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/lit/ - Literature

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1334140 No.1334140 [Reply] [Original]

The only King novel worth reading.
So good he knew people wouldn't believe he could of written it and released it under his pseudonym.

Everything else is shit tier to this god tier. Never before or after has he come close to touching it's quality.

>> No.1334150

So is your goal to try and troll by making page 0 nothing but stephen king threads?

If not, just keep it in one of the other two threads about king we already have.

>> No.1334151

>The Long Walk better than The Stand

nope.avi

>> No.1334154

>could of
>it's
No love for the Green Mile?

>> No.1334165

I want this to override the other King threads because they don't matter compared to this one.

The Green Mile and The Stand were awesome, yet did you not read this one? They are in its shadow.

My excitement made me forget spelling.

>> No.1334207

>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. In 2000 the American Library Association listed the Long Walk, as one of the 100 best books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000

>> No.1334216

>>1334207
This is part of my reasoning as to why it is the best King novel ever.

Because it is made, and acknowledged as a great book for TEENAGERS, the only real audience he should of ever tended to.

Any self-respecting adult shouldn't be seen with a King book, yet they all hope to be adult books, even some going to far as implying literature...

Fuck that, this is it, this is all we need of him, a great fucking book and you'll all be on the fucking bandwagon for it once Darabont makes it a masterpiece.

>> No.1334223

>>1334216

Rage was better, stfu, no one cares about ur stupid favorite.

>> No.1334229

>>1334223
fuck your columbine wetdreams

>> No.1334240
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1334240

>>1334229

hey, fuck you, buddy.

>> No.1334251

>>1334240
Let us refrain from pictures of such posturing violence.

>> No.1334257

No one read this in highschool and completely loved it?

From this to 1984!

>> No.1334258
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1334258

>>1334251

>> No.1334262

>>1334257

Read this in grad school and thought it was great. Thought he was trying a little too hard to out do Shirley Jackson, though.

>> No.1334270

>>1334262
so shirley jackson>stephen king
what story you refering too, I'd like to read it if it is in the same vain.

>> No.1334288

>>1334270

It's called "The Lottery." Kind of surprised you haven't heard of it and make the connection.

>> No.1334295

>>1334288
Plot
The story contrasts details of contemporary small town American life with an annual ritual known as "the lottery". In a small village of about 300 residents, the locals are in a strange and nervous mood on 27 June. Children gather up stones as the adult townsfolk assemble for their annual event, that in the local tradition has been practiced to ensure a good harvest. In the first round of the lottery, the head of each family draws a small slip of paper; Bill Hutchinson gets the one slip with a black spot, meaning that his family has been chosen. In the next round, each Hutchinson family member draws a slip, and Bill's wife Tessie—who had arrived late—gets the marked slip. In keeping with tradition, which has been abandoned in at least some other neighboring communities, Tessie is then stoned to death by everyone present as a sacrifice, while Tessie complains about the unfairness of the lottery.

>> No.1334300

>>1334295
Plot The Long Walk
"In the near future, 100 teenage boys are chosen to participate in the ultimate competition- 99 will die and the last boy standing is the winner. The competition is simply a walk, and the rules are clear: no stopping, no sitting, no walking under 4 miles per hour. After 3 warnings, the participant is shot dead by one of the soldiers patrolling the walk. The main character in the book is named Garraty. He makes a few friends and most of the book is dedicated to their musings on life, death, sex, and of course, the Long Walk itself. Some boys are shot dead after suffering severe leg cramps, but as the book progresses more die because they have gone insane or simply want die and get it over with. Garraty is the last man standing, and at the end of the race, he sees a shadowy figure who, upon touching Garraty's shoulder, gives him the strength to run."

>> No.1334301

Yeah but in The Walk, it isn't a tradition everyone adheres to or anything. Participation is voluntary.

>> No.1334305

>>1334288
The plots are pretty loosely related, both involve a yearly event, but King's is the supersized version, not arguing that more is better but they definitely seem like they can stand alone as respective stories.

>> No.1334308

Did you like The Running Man OP? There's another King book about a competition in which losers die

>> No.1334310

>>1334295
>>1334300

In the near, dystopian future, a group of people gather out in the countryside to observe some sort of annual contest.

THE BIG TWEEST: the purpose of the contest is to execute people

C'mon, man. It's obvious King was imitating the lottery. That's why he held off on the "big surprise" until the last possible moment.

