The Running Man

I have to admit Stephen King truly surprised me with his works outside the horror genre. The Running Man is story of a very near future by the looks of it (I almost choked when I saw years and events mentioned in this 1982 book) in which [amongst other things] social welfare (Wage Agreement Law had so ...... upsetting name) did not turn exactly the good way. Under the ever watchful eye of the state (again,brrr) one is evaluated and marked in how he goes with his master.....sorry state corporations (well for this novel only one corporation G/A - again very close to heart ...... oh wait this happens only over there, on the faaaarr east (wink, wink)). If he or she does not go with the flow they get marked and basically expelled from the show more society (no work, no money) and gets into position of forever living on state stipend that is so low that (which is unbelievable) black markets and you know general vices exists and flourish (as one of the characters says - vice is enemy of revolt so it is empowered).

In this heavily socially divided world our protagonist, Ben Richards, decides to offer his very life to help his own family, wife and young daughter, to survive. He would like to do this you know normal way (earning money to support his family) but he is a marked man and cannot get employment no matter how much he tries. His sacrifice comes in a way of participating in high risk TV show The Running Game where he is hunted by almost everyone wanting to kill him and needs to survive as long as possible (every day, every death he causes to his hunters has a price) to get the money required.

And this TV show (most radical form of dozen of them) is organized by Games Council that is part of media Network that is de facto ruler of the state (similar to 1984 you have TV devices that are obsession of the populace, need to be present everywhere but - due to the shocking vote sometimes in 2000's (novel timeline) - can be turned off (I mean, really :):):)) Network runs all these TV shows in order to for all means and purposes weed out the bright and desperate people in the low social caste (others are more or less happy with gaping open-mouthed and drooling at the TV and screaming death to everyone Network points at (again, pretty chilly and too close to heart, right?)).

Stephen King portrays the society so socially divided that either he has a very keen eye or situation was so bad like forever so it was not that difficult to predict how things will develop (in which case my question is what is wrong with the people?). Police is used by state to quell those state does not like and support those state likes (oh, those protests last year), media plays a role of policy maker instead of news providers and basically becomes more and more tool for controlling the masses by raising hysteria and hate to feed that very hysteria ad infinitum (again, like last year, various shamers, fear mongering .... just incredible) so they do not think about anything else except where to vent the aggression piled up due to the hard living, rich people live in the isolated and heavily protected areas where poor people are not allowed even to step in, undesirable people in media are portrayed as neanderthals and savages, their families as so deviant and so low on the scale that they're dehumanized almost completely (again, so close and familiar today). What terrifies the most is access to knowledge - without corporate license one cannot join the library (pure evil) and people are forced to stay where they are int he social structure, food for the machinery that just chews people and spits nothing out except letting a wind out from time to time through crematorium chimneys.

As story progresses Richards will encounter other people and will become aware of more critical issues that are forced on the socially-low population (and what a wonder, this is health related.....to many contemporary issues). He will become aware of the resistance movement and repressive regime destroying everything that opposes it but very ending was a twist. People very rarely act for great ideas themselves but usually for personal reasons. And in this case things do not get more personal for Richards.

Twist is very much in vein of The Odessa File, when evil-doers get surprised by motivation of the forces against them. Unlike The Odessa File though, and in vein with other Stephen King's novels ending is not a happy one although it is very realistic (considering the world novel takes place in).

All in all good dystopian SF novel. And one that makes me look at any dystopian novel through a very different prism from now on - people, these books are warnings not blueprints for living. These are not worlds anyone would like to live in (unless having some serious issues).

Recommended. show less

Holy cow. This book is like a super intense adult version of "The Hunger Games" and "Battle Royale", except with us being focused on 1 person.

The world we see is modern day U.S. (Maine mainly, since it is King of course). Pollution is so bad to the point that people are developing lung cancer at rapidly increasing rates and only the rich can afford the nasal air filters that allow them to breathe with ease. Violent gangs run the streets and the police are even worse. Women are forced to becoming prostitutes in order to get money for themselves and their families. All of this, in combination with King's fantastic writing, really makes this world a terrifying, possible-like, future.

