The Long Walk

The book that I chose for independent reading was called "The Long Walk. The Long Walk is a suspense filled book that was written by the man they call the horror king, Stephen King. He wrote the novel in 1978. He wrote it under one of his different names, Richard Bachman. When he tried to get it published, it was rejected. He waited a couple of years and gave it another try and it got published.

Every year, around the summer time, one hundred teenage boys are chosen randomly to enter a competition known around the country as The Long Walk. The competition was ran by the Major of the army. During the long walk you have to run through small towns and cities across the state without slowing to under four miles per hour. You get little tubes of concentration of pork or beef at different times, and the gaurds give you canteens of water when you need them. The finish line is unknown, so everybody follows the same path and you can't take short cuts. If you run to slow, you'll get a warning. After you get your fourth warning you'll get your ticket out of the contest. The ticket out of the contest is getting shot by one of the guards that are standing on the side of the road. If you have enough endurance or luck to make it to the finish line you get the ultimate prize, anything you want for the rest of your life. The main character is Ray Garraty, a sixteen year old who didn't know that much about the contest when he got into it. The only family he had left behind was mother and his girlfriend Jan. He thinks that the competition will be very easy, until he starts to see people falling left and right from getting shot by the armed guards for getting too many warnings. Do you think that Ray can make it all the way to the finish line.

The theme of this book is about having friends and how they overcome adversity. The friends try not to get too friendly with each other and sometimes stab each other in the back, because