

....dude either you’re having the worst case of indigestion ever or it’s time for you to quit smoking my friend, you sound like Vader after he killed the Emperor and saved his son Luke. PS I’ve been listening to the STAND on audio this month and though I feel perhaps that it is Stephen King’s most ambitious and intricate of novels I love IT 10 times more....But what is sticking with me is the biblical implications, what is sticking with me is mother Abigail’s speech on how pride is the mother of all sins and theft is the father. Even though King was never a conventionally biblical chap he really tapped into some Old Testament veins with that one didn’t he? You ever read Pillars of The Earth? It was written by an atheist who simply loved cathedral architecture and yet he had written one of the greatest and most spiritually fulfilling novels I have ever read. I hope you’re not a correction officer working midnights that would suck....but when the cons sleep it sure gives you some good reading time.

[@DonPeyote420]

It's a shame that King had seemingly lost his edge after the Bachman books and never regained it. He even coped out on Rage, never republishing it ever again, because it "may inspire school shootings".

[@playermartin286]

Just like needful things it gets very repetitive after a time. Just my opinion

[@T-Hyde]

Stephen King's The Hunger Games, basically 😂😂

[@patcoston]

You can also compare it to Battle Royale, but King was thinking of the story in high-school, then wrote it as a freshman in college from 1966 to 1967, so long before those stories. Those may have been inspired by The Long Walk.

[@katkal3]

maybe Running man is more like hunger games

[@thomasmccann3679]

It fucking sucked. Was good for the first 50 pages and then any suspension of disbelief goes out the window.