The Long Walk by Stephen King Part I The Long Walk by Stephen King is a bizarre and grotesque novel about 100 teen-age boys who participate in competition the main idea of which is staying alive. All they got to do is walking. They must maintain speed all the time not slower than 4 miles per hour. And if they don't, they receive a warning. After third warning a walker gets shot by one of the soldiers who is in charge of keeping boys under control. They cannot have a rest, they cannot sleep and they cannot quit. The rules are simple - you either keep walking or die. The winner is the last walker left alive. But the book is not about cruelty or viciousness. The walkers participate willingly. They know what they sign up for long before the Walk begins. The soldiers do their job like a daily routine. Absolutely emotionless. The author draws a vivid picture of teenager's mind which evolves, seemingly, every hour or so. Ray Garraty is one of the Walkers. He is a bit nervous about what is coming but mostly, he thinks it's an adventure. He has been flattered and praised by his friends for qualifying, so there is enough pride in him as well. It disappears right after the first shot. 99 young men watched the first victim dying in panic caused by sudden charley horse and, as a result, total incapability of walking. The moment Ray saw the dead body he realized what is at stake. This is not a baseball match which may be stopped on behalf of rain. It is the matter of life or death. You either outlast 99 people or die. This is where the walkers start contemplating about the reasons why they decided to do this. And almost none of them find anything reasonable. They start thinking about their chances to win. Logically they come to conclusion that chances are slim. In fact, the possibility of winning is so small that the struggle is almost pointless. Now the boys have come to understanding that 99 of them are convicted to slow and painful death. They keep walking. Occasionally guys see one of them dying. At some point they get used to it. Dead body becomes common and every one is focused on saving his own life. But sometimes walkers help each other. Not all of them lost decency. Ray has made friends amongst other participants and this will help him several times during the walk.

Apt pupil by Stephen King part I The story begins with a description of an American thirteen-year-old boy. He has blond hair, perfect smile and remarkably developed intellect. His name is Todd Bowden, he rarely receives Bs at school, As mostly, plays baseball and loves history. He have fallen in love with history ever since he discovered a pile of old magazines in his friend's garage. He read them thoroughly, fascinated for some reason by all those terrible things Nazis had done. He became desperate in search for more information and found ultimate source eventually. Kurt Dussander - former high-ranked Nazi who managed to escape from Germany in 1945 - happened to live close enough to Bowden's house in 1974. Of course he didn't advertise who he realy was, but the boy was smart enough to penetrate his secret. So, Todd comes to Dussander's house and makes his intentions clear. He doesn't need money or anything valuable, he wants to hear everything about "gooshy stuff". The old man tries to negotiate his way out of this telling the boy that he had no choice, that he was simply following orders. Dussander doesn't want to stir his memory. He had beeen trying to bury all those dreadfull things for almost 30 years in the deepest parts of his mind. The only thing that matters now for him is an opportunity to die peacefully. He even pleads and begs for mercy. But Bowden is persistent. Dussander has no choice.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. This narrative inspired the famous movie Shawshank Redemption. The film shows us a tragedy of an innocent man who spent many years in prison. We can see his determination, his willpower and prominent intelligence. But above all, the movie tells us about what is fair and unfair, what is right and what is wrong. The book, on the other hand, gives us much more than that. Stephen King puts forward many psychological issues. He gives us the opportunity to look inside average convict's mind and scrutinise his thoughts through a microscope. But this is not about mistakenly convicted Andy Dufresne. No, he is not an average convict. He is smart, persistent and self-motivated in achieving his goals. It seems like prison walls have no influence upon him whatsoever. He maintains free mind adjusting himself to the new environment. The author gives us access to Red's thoughts. Red is a long-timer, "a man who can get it". He found himself at Shawshank when he was "just twenty" and spent the most of his life within the walls to be finally released at the age of fifty eight. Red experienced every stage of being a prisoner from "fresh fish" up to "I couldn't get along on the outside". He is an example of a convict whose mind has been completely conquered by prison. Red provides a reader with horrific descriptions of rape and other indecent activities, some of them from his personal experience. Looking back he mentions it without pain. "No physical harm done", he says casualy. But these simple words seem to be screaming about the pressure which he had to endure. After considering them one would certainly wonder what else Red had come through if rape became something common. As time passes, living within the walls becomes daily routine. There is nothing to worry about. Convicts know exactly what would happen on any day of any year. Any kind of their activities is scheduled including bathroom breaks. They are immersed in a state of total obedience. At some point prisoners start to "like it here" because beyond the walls you have to make desicions, which requires a lot of willpower. And this is what long-timers lack. Guards took care of that. Moreover, long-timers usualy get out when they are too old to change something in their lives. They are no longer a threat, but the outside is too big and complicated for them. Most people on the outside have no compassion for convicts. Generally, we tend to think they deserve what they got. Stephen King gave us something to think about.