In Progress: The Long Walk

September 6 (page 140): As this is one of the very few books I've read before, I can't say if the book is a natural page-turner or if it's just my familiarity with it. Usually I wouldn't let this many pages slip by without a check-in, but oh well. Over one-third of the book is done and about one-quarter of the Walkers are done as well. I'm surprised this book was, along with Rage, a "proto-Carrie" novel, mainly because Rage was such a lousy book and this one is compelling. If you scratch at it a little, you can spot some of the things that infest King's early writing, like a juvenile tone and some character-hate, but it isn't obvious. Around page 50, I thought of making a chart with each name and number and on what page they bought their ticket, but some OCD person already did it for me more or less.

September 8 (page 187): The halfway point of the book (in terms of pages, not Walkers!) seemed like a good time for an update. They just crossed mile 100 and it was only now, well into my second reading of the book, that I realized these guys eat a lot of "meat concentrate" for snacks. It's just another subtle reminder from the book that this isn't our world, but something slightly dystopian. Another observation with the quotes that head up each chapter: most of them are kind of dumb, usually just a familiar phrase from a classic game show (e.g. "Come on down!" - Bob Barker). Two of them stick out: (1) the Chuck Barris quote about the ultimate game show being where somebody gets killed, and (2) the Sale of the Century host discussing his TV persona.

September 15 (page 302): I've been really bad about updates, but in my defense this book reads pretty quickly. There has been some major character death (Olson) and the Walkers are down to the hardiest third or so. More slight-dystopia weirdness continues, as April 31st is mentioned twice and there are 51 states. I'm certain the latter was no typo, but I did a triple-take on the former. Especially since it was right next to a actual typo, where the word "blackout" was used instead of "backout", as April 31st is cited as the last chance for prospective Walkers to decline their invitation. I guess if some shady dude like the Major seizes the reins of power and wants an extra day in April, well damn it we're getting a 31st of April.