2025 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Long Walk by Richard Bachman.

Pages: 370 pages

Length: 1 Month (May)

Participants: Chantal, Shareen, Trisha, Debra.

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.


Happy Buddy Reading!

I will probably jump into this discussion, by happenstance I will read this in May regardless; I started re-reading Uncle Steve's books in publication order in September. Currently on The Stand, coincidentally, I swear I didn't plan to get to that while the end times were going on.

Anyway, I loved The Long Walk as a teenager, although I never quite understood the ending so I wonder if I will have a different take now.

Great marc!

So question does the story also tell why this marathon excist? And if people join because of a reason? Dont want to know why or what just general.

Chantal wrote: "So question does the story also tell why this marathon excist? And if people join because of a reason? Dont want to know why or what just general."

I think it exists because dystopia.
Also, participants are picked by lottery, iirc. I still need to read it in this century.

Me: "I'm being helpful!"

Hello. I start this book today and I’d love to join in on the discussion later.

I’m starting this today. How is it going for everyone?

Its a hmmm for me. I have read better books of stephen king.

I read this about a year ago, I found it fascinating and was left with so many questions at the end... in a good way. Can’t wait to hear what everyone else thinks!

I still have not started but it is very next on my stack. Any quality comparisons to King's other work should consider that this was written very early in his career. The prior Bachman Book, Rage, was written before his first published book. I don't know exactly where Long Walk falls in there but I expect it is similar.

I'm currently rereading all of Stephen King's books in chronological order and read The Long Walk in February.
I'm finding King's writing has stood the test of time and i'm really enjoying revisiting all his work.
The Long Walk and The Running Man, which I'm currently reading. don't seem so far fetched given the current state of the world which in some ways is stranger than fiction.
One thing I noticed when i was reading The Long Walk is that I actually found myself feeling exhausted and thirsty just reading the story. I swear my own legs and feet felt sore! Now that's good writing!
Happy Reading!

Elle wrote: "I'm currently rereading all of Stephen King's books in chronological order and read The Long Walk in February.
I'm finding King's writing has stood the test of time and i'm really enjoying revisiti..."

So how was The Stand for you, given the current climate?

Started The Long Walk. Two related thoughts, if this were to be published today: it would be required to be marketed as YA, and the main character probably would not think of his mother's breasts as "token nubs".

Wow, this is better (and longer) than I remembered. Some of it is adolescent-leaning in conception, such as the whole idea, or the visceral description of the first walker getting their ticket. Are the moments of expression of teenage boy sexuality a sign of immature writing, or are they literary? I find a lot of moments poetic, and the prose is great. The increasing madness over the course of the walk is well-written. I think this is a much better book than, say, 'Salem's Lot.

I wish there were a few more details about the dystopian society at play here. Clearly there is fascist rule. Do you think the book does better with keeping it all highly vague, or would it be improved with more details?

For me it would have been better with more detail. I just miss the story behind it all.

Me too! I was left wanting for more information about the dystopian world. It could have helped me in placing the long walk and understanding the crowd mentality who seem to be cheering the walkers to their death.

Btw, I finished the book today - you can find my review here. I was initially okay with how the book started, but eventually I was drawn into it so bad, at both psychological and physical levels that I could feel the pain of the walkers, I mean, their physical pain. I felt dehydrated and tired like I've been walking too. The writing is brilliant and unsettling at the same time.

An echo of King's life just occurred to me: his father left the family when King was very young. Ray's father was also absent in this story.

Marc wrote: "An echo of King's life just occurred to me: his father left the family when King was very young. Ray's father was also absent in this story."

This makes me realize that I had a question. What does being 'squaded' exactly mean? I’m assuming he was made to disappear (as in 1984), and eventually killed or maybe imprisoned for life for being too outspoken about politics.

Trisha wrote: "Marc wrote: "An echo of King's life just occurred to me: his father left the family when King was very young. Ray's father was also absent in this story."

This makes me realize that I had a questi..."

There's not much said in-story, other than the Squad took him away and he was never heard from again. At one point the soldiers giving out tickets on the Walk are said to have been freshly hand-picked from the Squad. So... generic emotionless cold enforcers of the authority/ties in this setting?

Done.

I don't know that more world details would have helped the story. The whole concept of the Long Walk is so far out there that I think trying to craft a solid explanation for its existence would be a stretch. The vagueness lets the core event simply get on with itself.

Hi Marc,
I'm actually currently reading The Stand. I read the 4 early Bachman Books first as I have them all in one volume.
It's definitely a weird trip to see how much the world has changed since I first read these books and at times they seem eerily prophetic.

Elle wrote: "Hi Marc,
I'm actually currently reading The Stand. I read the 4 early Bachman Books first as I have them all in one volume.
It's definitely a weird trip to see how much the world has changed since ..."

Cool, I read The Stand last month (the original cut edition though, are you reading the uncut book or do you have an old edition for that too? I have the 4-book Bachman Books too, I got it so that I could read Rage). I am more dismayed at the ways that the world has NOT changed since these books were written. The Long Walk was theoretically set in a then-future or alternate history (there was something about a historical event in the 1950's that was fictional), but like all sci-fi, it is really written about the world now.

I decided to read the original version of The Stand this time around. When i started rebuilding my Stephen King collection i actually ended up with both the original and uncut version. Depending how long it takes me to go through the list of books, I may read the uncut version again when i get to it on my list.

Elle wrote: "I decided to read the original version of The Stand this time around. When i started rebuilding my Stephen King collection i actually ended up with both the original and uncut version. Depending ho..."

You are a completionist reader after my own heart.