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Oct 05, 2011

Abdullah rated it:

من أسوء الروايات التي قرأتها على الإطلاق !
الأسلوب سيء جدا .. الأحداث مملة .. الترجمة ركيكة
كانت سعادتي لاتوصف حينما أنهيت قراءتها ...
حتى الفيلم الذي تم انتاجه بناء على الرواية كان سيء لأبعد الحدود
مع ان الفكرة أعجبتني وشدني العنوان لكني صدمت تماما حال انتهائي من قرائتها

عموما لا أنصح بإهدار وقتك الثمين في قراءة مثل هذه الرواية
فهناك الكثير من الكتب التي تستحق القراءة غيرها. More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2008

Laura Leigh rated it:

The biggest problem with this book is that I decided to read Stephen King's introduction first -- where he gave away the ending. Bah! Still, it was a good journey to see how the protagonist got there, though the end was anti-climactic for me. For a writer just learning his chops when this was written, it's pretty damn good.

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 14, 2009

Theresa rated it:

I don't even like Stephen King, but this was recommended on a blog for people who really liked The Hunger Games so I thought I would give it a shot.

It reads very quickly and is highly addictive. The gist of the story is that in the year 2025, Ben Richards is out of work. His 18 month old daughter is sick with the flu and neither Ben nor his wife can afford to take her to a real doctor. Ben is from the poor side of town and decides the only way to save his daughter is to become a c More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Kazza rated it:

Wow, just wow. It's totally beyond my expectation. I don't love it but I'm really impressed.

It is set in a dystopian world (in the US) where there is an obvious line of separation between the rich and the poor. The poor being absolutely trodden, used & abused by the rich & ignorant-middle-class. Benjamin Richards is desperate; his 18 month old daugther has pneumonia and they don't have the funds for a doctor. And so he took the plunge. He did the only thing he could do: he went to th More...

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Jul 23, 2011

Book Concierge rated it:

The year is 2025. The poor and downtrodden are relegated to a mean ghetto, where they have little hope and virtually no opportunity. But though he’s been unemployed for a couple of years, Ben Richards is determined to get some money to help his wife and sick child. He decides to apply for one of the game shows that are constantly shown on Free Vee. For every hour he outruns the Hunters he earns one hundred New Dollars. If he can keep running for 30 days, he wins and earns a cool one billion. Th More...

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Jun 20, 2011

Books-treasureortrash rated it:

Book Review: 3 Treasure Boxes

If your infant daughter was sick and dying and the only way to raise the money to save her was to sign up for a competition that resulted in your death, would you sign up? The Running Man examines this question and shows what a young father would go through to save his baby, with some unexpected results.

Stephen King wrote The Running Man, one of four books written under the pen name of Richard Bachman. This book is a dystopian science fiction, tak More...

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Jun 11, 2011

Ryan rated it:

This book certainly lives up to its title. It's fast-paced through and through. The dialogue is curt, the writing is snappy, and the chapters are bite-sized (even the titles of the chapters are formatted to create a sort of frenetic tension). This is a quick, fun read, but is one of the dystopias I have read that doesn't really have a whole lot of depth to it.

There are plot bumps. There aren't too many plot holes per se, but I would call them plot bumps because I got the feeling More...

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Mar 21, 2011

T. rated it:

I was pretty surprised to see this book lurking around a second-hand store. You see, I've been familar with the film since growing up. If you'd asked me prior to seeing this document I would have bet on that movie NOT even beeing based on a book, let alone a book by the famous S. King

My second surprise was of course that the book was good. I probably shouldn't have been so naive as to think the book would be anything like the spandex rubbish that the movie was, but whatever.

More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 13, 2011

Austin rated it:

Want a quick weekend read? I just finished "The Running Man" yesterday. It's by Richard Bachman (also known as Stephen King).

The book was written in 1982, but it's far more relevant today than it was back then. The book is about a reality television show called The Running Man. Contestants on the show are hunted until they are killed. If they last 30 days, then they win a billion dollars. Only the game is rigged, so it's not possible to win.

