THE LONG WALK

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Pucker

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
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summer_sky said:
Interesting.
Isn't The Running Man an homage to Robert Sheckley's The Prize Of Peril?
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I suppose that's the nice way to put it.

It's a bit on-the-nose for an homage, to my way of thinking, but then again, my way of thinking isn't particularly important in this regard. The great man himself (before his passing) accepted Mr. King's "subconscious reverence" explanation (or however he put it), so who are we to question?

And so what if "Breakers" are unnervingly reminiscent of The Mind Slaves of Trantori? :glare:
 
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summer_sky

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Pucker said:
I suppose that's the nice way to put it.
It's a bit on-the-nose for an homage, to my way of thinking, but then again, my way of thinking isn't particularly important in this regard. The great man himself (before his passing) accepted Mr. King's "subconscious reverence" explanation (or however he put it), so who are we to question?
And so what if "Breakers" are unnervingly reminiscent of The Mind Slaves of Trantori? :glare:
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I think it would be easy... and very human... to have "subconscious reverence" influence your writings if you are an avid reader AND a prolific writer.
The questions regarding why consciously publish works of "subconscious reverence" are the tricky ones to be asked/answered. I suppose the answers would differ depending upon as to when the homage or "subconscious reverence" was written and who exactly made the decision to released the writing as a publication.
kingricefan said:
There is that old adage- 'Everything old is new again.'
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The same thing is said about music and songs. The argument being that there are only so many chords and combination of notes to be played. Or, something like that.
Pucker said:
No new thing under the sun.
I'm sure I read that somewhere. :fox:
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Ha! SmartArse. I see what you did there! :biggrin:
 
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Sunlight Gardener

Sunlight Gardener

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Jul 22, 2013
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summer_sky said:
I had a difficult time reading The Long Walk. I became impatient and annoyed wondering where this story was going.
Reading this discourse has helped me to see some sort of reason for the publication of this one, other than income generator.
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Lol, an income generator. I guess the beauty of literature is how widely different people are and how different things appeal to everyone. As for me, I think the Long Walk is most likely the greatest thing Stephen King has ever put on paper in his amazing career and I think it is a complete and utter masterpiece. I have spent a whole lot of hours thinking about that story and stewing about it since I first read it 20 years ago....more than any other SK story by far (of course I have read it several times since then). It was nothing less than revolutionary in my development and my understanding of what is possible in literature. The story blew my mind totally way back then and when I read it most recently, I found it to be every bit as magnificent as I had remembered.
 
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blunthead

blunthead

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Sunlight Gardener said:
Lol, an income generator. I guess the beauty of literature is how widely different people are and how different things appeal to everyone. As for me, I think the Long Walk is most likely the greatest thing Stephen King has ever put on paper in his amazing career and I think it is a complete and utter masterpiece. I have spent a whole lot of hours thinking about that story and stewing about it since I first read it 20 years ago....more than any other SK story by far (of course I have read it several times since then). It was nothing less than revolutionary in my development and my understanding of what is possible in literature. The story blew my mind totally way back then and when I read it most recently, I found it to be every bit as magnificent as I had remembered.
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Word.
 
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Sunlight Gardener

Sunlight Gardener

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Jul 22, 2013
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summer_sky said:
The power of written word makes all things possible.

Who are some of your other favorite authors to read and think upon?
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Honestly I don't have any other favorite authors technically. I have certainly read some books by other others that I thought were great, but there is not another author that has made me purposely set out to devour their entire collection the way I have done with SK.

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson instantly comes to mind. When I read it in college, it certainly knocked my socks off and made me think for a long time. In a sense The Long Walk was SK's homage Jackson's story and definitely has some similarities. I like a good bit of Poe and Lovecraft also.
 
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Death Kat

Death Kat

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Sunlight Gardener said:
Lol, an income generator. I guess the beauty of literature is how widely different people are and how different things appeal to everyone. As for me, I think the Long Walk is most likely the greatest thing Stephen King has ever put on paper in his amazing career and I think it is a complete and utter masterpiece. I have spent a whole lot of hours thinking about that story and stewing about it since I first read it 20 years ago....more than any other SK story by far (of course I have read it several times since then). It was nothing less than revolutionary in my development and my understanding of what is possible in literature. The story blew my mind totally way back then and when I read it most recently, I found it to be every bit as magnificent as I had remembered.
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Summer Sky - I had thought that it was just me who loved The Long Road. I remember reading it and was truly awestruck and it has remained my favourite Stephen King story. I want to re-read it but I remember being so involved, entwined and entranced by the story at the time that I felt exhausted after. It felt like I was walking with them the whole way. It's amazing that a writer can do that - I felt transported into the story and the horror and dread of the story was just so powerful. Nice to hear that someone else like's it too
 
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GNTLGNT

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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Death Kat said:
Summer Sky - I had thought that it was just me who loved The Long Road. I remember reading it and was truly awestruck and it has remained my favourite Stephen King story. I want to re-read it but I remember being so involved, entwined and entranced by the story at the time that I felt exhausted after. It felt like I was walking with them the whole way. It's amazing that a writer can do that - I felt transported into the story and the horror and dread of the story was just so powerful. Nice to hear that someone else like's it too
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...The Long WALK honey....:smile:
 
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AnnaMarie

AnnaMarie

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christopher jones said:
Yes that is an amazing point but, do they really know, I don't think they do I think that they are ignorant about the matter only having watched the walk on television. They really don't know how it feels to walk for 5 days with no rest although the idea is appalling, getting what you want, any wish makes it sound so much better all the general is doing is mass butchering 99 kids a year because in the end there is no prize. You just watched 99 people get butchered so no there is no prize
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They know that one person wins and everyone else dies. But, do kids that age really understand death? I think they understand what death is, but don't comprehend that it really could happen to them.

kingricefan said:
As for the ending- I think at this point in the tale that Garrity has lost his mind and while it might not be a hallucination that someone has placed a hand on his shoulder (to stop him from walking as he's 'won' the contest), in his mind it is Death coming for him and so he takes off running. But, as we all know, you can't outrun Death......
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I also felt the ending was Garrity having lost his mind. It's been a long time since I read it, but seems to me, when he felt the hand on his shoulder, I thought, in his mind, he had to get and walk because, if they sit or stopped to long they got shot. He didn't comprehend it was over....so he had to move.
 
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Edp

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Jul 13, 2016
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Pucker said:
In the final analysis, The Long Walk is a story about learning a lesson that isn't going to do you any good.

It's about boys who aren't really offered the option to be men, so they make a choice, and they get lucky. Or maybe they get unlucky. Or maybe both. I like it because on the surface there's not a whole lot going on, but it can be about lots of different things, depending upon how you look at yourself.

It's stark and it tells a tale most people don't want to hear, but if you enjoy character study and don't mind short, intense relationships, you could do a lot worse.
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Agreed. I was kinda upset after finishing it. I wondered what I was supposed to take away from the book and finally gave up and decided there was no single way to describe the book's plot and ending. I'll just enjoy it as an interesting read.
 
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