Today I would like to tell you what The Long Walk is. It’s a novel by Stephen King published in 1979 which shows a near future where there is a Selective Service each year : one hundred of young men (18 years old or less) must go from the State of Maine to the South. The Long Walk’s winner will receive what he wants from this day to his death. The long walk’s rules are easy : no contact with the others walkers, don’t deflect of the planned road and you can’t stop. The walkers who stop once receive an advertissement. The walkers can receive three advertissements and after, they are killed.

100 walkers, 1 winner and 99 losers… That is the hard law of the Long Walk, a perverse entertainment. In his novel, Stephen King denounce the possible reality TV drifts with a lot of ferocity. What has marked me the most is the fact that the author lets us identify us to the characters : we can see all the complexity of the characters psychology. Then, every character’s reactions about the walk and facing death.

In his novel, there are a lot of suspens, horror and anxiety. Moreover, dialogues are reals and sometimes they are comics.

This novel is, in my opinion, a real masterpiece. And you ? Have you already read this novel ? What do you think about it ?