The book has themes More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 01, 2009

Laura rated it:

So after The Long Walk, I thought I’d try giving another book by Stephen King, once again written under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman (I’ve got an old, falling apart paperback with them both included). The Running Man is another science fiction novel set in a bleak, but not too distant, future in the US where Ben Richards enters a deadly game show contest to try and make money to care for his sick daughter. “The Running Man” is a televised game show where the contestant, Ben Richards, is pr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Christine rated it:

Originally published under King's pseudonym Richard Bachman, this long short story/short novel is a fast-paced tale about a game show in a near-apocalyptic United States. In 2025, the gap between rich and poor is unimaginable, with the poor having few options - work at a number of menial jobs, for example, as an engine wiper behind a leaky radiation shield at General Atomics - or signing up for one of many game shows where the losers are maimed or killed. The protagonist of this story, Ben Ric More...

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Oct 19, 2011

Samantha rated it:

The Running Man introduces us to Ben Richards, a young man living in 2025 who has been blacklisted and can’t find a job. Growing more desperate, with a sick infant daughter and a wife to take care of, he goes to the headquarters of the Games Network in hopes of landing a spot in one of their shows. While these shows offer a decent payment, they also offer disfigurement or death to the participants, all for the entertainment of the masses. Because of his intelligence, health, and blacklisted stat More...

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Oct 15, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Stephen King usually speaks to a small, scared and helpless part of me that hopes everything is going to be alright. It seems that as Bachman he whispers to a smaller cynical, angry, and violent part that knows nothing will.

I assumed that I was more than familiar with this story thanks to having seen the Ahhnuld movie a thousand times or more. Turned out that, apart from the main character's name and the Games concept, I knew an entirely different beast altogether.

Ben Ric More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 14, 2011

Becky rated it:

This was a pretty good story, but quite different from what I'd expected. Of course I knew it was a dystopia, and centered around a game-show, but other than that, I didn't have much idea about the story. I've never seen the movie - and looking at IMDB right now, that's probably a good thing - so I didn't even have those misconceptions to deal with. Ben Richards is not an ex-cop who was wrongfully accused of anything. He was born into the wrong economic situation and grew bitter because of it. W More...

14 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Mark rated it:

This book was quite violent and gross and the protagonist was a stubborn rebel... who insisted on getting married for life rather than following the societal norm of a few year contract. It is his loyalty to his wife (who made extra income as a prostitute) and his sick baby girl who needed medicine that motivate Ben Richards to volunteer to be a player for the Games Federation which more or less runs the former US.

I have to admit I loved this book. It is every bit as important as Bradb More...

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Feb 15, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

Another quick and quite gripping read from the dressed-up-as-Richard-Bachman version of Stephen King. I preferred The Long Walk, but this one's still pretty alright: I got through it in a day, like the other, though these are novellas really and that's nothing too astonishing. Like The Long Walk, this is set in another dystopian American future in which play-to-the-death reality TV game shows are the opiate of the masses. Racing for thirty days against professional Hunters and a country-wide (wo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Carles rated it:

Es un libro que va in crescendo en tensión, interés y ritmo, como ya sugiere la forma de titular los capítulos como una cuenta atrás. Fácil, ameno y rápido de leer.

El principio puede despistar y desanimar al lector pues es lento y monótono y puede inducir a pensar que el libro puede ser un poco tostón. Pero nada más lejos de la realidad! En cuanto es seleccionado para el concurso y este empieza, es cuando el libro te atrapa y no te deja hasta el final (como a los telespectadores del More...

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Jul 17, 2010

ein rated it:

As many of you know this is the book on which the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the same name is loosely (to say the least) based. If you are a fan of the movie, as I am, don’t expect anything close to the movie, with the exception that the two share the same basic premise. While King’s book does have a lot of action, the real action take’s place in the head of protagonist, Ben Richards, and King creates some suspenseful situations which actually cause the reader to feel—suspense. The only letdown is More...

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Jan 05, 2010

Simon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jan 06, 2012

Graham rated it:

An easy read I used to kill time. Finished in a few days in between other books.
Best read in the voice of: Marv (Sin City) as portrayed by Mickey Rourke [2005]

Stephen King has done well to create a hopeless totalitarian dystopia where minds are rotted by reality television and consequently easily influenced by an over ruling media network. I felt the impact this had on the underclass was well explored as the story follows the protagonist Ben Richards.

I did enjoy the evol More...

