Roadwork (SOME SPOILERS)

[cwalrus]

It took me a while to finish Roadwork, but I really enjoyed it. I found it very poignant and sad, and maybe it took me long to finish because I knew it was going to end badly. All in all, a very touching and moving story that I think most average people could relate to, and between this story and The Long Walk I think SK's nonsupernatural storytelling is vastly underrated. I read this story because it's part of the Bachman Books collection, which I got primarily for Rage, but The Long Walk and Roadwork are both excellent stories displaying a great deal of SK's range and craftmanship.

Bart's dialogues with Sal Mgliore were my favorite part of the book, particularly the Mr. Piazzi's dog story. I couldn't help but envision James Gandolfini portraying Sal Magliore if Roadwork were to ever become a film. I wonder if Sk would ever consider returning to this character because even though he doesn't appear often in Roadwork, I found him to be one of the more memorable supporting characters that I've read so far in SK's books.

Also I read on Wikipedia that Drake, the "street priest" is actually Father Callahan, but I'm not totally convinced of it. Drake is described as having a "scarred wounded hand" and I don't quite remember if that happened to Father Callhan. I thought he just drank Barlow's blood scarring his soul forever, but maybe I'm just not remembering everything. Maybe the scar is from when Callahan tried to enter this church. I just don't remeber. Could someone please jog my memory on this? Still, Drake just doesn't feel like the same character as Father Callahan to me, but I'd be interested in what people have to say about this.

My only critique of Roadwork is that I found it hard getting into the story and all of the laundry characters at the beginning were a blur when I began the story and it wasn't until Bart met with Ordner the first time that the story started to take shape for me. Once it did, everything that came before that started to make more sense and I got into the story. The only thing is that I knew it was going to end tragically and I didn't want it to. I wanted Bart to get his act together just as he said he was towards the end even though he had no intentions of doing so. The heartbreak involved of losing a child was just too much for him, I suppose. Still, I found myself hoping that he'd be stopped before using the explosives or that maybe Magliore sold him duds and that he'd get the help he needed once he was captured.

For anyone who hasn't read Roadwork, I'd highly recommend it. Just be aware that you might get so attached to its main character that you may not want it to end.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Yes, I think it's a much under-rated story too, and so plausible.

But some amount of bang for the bucks with the Bachman Books, ain't it?

Long days and pleasant nights

[wally wonder]

One of the more comedic moments in Roadwork, for me anyway, is when Bart let the appliance run all night long until the motor burned out. Have you read Thinner? There's some interaction between two characters in that story that is a kind of doubling of the action you enjoyed in Roadwork, only more of it, and though I don't know who the actor is that you mention--I should google the name to see if it's the same one I'm thinking of--guy squints a lot? thin hair, seems like he's always tan? or is that blood telling? anyway, yeah, agree with you, great story.

[cwalrus]

One of the more comedic moments in Roadwork, for me anyway, is when Bart let the appliance run all night long until the motor burned out. Have you read Thinner? There's some interaction between two characters in that story that is a kind of doubling of the action you enjoyed in Roadwork, only more of it, and though I don't know who the actor is that you mention--I should google the name to see if it's the same one I'm thinking of--guy squints a lot? thin hair, seems like he's always tan? or is that blood telling? anyway, yeah, agree with you, great story.

I haven't read Thinner yet, but if there's more of some of the elements I enjoyed in Roadwork, I'm sure I'll like it.

[mercop14]

I just finished Roadwork an hour ago. It's one of King's best novels I think. The book is very underated.

[tillyn]

I agree, the Bachman books are greatly under rated. Great stories, i always recommend new readers read SK's short stories, because he doesn't just write horror story's he is great at all topics.

[cwalrus]

As a huge Met fan who takes the 7 train everyday at Shea Stadium, it was somehow oddly appropriate for me to be reading Roadwork while Shea Stadium was being deconstructed peice by peice. They couldn't implode it because of the surrounding area so it had to literally be disassembled and broken down one section at a time. I actually finished the book around the same time that the final section of Shea Stadium came down. Talk about coincidences.

I look forward to Citifield and the 2009 Mets season, but there was a little Bart Dawes inside of me that didn't want to accept the outcome of the building which held so many memories for me. Of course, it's different circumstances, but reading that story while watching Shea come down just made it more bittersweet. I actually went to the final game at Shea which if anyone knows anuything about baseball last season, if the Mets had one that game, they would have at least had a one game playoff afterwards meaning that the stadium would host at least one more game. Alas, it wasn't meant to be and my heart was broken as the lights went out.

[blunthead]

I liked Roadwork very much. It's right up there when I think of memorable sK novels. It was heavy, timely, and I really like the ending. I tend to like sK's endings. Roadwork was sad, but satisfying.

[JackTheRipper]

I finished this last night. Beautiful. I felt tears

[savvy]

Can anyone clue me in to the ending of Roadwork?

It's been awhile since I read it, and I'm having trouble remembering...


Thanks!

[ChaseTx]

I just finished it, and i think it's the worst book by King i've read so far. It's ok, but he admitted himself it's his least favorite of the Bachman books. He said he wrote it when he was upset about his mother's death.

I thought the whole thing was very negative, nothing good really happens even when it seems like it will. The dialogue, attitude, and events of the the book are just unnecessarily negative. It succeeds in depicting a man's self-destruction, but it really feels like SK just bombed the hell out of the story and all of its characters.

[wally wonder]

could be chaseTx, could be. but i still laughed when he plugged in that blender or whatever it was and ran it until it died. we all gotta do our part!

