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The Long Walk

by Stephen King, Richard Bachman

7.96 / 10 309K ratings
Language
English
Published
1999
Publisher
Berkley
Pages
384
ISBN
9780451196712
In a dystopian America, one hundred teenage boys embark on the country's most grueling and celebrated annual sporting event: The Long Walk. The rules are brutally simple. They must maintain a walking speed of four miles per hour. There are no breaks and no finish line. If a boy drops below the pace, he receives three warnings. A fourth slip-up is permanent, and he is shot dead on the spot. The last boy left walking wins the ultimate prize: anything he desires for the rest of his life.

For sixteen-year-old Ray Garraty and ninety-nine others, what begins as a test of physical endurance quickly descends into a harrowing psychological battle for survival. As the miles stretch on and boys begin to fall, friendships are forged in the face of death and the walkers are stripped down to their most essential selves. The true contest is not against the road or the other competitors, but against the limits of their own sanity and the terrifyingly simple question of how much a person can endure before they break completely.

Subjects

Original edition

Originally published in 1979 English New American library

Other editions (31)