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Nov 25, 2011

ally rated it:

This is set in a gloomy future where the streets are full of garbage and vermin and where the government is power crazy and polluting the air with dangerous toxins. Women and children are dying of lung cancer and other terrible diseases. In this terrible vision of the future half the population are living like rats while the other half are brainwashed by their TV Sets.
Richard's baby daughter is dying of a lung condition and the only way he can afford to buy her antibiotics is to appear on More...

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Mar 01, 2011

A.J. rated it:

Another reviewer said something I found both insightful and relevant to my situation: "When you pick this book up, you are unaware of the adventures it will take you on."

The grand reason I selected this audiobook out of the half-dozen or so waiting on my Ipod was that it had nearly the shortest running time and happened to coincide nicely with some other novels I happened to be reading. Perfect light material to distract from the boredom that forms a commute. Now I like audio More...

3 comments like

Aug 28, 2011

Ryan rated it:

The Running Man written by Stephen King, under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, in 1985 is probably one of King’s better science fiction works. The story is set in a totalitarian United Sates in the year 2025. After the economy collapses the country is divided between the slim well-to-do and the majority of have-nots. The protagonist is Ben Richards an unemployed father living in Co-Op City. Richards decides to try his luck on the nations game network where he hopes to submit himself to bodil More...

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Jan 30, 2009

Matt rated it:

It isn't an uncommon observation that most, if not all, film adaptations of Stephen King novels have served as displays of literary betrayal. So much depth becomes lost; sometimes, so much plot becomes lost as well. Such is definitely the case with "The Running Man," which is pure excellence as a book and pure garbage as a movie.

Neither warning nor forgiving, author Richard Bachman (AKA Stephen King) presents a futuristic atmosphere that is almost more disheartening and mor More...

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Aug 31, 2011

Miss rated it:

First of all, this was never intended to be on my to-read shelf, especially not on my Stephen King list. Truth be told, i found this book on one of my grandmother's bookshelves. I picked it up merely because it was Stephen King. I was expecting the dystopian society and definately got it, but I felt this book didn't have a lot of substance to it. At least not what i was looking for, and was a bit disappointed. The main character, Ben, is an anti-hero type who doesn't care for the higher authorit More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Brandon rated it:

It’s the year 2025 and society is very different then what we know today. Unlike those that claim today the United States is the land of the free and that the ultimate “American Dream” is attainable by anyone, the system is now designed to keep those who are below the poverty line to stay just where they are. However, there is a way out, sign up as a participant in “The Games”. Yes, you can compete on a variety of dangerous game shows in an effort to obtain large cash prizes and get you and y More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 16, 2011

Ryan rated it:

I got hooked on it within the first few pages. I loved how it jumped straight into the action and didn't bother wasting time giving background information of people, places and things at the beginning. It just eased you into the story. Definitely my kind of book. At times i simply couldn't put the book down. It has been a while since i got that wrapped up in a book. Although, it's a shame it couldn't have been longer considering the story was so epic and addictive.

*spoiler alert*
More...

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May 03, 2011

Andrew rated it:

An angry, gritty, murderous book about a man competing in a game show in which he essentially agrees to be hunted down like a terrorist, with cash prizes going to next of kin based on how long he survives and how many cops he takes down with him. The world is ugly, poisoned, and chock full of completely unsubtle class struggle. You will almost certainly learn nothing new reading this book. Does that make it a waste of time? Are you better off watching the Schwarzenegger flick of the same name wh More...

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Jul 08, 2010

Sarah rated it:

I will say to start off, as several others have before me: do NOT read the introduction by Stephen King (if your version of the book has it) before you read the story. It will ruin the ending. And as someone who has ruined the ending of some other books (curse you, Reader's Guides!), I know it can sour the whole experience.

This is the first Stephen King book I have ever read (although technically I cheated, as King wrote The Running Man under the Richard Bachman name), and I chose it More...

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Jan 19, 2011

Kelanth, in tenebris lux tua rated it:

Non ho letto molto di King, ma mi sto rifacendo piano piano, avendo tutti i suoi libri posso scegliere più o meno a caso tra le sue opere e devo dire che questo libro mi è piaciuto davvero molto. Si avvicina fortemente alla fantascienza e descrive un mondo allo sbando controllato dalla Rete che plasma i cittadini americani imbambolandoli con show televisivi a sfondo cruento per distoglierli dai veri problemi. Il mondo americano è diviso in due classi, chi abita nei ghetti gli estremamente poveri More...

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