I don’t have my copy in front of me and can’t provide an exact quote, but there’s a passage about midway through the story where Stebbins and Garraty are chatting and Stebbins ends the conversation by “falling back quickly”, getting a warning, and laughing. That’s his second warning, and the bit at the end is his third, though King apparantly lost track. I’m not the only one who noticed the error, though this guy went all-out.
Or maybe it was the sixth replicant that took the warning. Oh, well…
Funny, I was under the impression that once they got onto US 1, it was clear sailing all the way to Florida. Considering the path of the Long Walk was right in King’s neighborhood, so to speak, I’m a little surprised he didn’t take an afternoon drive and double-check his geography.
[spoiler]More specifically, Rosie is tied to the world in the picture, specifically the woman in the rose madder chiton. They have a bond that’s never fully explained, but they’re mirrors of each other. And the woman in the chiton is crazy and sick. She’s got some weird ookiness that’s eating her up, both physically and mentally. She has little to no control over her impulses left, and she’s a killer. Rosie’s rage is her reflection of the blond woman’s sickness and lack of control. The pomegranate seeds I’m a bit fuzzier on, since it’s been years since I read the book, but it has something to do with the connection between the trees. The pomegranate tree in the picture world is the twin of the tree in our world where Rosie sees the foxes.)
Before you thoroughly lambast me, I only read it because I had ample warning from everyone in this thread. One person even was so kind as to give me a long description of what exactly happened. So I was able to skim it quickly.
My analysis: It was weird, yes. Very weird. Not the worst book I’ve ever read, (I’d have to think about that one) but not great. Again, I was forewarned.
Actually, I suspected that you would bite the bullet and read it. I mean, you can’t hear so many descriptions decrying how bad a book/movie is before you decide you need to be on the know of such information, can you? It’s the literary equivalent of “Ewwww, God! This meat’s gone bad. Smell it.” And then you do.
Regarding The Long Walk.
I’ve read it about four times…and about 2 years ago, I think I finally figured out what the ending means. At least, it’s the best explanation I’ve ever heard and it makes the most sense if you think about it. So for the last 2 years I’ve always congratulated myself on figuring it out and have told as many people who’ve read that sort story as I could on what my thoughts are and they’ve all agreed thus far that my explaination is probably what the ending means.
Early on in the story, you’ll remember McVries and Garraty are talking about The Long Walk inself and McVries tells Garraty something to the effect of “It’s all a sham. There IS no winner. The winner is congratulated and given the prize and then taken out behind a cabin and shot.”
Keep in mind that’s not an exact quote. I haven’t read the story for a long time, but never the less there is that defining moment somewhere in the story where Pete tells Ray this.
I think at the end…Garraty was so tired and didn’t care anymore, and what with after that whole thing and watching everyone die and “buy a ticket” that when he just didn’t care anymore about life.
So thus, when he sees the figure behind the building or whatever it was, he knows instantly who it is, remembering what Pete told him earlier. And so, he starts running toward the figure…actually wanting it by that time…a blessed release and escape.
If you read the story again, which I did after I used that explanation for the ending, I found it all fit together very nicely.
I’m fully aware of that. You’re just not reading what I’m saying. Stebbins is warned at the beginning of the Walk. When he throws up and gets warned, that is his second warning since he was warned at the start of the Walk.
Sorry for the hijack, but it’s been my understanding that, while boys can have erections even in the womb and as tiny babies, that it is physically impossible to ejaculate until puberty has kicked in and there’s sufficient testosterone levels in the system to enable semen production. From what I’m seeingonline, that seems to be around age 13. While it’s probable possible that some of those boys were able to do the deed, that all of them could, I find it difficult to suspend disbelief.
But, hey, I’m glad you could all clear that up for me.
I’m going to start Song of Susannah tonight and it has occured to me that the other women living inside Susannah (sorry, can’t think of her name) is the woman in Rose Madder’s painting… which now makes Rose Madder worth a re-read.
Not just “a death.” The death of one Sander Galton, whose nickname would logically be “Sandy”. Sandy Galton was the one member of Buddy Repperton’s gang that wasn’t killed in Libertyville, and apparently skedaddled out of town. Further, the method of death was significant: he was run overe by a car which crashed through a plate-glass window into a theater lobby in order to hit him.
Not necessarily. After Leigh and Dennis smash the car in the warehouse, and they are resting, exhausted, they hear little springs and poings as the metal begins to pull itself together… so they resume smashing it. We do think that it’s ended when we see figures flying out of the car: the little girl (LeBay’s daughter) and so forth, but it’s hardly definitive, since the exact mechanism by which LeBay animated the car was unclear.
Through most of the book, Christine repaired herself by moving, which pushed the odometer backwards, but it wasn’t the only way.
How could the endings be diferent? The whole STORY is always the same:
-Group of misfits from Derry, ME or some other New England town- check
-Some kind of life altering experience as children - check
-Reunited as adults to face some unspeakable evil / vampires/ aliens / whatever - check
-People get FUCKED UP - check
-Evil is vanquished…for now… MWUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!- check
Which would make Hearts in Atlantis a great book if it hadn’t already been done to death for the past twenty years by King. I mean, I liked the book but it’s basically IT, Stand By Me and a bunch of other stories put together.
Well, I’d’ve though the “start” of the Long Walk was the moment at nine a.m. on the first day when the Major dropped his arm and said “Good luck to all” (or something like that) and the Walkers started… Walking.
Had King written “and for only the third time since the Walk began”, the statement would have been accurate and avoided the distracting (apparent) error.
Anyway, it’s time to feed my pet hobgoblin.
Think of it this way: say I go to the lavatory at the start of the day. If I then go to the lavatory before I go to bed, having also gone once at lunchtime, it is the second time I’ve gone to the lavatory since the first time I went today, which was at the start of the day.
I’m not arguing that. I thought it was a mistake at first myself until I worked it out.
Before I answer this, let me answer the whole ejaculation before puberty thing.
Yes boys CAN ejaculate before puberty. What, are you kidding? I’m a girl and I know this.
But they have no spermatazoa in their semen. It’s just fructose and water and whatever else is in sperm.
On to topic:
Well I was kind of hoping everyone would forget about my nickname. The truth is…
We can’t remember.
It’s definitely one of the following possibilities, though. Please note that we have no children and therefore are still entitled to be children ourselves.
I work for the <blank> of <blank> not-for-profit. Over the years we have evolved a running joke where instead of asking for money, we ask for pepporoncini (I went through a phase where I loved them). So we changed the name to the Munch the Pepper, where weird people call you up and lock your phone so you can only donate pepporoncini. In exchange, instead of t-shirts, etc., you’d get stuffed pepporoncini. This was shortened over the years (eight of them) to just Munch.
OR:
My name fits the old Munsters song. “It’s the Munch…the MEENA Munch! I think I’ll have her for lunch!” This, obviously is vaguely sexual.
Or it could just be that Meena Munch rolls nicely off the tongue. (Pun not intended!)
I KNOW I have no clue on how to spell pepporoncini. These days I eat banana peppers, anyway.
I just finished the book tonight (I hadn’t read it for a few years), and the entire book is fucked-up. None of the kids are scared of Charlie! They think it’s some game that Charlie killed their teacher! But hey, it gets them out of school and assignments. He’s suddnely the popular one after being ignored and teased his entire life.
And I don’t really see how Ted could go insane after being teased and having ink poured in his hair. They ganged up on the wrong person.
