The Long Walk

I like going to used book stores every so often and pick up some stuff on the cheap. I saw Stephen King's "The Long Walk" while visiting my wife's family in Eureka a few weeks back and couldn't resist. He wrote it back in 1967, and it was rejected. He later published it as Richard Bachman, and it was reprinted in the '80s compendium "The Bachman Books" which contained The Running Man, Roadwork, and the purposely taken out of print Rage (which dealt with a kid who takes over his class at gunpoint, but became a little too close to home in modern times).

I read it back in 1986 but forgot most of the details, so I was happy to revisit it. It's a great quick read that cuts through the shit and gets right into the story. A boy named Garraty joins 99 others for an annual event called The Long Walk in which other boys under 18 join in a marathon non-stop walking contest. There's no breaks or sleep and if they ever go off course, stop walking, or fall under 4 miles per hour, they're given a warning. The 4th warning is a bullet.

I love the story in that it doesn't overexplain anything. You just have to accept the reality that there's some screwed up fascist version of America in which a military head (known as "The Major") organizes this huge event which most of country seems to think is the greatest thing ever. Why would someone willingly enter such an event? Most of the entrants don't even know for sure, but the winner receives anything they want, for life.

The book's told through Garraty's point of view and he meets a ton of interesting chacters along the way. Some confused, some suicidal, and one in particular, who walks in the back of the pack with the apparent ease of a robot, who is just flat out mysterious.

It's full of that great raw juvenile dialogue that Stephen King did so well back in the early days. It's a journey book like his later work "The Body" (which became the film Stand By Me) and even Huck Finn, with a sick twist. There's a great bit where a kid, overcome with horrible diarrheah, has to stop walking. His co-walkers egg him on, and Garraty is even thinking "better to shit yourself than die", but he's eventually taken out, shot in the head while doubled over in intenstinal agony, shitting on the road.

I totally forgot the ending, and rereading it, I can't say it left me completely satisfied, but it wasn't a cop out either. It certainly makes you think about the meaning, that's for sure.

It's a neat idea with a lot of "What would you do" type of situations. Is there any way to fight back against this situation once you joined? How would you bow out if you couldn't walk anymore? How far could you really walk non-stop if a gun was at your head? How could you possibly fall asleep while still walking? All sorts of cool scenarios like this play out.

Frank Darabont owns the rights to turn this into a movie, which seems to be completely "un-makeable", but he has said he wants to make it a very small low budget movie so he can adapt it properly, so there's hope. He was willing to go the dark and unexpected route with his film of The Mist, so maybe he's the right guy for the job. The dude gave us Shawshank Redemption, so I'm willing to give him a break.