[BOOKS] The Long Walk, by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
Walk walk fashion baby, work it, drive that Barko-vitch crazy
Walk walk fashion baby, work it, I'm a Freak bitch baby
After enjoying The Hunger Games so much, I made a point of reading other works that might have inspired it, that is, other books on the topic of dystopic futures in which society is manipulated/kept under control by the bread and circus strategy: public competitions that have only one winner who is also the sole survivor of whatever game the government has set up for them.
I tried Battle Royale, book and movie, which deserves a post on its own. I watched The Running Man (Perseguido), a Schwarzenneger movie of the 80's that is also based on a Richard Bachman novel, and which I'll review only after I have read the book.
And last night I finished the short novel The Long Walk, which I had been reading all through the Christmas Season -even though it's the least Christmas-y story ever, unless you take it as the martyrdom road of one hundred christian teenagers thrown to the military lions.
From Wikipedia:
Stephen King has revealed that it is the first novel he ever wrote, begun eight years before Carrie was published in 1974, when he was a freshman at the University of Maine in 1966-67. [...] Set in a near future, the plot revolves around the contestants of a gruelling walking contest, held annually by a somewhat despotic and totalitarian version of the United States of America.
One hundred teenage boys participate in an annual walking contest called "The Long Walk," which is the "national sport". Each Walker must maintain a speed of at least four miles per hour; if he drops below that speed for 30 seconds, he receives a verbal warning (which can be erased by walking for one hour without being warned). If a Walker with three warnings slows down again, he is "ticketed." [...] There are no stops, rest periods, or established finish line, and the Walk does not pause for any reason (including bad weather or darkness); it ends only when one Walker is left alive.
The protagonist of the novel is Raymond Davis Garraty, a 16-year-old boy [...]. Early on, Ray falls in with several other boys-including Peter McVries, Arthur Baker, Hank Olson, Collie Parker, Pearson, Harkness, and Abraham-who refer to themselves as "The Musketeers."
To me Ray is D'Artagnan and McVries (love the name!) is Athos, with his deep scar on both cheek and soul by his own personal Milady. Their teenage friendship reminds me inevitably of Gordie and Chris, and their group, of several other of those unforgettable King's gangs, mates or pals. Because Stephen King is not only a master of horror, he is also a king of bromance. I expected the friendships, the good moments among the horror, but never so much intense and explicit bromance. To hell with subtext.
That's why, as much as one can predict the developments with such a premise, after I finished the last page I cried my eyes out.
And did the next emotional thing, which is start over on page 1 and read again how they all met and introduced themselves, to add salt and sugar to the wound, right until:
"I mean, let's not put this on a Three Musketeers basis. I like you and it's obvious you're a big hit with the pretty girls. But if you fall over, I won't pick you up."
LIAR.
Oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bad bromance
I loved it. ;__;
There is talk of Frank Darabont directing a possible movie, but he seems to be busy with The Walking Dead (HEH!!) and other projects. Darabont has made awesome films out of King's novels so far, such as The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption. I hope he gets to tackle this project asap!
*Lyrics by Lady Gaga, slightly manipulated.