Ben Richards was a great character whose situation really show more pulls at the heartstrings and has the reader cheering him on every difficult step of the way. He is man who was pushed into participating in a deadly "game", that no one has ever "won" in the past, in order to try and get the money for pneumonia treatment for his 18 month old daughter. The one rule that Richards must obey is to send in two recordings of himself every day by noon, failure to do so means forfeiting the money and his chance at being declared a winner (of a billion New Dollars and being allowed to live). He is allowed to kill (and is rewarded money for it), but being caught means instant death. His struggles with seeing how the upper classes live is hard to see.

The parts that got me the most are Richards's interactions/conversations with those who are in his social class. He is witty and intelligent, as are those he teams up with at times, and he seems to be doing his best with the absolutely shitty conditions he has to work with. I particularly enjoy his moments when going through the testing and interviews for the Games. He knows he is in a bad situation made worse by his desperation for his daughter.

The ending itself was incredibly sad and I caught myself choking up. In a way, it was almost poetic seeing the Richards's inner monologue and the change in the people. show less

CW: Prostitution to get money for medicine, suicide in order to blow up building, swearing

Well the movie is nothing like this novel! The movie was a gimmicky take on what is actually a very gritty book. Things are bleak in this futuristic world created by Stephen King during his ‘Bachman’ writing period. Desperate impoverished people enter themselves into televised game shows in order to earn money to feed their families. The outcome of these games often spells death for the contestants themselves but a shot at survival for their families. Ben Richards enters in order to earn money for his daughter's medical treatments. The concept is brilliant and this is evident by the number of authors that have clearly taken inspiration from show more this 1982 novel. The writing is quite rough and raw and this sets the tone perfectly for what is a fast paced story of a man struggling to reclaim some sense of control and purpose in his life. I didn’t find Ben to be a likeable character but I felt strongly and emotionally connected to what his continued survival meant in terms of ‘sticking it to the man’. An excellent ‘under-dog’ story of a man pushed to his limits in a relentless struggle to survive. Thoroughly recommend. show less

He understood well enough how a man with a choice between pride and responsibility will almost always choose pride - if responsibility robs him of his manhood.

In the year 2025, society has gone to the dogs with a clear distinction between those who are the dogs and those who own the dogs. The corporation who owns the television network has all the power and everyone else either works for them or is fodder for a corrupt system that ensures that entertainment trumps everything and human life is cheap, worth a dime a dozen. Ben Richards has no choice but to subject himself to an organization that he loathes with every fibre of his being and yet his submission turned defiance may be what leads to an anarchy of a scale that this ruined show more world has never known.

Written under the pseudonym Richard Backman, King sets out to paint a bleak and utterly hopeless world where game shows are a common fixture of society. These so called games are inherently rigged with odds stacked against the contestants and only the desperate need to apply. I wonder if he wrote these books during a particularly dark and angry season of his life because if the goal was to make the reader feel dejected about life and to rue at the unfairness of just existing, that he accomplishes with words to spare. In fashionable King style, the ending leaves you with a sour aftertaste and a gratefulness that no matter how bad the current state of the world may be, it can't possibly be as dark and dreary as the fictional world you hold between your fingers. show less

Holy cow. This book is like a super intense adult version of "The Hunger Games" and "Battle Royale", except with us being focused on 1 person.

The world we see is modern day U.S. (Maine mainly, since it is King of course). Pollution is so bad to the point that people are developing lung cancer at rapidly increasing rates and only the rich can afford the nasal air filters that allow them to breathe with ease. Violent gangs run the streets and the police are even worse. Women are forced to becoming prostitutes in order to get money for themselves and their families. All of this, in combination with King's fantastic writing, really makes this world a terrifying, possible-like, future.

Ben Richards was a great character whose situation really show more pulls at the heartstrings and has the reader cheering him on every difficult step of the way. He is man who was pushed into participating in a deadly "game", that no one has ever "won" in the past, in order to try and get the money for pneumonia treatment for his 18 month old daughter. The one rule that Richards must obey is to send in two recordings of himself every day by noon, failure to do so means forfeiting the money and his chance at being declared a winner (of a billion New Dollars and being allowed to live). He is allowed to kill (and is rewarded money for it), but being caught means instant death. His struggles with seeing how the upper classes live is hard to see.

