The Long Walk Book Review

Hi Guys,
This week I'm going to review The Long Walk by Richard Bachman, which is a pseudonym for Stephen King. This, as King has confessed, is the first novel he's written. I never really had an urge to read a Stephen King book, I don't know why I didn't want to, but none of them really seemed that interesting to me. I didn't know what all the "King Rage" was about. After reading this novel, I now know why he has so many fans, and I also plan on reading most of his other books. Here is the synopsis of this book:

Every year, on the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk." Among this yea's chosen crop is sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty. He knows the rules: that warnings are issued if you fall under speed, stumble, sit down. That after three warnings...you get your ticket. And what happens then serves as a chilling reminder that thee can be only one winner in the Walk--the one that survives...

My first impression of this book, as you all know, was poor. I didn't want to read any famous Stephen King book, let alone a lesser known story of his. The only reason I picked it up is because a vlogger that I follow, Priscilla a.k.a. the founder of "The Readables", posted her March book haul video and this was one of her books for "Epic Month". A friend of her's told her that the synopsis of the Hunger Games reminded him of The Long Walk. This video was posted a couple weeks before The Hunger Games movie was released, and since I wasn't going to re-read the Hunger Games, I decided to read this until the movie was released. This is one of King's lesser known works, but it was phenomenal. I thought that the characters, the plot, and all other aspects of this book were amazing. Since the plot of this book was constant, the characters are what the book rested upon. I LOVED IT! I love reading about characters, and King made me change my opinion on certain characters several times. For instance, Barkovitch is a character that I changed my opinion of numerous times... Olson is another example. Ray was a pretty good main character, I liked him at first, but then towards the end my feelings started to change in a negative way. I know that the walk is a stressful experience, but he didn't have to change so drastically, in my perspective. My favorite character was McVries, who was a close friend of Ray's from the beginning of the Long Walk. There friendship grew stronger with every hour that passed... both of them saving the others life a time or two. As it grew stronger though, it also grew weirder, a few conversations came up that I was a little uncomfortable reading, but they were dismissed quickly in the book, normally by another conversation. The book had a lot of vulgar language and sexual references, but I mean... they are teenaged boys. I give this book 4/5 stars because of the constant vulgarity, but other than that it was an amazing read. I recommend it to anyone. As an extra bit of pretty cool info... while I was reading the Long Walk, I had my Ipod on shuffle, and when I finished the book, the song "Teenage Wasteland" by "The Who" was playing... and I thought it matched the mood very well. I would definitely re-read this novel. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, and I LOVED the plot twists at the end. I just wish I knew what the winner wished for...

Additional Announcement: The film rights for this movie have already been bought, but they have no intentions on starting soon. They would like to make it a low budget film, with lesser known actors.