>> No.1334316

>>1334301
I find this more Huxley, we are complicit in our own subjugation, whereas Lottery was more Orwellian

>> No.1334317

>>1334310
meh, it's not like that was the twist. You find that out practically a few pages in. It's more a psychological book than anything.

>> No.1334320

>>1334308
I actually have avoided it because King pissed me off by spoiling the ending in his new Bachman Books intro. Asshole.

>> No.1334327

>>1334317

You don't find out until a number of pages in when the first walker cramps up and is killed.

>> No.1334329

can someone explain to me why you would use a fake name to write as, but let people know it's you?

also, I try not to read books where the author's name is bigger than the title.

>> No.1334338

>>1334329

He didn't reveal he was Richard Bachman until years after he stopped using the name (he killed him off, actually).

And even then it was because a sharp eyed fan figured it out.

>> No.1334339

>>1334320

Stop being a whiny faggot. The world doesn't revolve around you and your not having read a twenty year old book.

>> No.1334346

>Last line

I've always thought I was the only one who felt like this. *high five*

>> No.1334347

>>1334329

Oh god, one of you faggots. Why don't you just take your hipster conceit and get out.

>> No.1334348

>>1334327
You find out on the 39th page, but there are hints beforehand that the losers don't exactly get to just leave (especially considering who the author is). Considering the book is nearly 400 pages long, that's close enough to the beginning. anyway think what you want, I just didn't see very many parallels to The Lottery.

>> No.1334351
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1334351

>>1334329
HAH! there are the same number of letters in each. now you have to read it!

>> No.1334387

>>1334329
Honest mistake on your part.
Back when it was originally published it was a secret, and he was quite upset that he was found out. He wanted to see if his books could make it without the weight of his name.
Like you see here, modern publishers do play up the fact that it is King by flashing his name and making all his paperbacks look part of a series.

>> No.1334396

>>1334339
Just seemed silly to spoil a story in the intro of the book, in an interview or anywhere else, wtv. But he should assume someone bothering to buy his book might be discovering it for the first time.

>> No.1334401

>>1334339
It isn't even about the ending anyway, especially not with King, no surprise King wouldn't give much of a care since he figures ppl should be enjoying the journey, not just munching their way to the end.

>> No.1334406

>>1334401

Yeah, King isn't into the whole "Oh my gosh, don't ruin the surpise ending!" train of thought.

He talked about spoilers for the last Harry Potter book like a week after it came out, on the grounds that anybody who really gave a shit would have finished it already.

>> No.1334415

Hey, guy who called this a literary masterpiece in the other King thread, care to elaborate on that notion here?

>> No.1334424

I thought I was the only one who knew this story and loved it, awesome.
Most Bachman stuff is tight, Roadwork not so much.

>> No.1334427

Any differences in style of stories between King as Bachman and King as himself?

>> No.1334432

>>1334427

Bachman: Not a self-indulgent windbag

King: Frequently a self-indulgent windbag

>> No.1334434

>>1334427
Most fast paced, all of it is sort of frantic winding down, The Long Walk is a reducing number of contestants, Running Man the chapters are actually countdowns T-100, Thinner it's drastic weight lost, Roadwork is on a deadline, can't say for Rage or Regulators.

>> No.1334437

>>1334415

I've been here for a while, actually, I was the guy who compared it to Jackson's Lottery.

While I think it's derivative of that, I still think it's a masterpiece.

How do I qualify it for that? I don't know. It's entirely subjective.

For starters, it absolutely just punches you in the gut. Just as much as other great short stories dealing with certain death- Incident at Owl Creek Bridge, or maybe How to Start a Fire. (Is it really 400 pages? Or is that the entire collection of Bachman books? I thought it was only around 100 pages. It reads like a short story or novella.)

It's fantastic from a technical standpoint as well. I can't think of any story with better pacing. In fact, the only thing that came to mind is another quick read by King- The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

>> No.1334440

>>1334427
More grimdark

>> No.1334443

>>1334434

Regulators and Desperation are weird, god damn novels.

For the people who don't know- basically King took the same basic plot (very basic) and wrote it in two different, completely different, styles. One as King writes, the other as Bachmann writes.

Anybody interested in King's capabilities should take a look at both.

>> No.1334447

>>1334443
>King took the same basic plot (very basic) and wrote it in two different, completely different, styles.
I'd say the same style, but different directions with the same core idea.

>> No.1334457

>>1334434
I couldn't stand Roadwork. I finished it, but it just bored the crap out of me. All I took from it was that seven up and southern comfort make a good drink.