The parts that got me the most are Richards's interactions/conversations with those who are in his social class. He is witty and intelligent, as are those he teams up with at times, and he seems to be doing his best with the absolutely shitty conditions he has to work with. I particularly enjoy his moments when going through the testing and interviews for the Games. He knows he is in a bad situation made worse by his desperation for his daughter.

The ending itself was incredibly sad and I caught myself choking up. In a way, it was almost poetic seeing the Richards's inner monologue and the change in the people. show less

Holy cow. This book is like a super intense adult version of "The Hunger Games" and "Battle Royale", except with us being focused on 1 person.

The world we see is modern day U.S. (Maine mainly, since it is King of course). Pollution is so bad to the point that people are developing lung cancer at rapidly increasing rates and only the rich can afford the nasal air filters that allow them to breathe with ease. Violent gangs run the streets and the police are even worse. Women are forced to becoming prostitutes in order to get money for themselves and their families. All of this, in combination with King's fantastic writing, really makes this world a terrifying, possible-like, future.

Ben Richards was a great character whose situation really show more pulls at the heartstrings and has the reader cheering him on every difficult step of the way. He is man who was pushed into participating in a deadly "game", that no one has ever "won" in the past, in order to try and get the money for pneumonia treatment for his 18 month old daughter. The one rule that Richards must obey is to send in two recordings of himself every day by noon, failure to do so means forfeiting the money and his chance at being declared a winner (of a billion New Dollars and being allowed to live). He is allowed to kill (and is rewarded money for it), but being caught means instant death. His struggles with seeing how the upper classes live is hard to see.

The parts that got me the most are Richards's interactions/conversations with those who are in his social class. He is witty and intelligent, as are those he teams up with at times, and he seems to be doing his best with the absolutely shitty conditions he has to work with. I particularly enjoy his moments when going through the testing and interviews for the Games. He knows he is in a bad situation made worse by his desperation for his daughter.

The ending itself was incredibly sad and I caught myself choking up. In a way, it was almost poetic seeing the Richards's inner monologue and the change in the people. show less

Ich glaube, jeder hat schon mal von dem Film „Running Man“ gehört, der sehr lose auf diesem Roman basiert. Für mich persönlich sind beides zwei verschiedene Dinge. Während der Film gute Unterhaltung ist, ist das Buch „Menschenjagd“ doch ein Stück weit düsterer und beängstigender. „Menschenjagd“ ist der vierte Roman, den King unter seinem Bachman-Pseudonym veröffentlicht hat, und er zweite, der sich im Bereich der Dystopie bewegt. Wenn man die Geschichte mit dem, was heute so passiert, vergleicht, dann möchte man am liebsten einen eine ganze Flasche Schnaps trinken, um das Ganze erstmal sacken zu lassen. Die Grundstimmung ist äußerst düster und kritisch.

Dabei schafft King es erneut, den Leser bis zum Schluss bei show more der Stange zu halten und man fühlt mit ihm mit, hofft und bangt. Ich möchte dabei nicht zuviel verraten, weil die Geschichte auch davon lebt, dass man bis zum Schluss nicht weiß, wie es ausgehen wird, auch wenn man zusammen mit Ben Richards die Ausweglosigkeit erahnt und die Verzweiflung mit jeder Zeile mehr spürt.

Es ist ein tolles Buch. Während fast alle Nebenfiguren eher gesichtslos bleiben, was zu der allgemeinen Einstellung der Gesellschaft im Buch passt, bekommt Ben Richards ein Gesicht und eine Identität. Selbst seine Gegenspieler sind eigentlich nichts anderes als jederzeit austauschbare Figuren, die genau wie Richards selbst nur ein Teil des großen Ganzen sind, und wie der Rest der Menschheit auch ums Überleben kämpft, jegliche Moral dabei verdrängt von medialer Gehirnwäsche.

Fazit
Ich glaube, mein einziger Kritikpunkt ist, dass man nicht erfährt, welche Auswirkungen Richards‘ Handeln auf die Gesellschaft im Buch haben wird nach dem Ende der Geschichte, aber ich denke, dass gerade dadurch die Phantasie des Lesers weiter beflügelt wird und man doch noch so einige Zeit darüber nachdenken muss. Definitiv ein tolles Buch. show less