This is one of the few Richard Bachman books I'd actually read before I started my Stephen King chronology reading project, and I really liked it. It's not really like a normal Stephen King book (which I guess is why it was published by Richard Bachman in the first place), but it was interesting and unique at the time.
The book takes place in a dystopian version of the United States. If it's the future, it's not mentioned, other than the fact that a character makes reference to there being 51 states and someone else corrects him, saying it's "regions." Anyway, the all-powerful ruler of this land is a militaristic man known only as the Major, and one of the ways the Major exerts his control is via an annual contest called the Long Walk. Basically, it consists of 100 teenaged boys starting to walk in northern Maine until they can't walk anymore. If they stop walking, they get shot. If they try to walk off the path or road, they get shot. If they run toward the crowd of onlookers, they get shot. Eventually, there is only one walker left, and he is showered with money and whatever his heart desires.
Sound familiar? Like a certain trilogy with movie starring a certain actress I may or may not have a crush on? Yes, there are a lot of Hunger Games comparisons to be made - teenagers fighting to the death for the entertainment of the masses, etc. - although the general theme is a bit different. The boys in the Long Walk are volunteers, driven by the prizes or pride or youthful arrogance or, in the case of many, nothing really at all. Much of the book takes place on the Walk, and you see the change in the characters. They get thoughtful and introspective. They realize that death is all around them and that they, too, are capable of dying. They also start breaking mentally and physically, with just as many boys succumbing to insanity as physical ailments.
The story focuses on Ray Garraty, a 16-year-old from Maine. Garraty's father disappeared when he was a kid because he spoke against the Major, but that's not really why he's walking. He's not sure why he's walking, but he is. He befriends a handful of other boys, particularly the mature McVries, and is fascinated by Stebbins, a loner who doesn't seem affected by the physical and mental punishment.
The longer they walk, the more they open up to each other and the more boys fall. Who will be the last boy standing?
This book is incredibly dark and there are a lot of comparisons to be made to Rage, which is funny because I really didn't like Rage and I actually did like The Long Walk. The characters are almost all teenagers, and all of them have dark secrets that will eventually be revealed. The entire book takes place in one place - in Rage, it was a classroom; in The Long Walk, it's the Walk's endless path - and much of the plot is conversation. Both have an undertone of hatred for The Man, whether that Man is a militaristic dictator or a high school principal.
The difference, for me, is the stakes of the two plotlines. Charlie Decker murders teachers and holds his classmates at gunpoint because he doesn't know what else to do and he's crazy and suicidal. Ray Garraty and the other Walkers could also be crazy and suicidal, but I don't think so. I think they're young and immature and don't realize what they're getting into (at one point, after the first couple of boys are killed, Garraty admits to himself that he somehow thought the guns would be fake, with flags that said BANG! coming out instead of bullets). Plus, the Major is a real villain, unlike a high school principal or guidance counselor, and so it's easier to sympathize with and root for Garraty and his friends.
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