risky_oak 's review for:

The Bachman Books by Richard Bachman

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 Διαβάστε και την ελληνική κριτική μου στις βιβλιοαλχημείες.

«Between 1977 and  1984 I published five novels under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. These were [b:Rage|66370|Rage|Richard Bachman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1299003176l/66370._SY75_.jpg|1657128] (1977), [b:The Long Walk|534671|The Long Walk|Richard Bachman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1296474951l/534671._SY75_.jpg|522169] (1979), [b:Roadwork|1252583|Roadwork|Richard Bachman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413459366l/1252583._SY75_.jpg|515657] (1981), [b:The Running Man|287625|The Running Man|Richard Bachman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1258328780l/287625._SY75_.jpg|3652165] (1982), and [b:Thinner|10605|Thinner|Richard Bachman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554308961l/10605._SY75_.jpg|2791999] 1984. There were two reasons I was finally linked with Bachman: first, because the first four books, all paperback originals, were dedicated to people associated with my life, and second, because my name appeared on the copyright forms of one book.
[…]
I wrote five novels before [b:Carrie|233661|Carrie|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507441311l/233661._SY75_.jpg|1552134]. Two were bad, one was indifferent, and I thought two of them were pretty good. The two good ones were [Rage] and The Long Walk [...] Thinner did 28,000 copies when Bachman was the author and 280,000 copies when Ste[ph]e[n] King bwcame the author, might tell you something, huh?»

These and much more are what Stephen King says in his introduction for this omnibus, called "Why I was Bachman"



I was glad that I found this rare edition at a used book bazaar.

This is because when the 1st novel of this collection, Rage, which tells the story of a school shooting written by King while he was still a student, was found in one of the many perpetrators that killed innocent people in a US school.

Hence King decided to let it out of print. It was still included in UK editions of the Bachman books until the end of the 90's. By 2007 a new edition was in circulation without Rage, and with only the rest three books (The Long Walk, Roadwork, The Running Man)

That's the reason I wanted to get this edition, a rare edition including Rage. I wanted to read it and see by myself how controversial it was.
Well, it wasn't THAT controversial but it's not an innocent story. I liked it but didn't blow me away.



It took me 22 days to read this collection; for various reasons.

1) December is the month of Christmas and that means decorating, cooking, family gatherings, board games, in other words the social activities are overtaking the individual ones (reading books)

2) This was not one back but four books in one, with dense font and spacing, as a way for the book to be of convenient and not bulky size.

3) I read Rage, The Long Walk, and The Running Man in 4 days each, a sum of 12 days.
But Roadwork were incredibly slow, boring and meandering. It took me at least 10 days to read a 208-pages story. Of course it was far better than [b:Fifty Shades of Grey|10818853|Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)|E.L. James|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385207843l/10818853._SX50_.jpg|15732562].

4) On Xmas Eve, on Xmas Day, and on Boxing Day I took a break from Roadwork and reread for the 4th time my favourite Dickens story [b:A Christmas Carol|15994514|A Christmas Carol|Charles Dickens|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1548015678l/15994514._SY75_.jpg|3097440]. A tradition I'm keeping since 2015.

The Bachman Books was also the last thing I read from 2019 so in the following days I will finally start reviewing books I read this year.
By the end of October I'm positive I'll catch up with my reviews and make them as soon as I finish a book and not every other day like now.



Anyway, let's come back for one last time to this book. I was tired by Roadwork, I like Rage but wasn't raving about it, I was entertained by The Running Man, a dystopian story, and finally, The Long Walk was my favourite of all four, and probably one of my favourites from all of Stephen King's novels.



In a future America "one hundred teenagers take part in an exhausting marathon.
It is forbidden to make a stop, and they must maintain an average speed of 6.5 kilometres per hour, otherwise they are warned. After three warnings, the offender leaves the competition - with a bullet in the head. As for the winner of the Long Walk, he will get what he wants for the rest of his life.

The Long Way is a bleak, futuristic mirror of modern America, where World War II has been extended until the 1950s and power has fallen into the hands of the military. In this "Brave, New World", the Long Walk is considered a top sporting event. "The event, which takes place every year and is televised around the world, attracts a large number of fanatical athletes, as well as ordinary spectators, who play billions of dollars in betting." [From the back cover of the Greek version].



These teens in other words will walk until only one is left alive, walking non-stop for 3-4 days.
Your physical needs must be met while you are walking. food, pee, shit and sleep. Defecating is the most difficult and there you usually get 2 warnings because you will have to stop to take a shit.

How to build relationships and friendships with people you know will die in a few hours either shot because of violation or because of exhaustion. Maybe YOU will be the one that will die and THEY the ones who will lose a friend.

And of course friendships will develop both between the characters and the reader, and he will feel a bonding with them, while at the same time he is aware that only one will come out of this game alive.
And that is what makes this book difficult to read, a book that gives you emotional punches in the stomach.

The only one of the 4 novels that I might read again in individual form.
Maybe also the Running Man that was made into a movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger.