Stephen King

Stephen King

Long Walk / Thinner

The Long Walk: In the near future, where America has become a police state, one hundred boys are selected to enter an annual contest where the winner will be awarded whatever he wants for the rest of his life. The game is simple - maintain a steady pace of four miles per hour without stopping. Three warnings, and you're shot to death.
Thinner: Billy Halleck commits vehicular homicide when his lack of attention to driving results in the death of an old lady on the street. Overweigh Halleck is a lawyer with connections, though, and gets off with a slap on the wrist. After his trial, a gypsy curses him with a single word, "Thinner." Halleck begins to lose weight uncontrollably and must pursue the band of gypsies who are responsible for his dwindling condition.


Wednesday, January 7, 2015

First Reading of Thinner: Chapters 1-5

So far, I really like 'Thinner." I think that in comparison to the Long Walk, its a lot more detailed and descriptive and more adult-oriented. I think its different that the protagonist is an older guy with a child because in almost all books I've read, the protagonist is either a teenager or a young adult. 
By the end of chapter 5, Billy Halleck starts to accept the fact that he's been cursed by the gypsy man after he killed the gypsy woman by hitting her with his car. Billy believes that the man cursed him with cancer, and that's whats causing his rapid weight loss. He thinks to himself "Cancer, sure, you bet that's it. He cursed me somehow . . . Could cancer be eating into my guts right now, eating me inside, the way his nose . . . ?" (41). I don't think he's right about having cancer, but he's definitely has been cursed somehow; within the first 5 chapters alone he's already lost more than 20 pounds.
I also think that's it weird that Billy refuses to share his ideas about the reasons behind his weight loss with his wife. Shes very confused and worried about him and she insists that the weight loss couldn't have simply come from exercise. Billy never tells her, though, that he's sure hes been cursed. She's forcing him to make an appointment with Doctor Houston, so I'm interested to see how he's going to react to Billy's condition and what he's going to say caused it.
I think that this is only the beginning of Billy's weight loss. The chapter's are named after Billy's weight, and the number continues to go down. Chapter 1 is named "248", while Chapter 5 is named "221". I think the numbers are going to keep going down until they are dangerously low.   

 Billy Halleck from the "Thinner" movie:


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