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One of my favorite books ever, it has inspired both dislike, "mehs" and love in this site (alas, in the given order). People usually say they can't relate to it; bears have to admit they wish they couldn't.
Please share your thoughts on the novel here.
I started reading King in the summer of 1990, when I was 15 about to turn 16. By the end of the year, I'd read virtually every book the man had written, and loved the majority of them.
There were a few exceptions, though, and one of those was Roadwork. That section of The Bachman Books bored me to death. I didn't read it again, which was unusual; I read most of those books three or four times each that year.
Anyways, when I finally returned to the book a few years ago during the course of rereading my way through all of King's books, I absolutely loved it. I thought it was haunting, powerful stuff. I still think The Long Walk is King's best Bachman book, but this one ranks a close second for me.
By the way, in case you were wondering, the other King books I couldn't really get into during that initial period of discovery were Cujo and The Tommyknockers. Guess what? I ended up loving both of those when I finally returned to them, too. None of that surprises me, nor does it surprise me (in retrospect) that I couldn't wrap my arms around those three books. They've all got very adult themes, all related to tragedy and loss. At 15/16, I just wasn't able to understand those books, emotionally. Which is probably how it should be! They all work for me now, though.
This is totally what happened with bears and The Tommyknockers. Luckily, I read Roadwork the first time when I was already past 40... and, unluckily, at the moment in my life that was hard enough without it, so it broke my heart completely.
I absolutely LOVED Roadwork, so much so that I chased down a first (albeit UK) edition of the paperback. To me it is the epitome of the difference between a Bachman and a King novel, Dawes loses EVERYTHING, in excruciatingly painful succession. There is no glint of light at the end of the tunnel, no hint of the horror that might return, only blackness.
In the intro to my copy of "The Bachman Books" king says - "I think it was an effort to make some sense of my mother's painful death the year before - a lingering cancer had taken her off inch by painful inch. Following this death I was left both grieving and shaken by the apparent senselessness of it all... Roadwork tries so hard to be good and find some answers to the conundrum of human pain." - Which always made me sad, I had enjoyed it so much and to think that he was "beyond" the work and no longer cared for it, robbed me of some of the joy
However, a quick google revealed that he had a complete change of heart on the subject - "In a new introduction to the second edition of The Bachman Books, King stated that he had changed his mind and that Roadwork had become his favorite of the early books." This of course makes me much happier to know that King and I are like minded on the book.
The Long Walk is the obvious favourite of many, and while I loved it, I'm always one to root for the underdog and I always liked that Roadwork was one of the lesser known/lesser read Bachman books. As I said, it is one of his bleakest and in turn this makes it that much better in my mind.
I think that's why I enjoyed Blaze and Full Dark no Stars so much, they're just so damn dark.
I'm too lazy to start from scratch, so I'll quote myself from a previous discussion:
Roadwork is one of King's best stories. It's one thing to be able to tell the story of a man falling apart, but quite another to enable to reader to experience that disintegration. I love the way King described the "circuit breaker" Dawes had in his head. His way to compartmentalize his life--his outside actions with how he dealt with his wife and his boss and his responsibilities; all the while the other side of his brain driving him to unspeakable actions. He's not a bad man. Just a broken man who can't deal with the compounding losses of his life. It's the proverbial snowball headed for hell. First his son, and then the highway, and then his job and his wife...
Does Dawes think he can defeat the highway? Of course not. Does he think that his actions with regard to his job will magically set things right or teach somebody a lesson? Of course not. He's not delusional--he just trips the circuit breaker to buy a few more days of sanity.
Don't we all have a circuit breaker of some sort in our brains? One side of our mind tells us what we want to hear about ourselves while the other drives us to act as The Stranger (as Billy Joel sang about).
Shit. I'm going to have to read this again now, and I was *Just* getting into "it" too.
One of the best posts I've seen, to me. I would give it rep, but I need to spread. I agree with all of that. The Tommyknockers is wildly underrated in my opinion; it deals with the powerful theme of addiction while paying tribute to 40's sci-fi in its prose.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryant Burnette
System: I loved it too, but I'm in The Long Walk faction for best Bachman; it's my favorite King work out of the thirty-eight fiction I've finished. Roadwork is a respectable twelve. But I agree with a lot of what you said, especially it being a classic illustration of how Richard is the polar opposite of King.
Dive: Well put about seeing the disintegration first hand-- I liked that too. It was like watching a multi-car pile up just getting worse and worse. It's relentless in its progression, and, as I've mentioned, I really like Bachman's lean style-- King does it well. Seeing it for the first time-- along with the powerful theme of death, darkly painted-- in TLW is part of why the book hit me so hard. He's ruthless.
Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Stebbins
One of the other elements of The Tommyknockers that stood out to me when I reread it is the relationship between Bobbi and Gard. They love each other, and have even been in love with each other, but managed to not end up together. That's another aspect that I couldn't wrap my head around as a teen that clicked massively in my thirties.
Back on the subject of Roadwork...isn't it fascinating to consider that there is, hypothetically, some other level of the Tower where King primarily wrote books like Roadwork? I'm not saying I wish that's what had happened in this world (I'm glad for what we've actually gotten, all of it); I just think it's compelling to consider what that alternate universe of King fiction might be like.
It's also probably well worth considering how much thematic overlap there is between Roadwork and Pet Sematary.
good idea, bears have used itQuote:
Originally Posted by Stebbins
I like this. Roadwork definitely stands alone in King's heritage. I mean, all of his books are different from one another (well, most are), but this one is, as it were, differently different. It's his most uncompromizing book. It doesn't attempt to be entertaining in the popular-fiction meaning of the word, or to be "real literature", which, sadly, in later King's works more and more often means the endless re-chewing of rather trivial cud. Like all great literature should, it just doesn't bow to any existing standard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryant Burnette
Agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jean
The Running Man is my favorite Bachman book, but Roadwork is right behind in second.
I'm nearing the end of my first time reading Roadwork. I'm really enjoying it.
Next stop: The Long Walk - since everyone loves it, I hope it lives up to the hype. :orely:
Please post when you have read TLW - it is one of my all time favourites.Quote:
Originally Posted by Girlystevedave
The ending is entirely uncompromising. I hope you like it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Girlystevedave
I was left feeling rather "meh" after finishing Roadwork. Sadly, I was really enjoying it up to a point. :(
I think you'll find my historical context essay about Roadwork for Stephen King Revisited interesting -- the mindset King was in when he wrote it.
I would be interested to read it. :)
Can I find the essay online, or..? (I see some of the essays, but can't seem to locate one on Roadwork)
We haven't reached it yet in the re-read. Firestarter next, then Roadwork. We're going in publication order.
Cool. I'm definitely interested in reading it.
Here's the link to The Losers Club podcast discussion of the book:
https://consequenceofsound.net/podca...e-26-roadwork/
It's been many years since I've read this book. I've read it twice. I remember not liking it the first time all that much. The second time the story just clicked with me more.
It was a fascinating character study. Very underappreciated King book.
Precisely.Quote:
Originally Posted by GenericEric
There needs to be a nice hardcover edition of this book. It doesn't necessarily have to be a limited edition, but a trade hardcover would be fine.
Unlikely to happen anytime soon since it's not one of his most sought after books. Actually same thing with The Long Walk. I just like having hardcovers for each of his books.