[JackTheRipper]

I just finished it, and i think it's the worst book by King i've read so far. It's ok, but he admitted himself it's his least favorite of the Bachman books. He said he wrote it when he was upset about his mother's death.

Lately, he's changed his mind about this. It's now his favorite BB

[Angel182308]

I can't even get through this one. This is the only king book that I truly do not like.

[bryantburnette]

Just finished rereading it for the first time in a couple of decades. It bored me silly back when I read it for the first time -- I'd've been all of about fifteen then.

It's a much, much better novel than I'd remembered it being. It's very dark stuff, of course ... but that seems awfully appropriate from the author of Pet Sematary and Apt Pupil and Duma Key.

A lot of the story's themes felt more than a little relevant to today's social climate, too. That Richard Bachman was an awfully prescient fellow, and I think it's high time somebody started taking a serious look at his early works.

You listening, Mr. Darabont?

[Christiane17]

I tried to read it for the second time lately, but I couldn't get into it. It's still in my SK bookcase though. Probably the worst Bachman story ever imo.:sleepy: But there is always a bad little seed in a whole bunch of good ones, right? :eyebrow:

[DogMom]

Can anyone clue me in to the ending of Roadwork?

It's been awhile since I read it, and I'm having trouble remembering...

Bart blows up the house after having a gun fight with the police. He wants to be the one who takes the house down instead of the city.

I just finished it last night. Very, very sad.

I instantly thought of Father Callahan when reading about Drake, it just makes sense. I had actually planned on researching it on the net this morning to confirm it.

Does anyone know what city SK was envisioning when he wrote this? I know that barts address was M_______, W_______. The first thing that comes to mind is Maddison, WI? Any thoughts?

[Stillreading]

This is hardly an active thread, but for the sake of anyone who might happen by, here goes. This was one of those stories that I felt I was living with for the entire time I was reading it. Because of certain circumstances there were a couple days of reprieve between stints of furious reading, and yet, i found myself periodically returning to the story in day dreams. In the end I suppose it's hard to say that this book is a "favourite" just because it's so bloody bleak; however, I do believe it is an excellent artistic achievement, nonetheless. The depth and weight of both the story and the main character, Bart, will remain with me for some time to come -- unsettling and unnerving, but thought provoking and, in a strange way, enlightening. Lastly, what I think I appreciate most about early SK (RB or otherwise) is his sense of social consciousness. Many of the early stories -- definitely the Bachman books -- all deal in one way or another quite directly with concerns that continue to plague our civilization to this day.

[Pucker]

The Bachman Books are pretty bleak, comparatively . . . from a time when Mr. King himself admits he "still believed in unhappy endings." What I found most disturbing about Barton Dawes wasn't so much that he gave up, but that he couldn't really articulate what is was he actually wanted. Think of that in terms of Charlie, from Rage, who is all adolescent angst and doesn't really believe anything; and Ray Garraty, from The Long Walk, who correctly sees himself trapped in a society that offers him no choices -- and simply wants out; and even Ben Richards, from The Running Man, who is compelled by desperation to literally sacrifice himself to save his family (and here again, he fails). Of all these characters, Dawes seems to me to be the one most obviouly flailing at something he hasn't even really identified. Dawes' struggle is internal. He doesn't really want things the way they were . . . he wants something he never really had, and I think his pointless tilting at windmills suggests that he has already convinced himself he doesn't deserve it.

Just a thought.

[Stillreading]

"What I found most disturbing about Barton Dawes wasn't so much that he gave up, but that he couldn't really articulate what is was he actually wanted."

Your thought is well received. And I think it is precisely the perception of senselessness -- the raw pointlessness -- in everything that Bart and many of us -- though not quite to the same extreme, of course -- share that makes this story so poignant, relevant, and haunting. Alienation and hopelessness are two terrible feelings to harbor for any length of time, but when coupled with a helplessness that precludes the ability to articulate in words, sublimate through actions, or worse still, find meaning, it seems likely that severe and violent consequences are inevitable. What makes this story so tragic -- and I think you, Kid Charlemagne, have really hit upon this quite well; far better than I, I’m sure -- is not so much the misfortunes that befall Barton throughout the book, but the very fact that his misfortunes are a direct result of the desperate thrashing and flailing he’s doing in an attempt to find purpose or explanation for the way he feels. He’s trapped inside himself, with himself. And evidently, in the end, there is no longer any way in or out.

[deathislife]

I see people complaning about it being bleak, but I thought that's what made it a good story. And I agree that it did start out boring, but by the time it got to December (Part 2), I was having fun with it. It may sound odd, but when I read, I like to speak what the characters say out-loud. It just makes it more of a fun experience.

And my favorite character of this book was Sal, hands-down. I loved his character. I also thought Ordner was interesting.

Overall, I liked the book more then I thought I would. I have it, like everyone else it seems, in a copy of The Bachman Books.I'd love to see a movie, but it's never going to happen.

[Princemeister]

Firstly i'd like to say that this is my least favourite of the 4 in the Bachman Books collection, although to put into context i still really enjoyed it i just thought the other 3 were better.

I got the feeling that Bart never really wanted or knew how to move on after his loss but the forced moving of house and business meant that he had to. He was obviously having some kind of internal breakdown and knew how it would end- i got from the book that it wasn't that he didn't know what he wanted, more that he knew there wasn't anything he did want that could be achieved. He wanted his son and his house and business as it was but knew it couldn't be.