I greatly enjoyed The Long Walk, Running Man, and Rage though.

>> No.1334461

>>1334443
>>1334447
I'd love to give Regulators a try, Desperation was the first adult novel I ever read, something like 14 years ago.

>> No.1334474

>>1334457
What was that about again, guy being forced off his land, has a sick kid, says fuck it and fights the system... Very down to Earth grounded story, but nothing that couldn't be featured on Seventh Heaven or some other community based t.v. drama right?

>> No.1334480

>>1334474
I don't remember anything about a sick kid, but yeah, basically guy has to leave his land for a highway to be built, he doesn't want to, screws up his whole life, refuses to leave, and I think it ends with him trying to blow his house up.

And he drinks a lot, and at one point picks up a hitchhiking female and lets her sleep at his house.

>> No.1334493
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1334493

I know this is /lit/, but I just about came in my shorts when I stumbled upon this.

>“The Long Walk is a bit on my back burner at the moment. I won’t spend too many more years before I make it, it’s going to be coming up I think pretty shortly… we’ll make it down and dirty and cheap and hopefully good.”
>Darabont distinguished between his styles for The Mist and his previous films. Where he spent time carefully planning on The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, he took a fast and furious approach to The Mist. That style would also be appropriate for The Long Walk.

"That would also be, I think, probably the more ragged and loose and documentary kind of feel. It would probably be an even lower budget than this one was."

He'll also be tackling Fahrenheit 451 first!

>> No.1334498

>>1334480
Well... Steve was drinking a lot as well... So... No, doesn't excuse it. Oh well, least it is just boring as opposed to downright horrid.

>> No.1334597

>>1334493
So glad he's got such a hardon for King, all his adaptations have been near flawless, even his 30 minute debut film based on a King short wasn't bad.

>> No.1334624

>>1334140
Not sure I'd stretch it as much as you, but it certainly was a gripping little yarn.

>> No.1334626

>>1334437
I was also surprised to hear how many pages it was, almost feel like I must of read an abridge collection as the whole of the Bachman Books I had felt like no more then 500 all told.

I guess it boils down to font and page size?

>> No.1334642

>>1334437
I was the guy discussing it with you, and well MY copy is exactly 370 pages eheh. It reads rather quickly though, I agree.

>> No.1334655

>>1334642
***my copy of The Long Walk, I mean. I don't have the Bachman's one.

And since it was mentioned, I might as well say it - Roadwork was the only King novel I've read that I really did not like and will probably never read again.

>> No.1334680

>>1334655
I understand reading King, but I don't get is ppl who religiously re-read the stuff, now that is some sort of travesty when you could be treating yourself to something better.

>> No.1336340

This moved me.

>> No.1336694

I just read the first few chapters online, actually worth while.

>> No.1336976

Anyone can tell me something about the book Blaze since this is on the subject of Bachman?

>> No.1337008

>>1336976
The style of Blaze is choppy and noir, if you will - sharp prose, direct and well ordered words and structure that maintain a simplicity that suits the character. There is a sense of softness and yearning within Blaze himself, and this is relayed very nicely through King's style.

>> No.1337076

>>1334140
Read it. Read it. Read it. The finality of the The Long Walk, of the road, of the walkers, of us the ‘viewers’ – it’ll wrench even the most stoic of guts and send shivers down the most rigid of spines.

>> No.1337102

The Long Walk is the work of an angry, impulsively fresh voice, and it's as real as it gets. Fans of Lord of the Flies, The Running Man, or more obscure titles like Battle Royale or Crimson Labyrinth will not be able to put it down. The debilitating suspense will leave you trying to catch your breath after every single page.

>> No.1337118

while we're talking about "Bachman" did anyone else think of Rage as having a lot of similarities with The Breakfast Club?

>> No.1337169

>>1337118
How so?

>> No.1337182

>>1337169
a bunch of kids in school with no supervision baring their souls and how hard it is to be in highschool and in the end you realize that not everyone falls into the stereotype you thought they did?

(I'm answering for OP)

>> No.1337179

>>1337118
This book has slight feel of the Salinger's great book "The Catcher in the Rye", but while Rye and this are both set in school campus and the theme is kinda paranoid schizophrenia.

>> No.1337200

>>1337182
True, for sure King had his influences

>> No.1337324

So anyone start reading this yet?

>> No.1337430

>>1337324
30 years ago when it came out and was relevant.

>> No.1337474

THEY ALL DIE!