Random Walk [Paperback]

Lawrence Block (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 23, 2000

"Every now and then someone comes up to me at a speech or signing and says one of two things. 'I've liked all your books,' I'll be told, 'but there was one I couldn't make heads or tails out of.' Or just the opposite: 'I've read most of your books, but there was one that really knocked me for a loop, and I've read it seventeen times now, and it's completely changed my life.' "It's always the same book. Random Walk." I wrote the book in the spring of 1987, and never was a book more eager to be written. Paradoxically, never was a book less eager to be read--the advance sale was light, the reviews were venomous, and most readers never even knew the book existed. Now it's getting a new lease on life, and I'm delighted. I don't know that it's time has come--it's just as possible it's time has come and gone. But I do know Random Walk has enormous impact on some of the people who read it, and I hope that now they'll have a chance to find it." -Lawrence Block

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Block's latest novel is for New Age disciples or for readers interested in learning the tenets of the philosophy. Otherwise a "random walk" can be a tiresome journey. Guthrie Wagner, a bartender in Roseburg, Ore., hears a voice urging him to take a walk. The idea is so appealing that he quits his job, sells his car, and begins a trek toward the East though he has no specific destination. Along the way, Guthrie realizes he is almost starting life anew. He discovers that he has lost the urge to smoke, can walk miles effortlessly and is never cold when he sleeps outdoors. Guthrie's walk begins to appeal to others like Jody Ledbetter, a trucker who finds he has healing powers, and psychologist Sara Duskin, a blind visionary, and her son, Thom. Block ( When the Sacred Ginmill Closes ) intersperses the narrative with vignettes focusing on real estate investor Mark Adlon's obsessonkilling women. Of course Adlon is destined to join the walk. While Sara eventually explains to Guthrie the reason for their journey, the book contains no surprises. One wishes the author had channeled his positive energy elsewhere.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“Block is one of the best!” —The Washington Post

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (May 23, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583483810
• ISBN-13: 978-1583483817
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,495,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Block (b. 1938) is the recipient of a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and an internationally renowned bestselling author. His prolific career spans over one hundred books, including four bestselling series as well as dozens of short stories, articles, and books on writing. He has won four Edgar and Shamus Awards, two Falcon Awards from the Maltese Falcon Society of Japan, the Nero and Philip Marlowe Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of the United Kingdom. In France, he has been awarded the title Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice received the Societe 813 trophy.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Block attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Leaving school before graduation, he moved to New York City, a locale that features prominently in most of his works. His earliest published writing appeared in the 1950s, frequently under pseudonyms, and many of these novels are now considered classics of the pulp fiction genre. During his early writing years, Block also worked in the mailroom of a publishing house and reviewed the submission slush pile for a literary agency. He has cited the latter experience as a valuable lesson for a beginning writer.

Block's first short story, "You Can't Lose," was published in 1957 in Manhunt, the first of dozens of short stories and articles that he would publish over the years in publications including American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and the New York Times. His short fiction has been featured and reprinted in over eleven collections including Enough Rope (2002), which is comprised of eighty-four of his short stories.

In 1966, Block introduced the insomniac protagonist Evan Tanner in the novel The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep. Block's diverse heroes also include the urbane and witty bookseller--and thief-on-the-side--Bernie Rhodenbarr; the gritty recovering alcoholic and private investigator Matthew Scudder; and Chip Harrison, the comical assistant to a private investigator with a Nero Wolfe fixation who appears in No Score, Chip Harrison Scores Again, Make Out with Murder, and The Topless Tulip Caper. Block has also written several short stories and novels featuring Keller, a professional hit man. Block's work is praised for his richly imagined and varied characters and frequent use of humor.

A father of three daughters, Block lives in New York City with his second wife, Lynne. When he isn't touring or attending mystery conventions, he and Lynne are frequent travelers, as members of the Travelers' Century Club for nearly a decade now, and have visited about 150 countries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable look at humanity, spirituality, and the growth, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Random Walk: A Novel For The New Age (Mass Market Paperback)

Guthry, a bartender, determines one day that it's time to take a walk. And remarkable things begin to happen. He finds his walking comes easy to him, and as time goes on, he starts to meet people, who join him on his journey. On a seperate plotline, Mark, a successful young businessmen, starts a string of horrific strangulations, and seems to live a perfect, if frightening life. The story weaves the plotlines together; the walkers, guided by Sara, a young woman who is going blind as she sees inwardly, are experiencing healings and amazing instances of endurance. The meeting with other walkers, and the revealed purpose will bring a warm feeling to your heart.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A witty send-up of the New Age Movement, November 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Random Walk (Paperback)

Random Walk, Lawrence Block's brilliant send-up of the New Age movement, is as funny and relevant today as it was when first published in 1988. Block takes the New Age movement for a ride -- make that a walk -- and dumps its body in a dark alley (where Matt Scudder just may stumble on it some dark and rainy night). In this witty novel, an Oregon bartender decides to go for a walk one day, and winds up attracting a rag-tag band of fellow travelers who hike across the country with him, crossing paths with a vicious serial killer. A must read for Block fans and those new to the author as well.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unusual, enthralling, compelling, December 11, 2008

By 

Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Random Walk (Hardcover)

I usually try to avoid the use of personal pronouns in writing my reviews, but Random Walk is not a book one can discuss without revealing one's feelings. First, let me express my happiness that PS Publishing has chosen to bring this extraordinary book back into print--it's the kind of book that makes you think, the kind that gives you hope, the kind that helps achieve an instantaneous, strong connection between those who have read it if it comes up in a conversation (which it has many times, at least for this reviewer). The mere mention of the title brings a smile to each participant's face, triggering pleasant shared memories. The enthusiastic conversation that ensues is peppered with many sentences starting with, "Wasn't it great when..." or, "I liked the part when..." and usually ends in mutual agreement that Block was on fire when he wrote it.

The novel proceeds from a simple premise--one day, ordinary guy Guthrie Wagner sets out on a walk, with little idea of where he's going or why he feels compelled to do so. As he walks, people from all races and walks of life join him, again for no other reason than that they feel it is the right thing to do. As the group grows, wondrous things start to happen, causing the walkers to wonder if they are not part of something bigger, whether there's a deeper reason why they have been brought together in this manner. Their journey to discover their purpose occupies the rest of the book, which is filled with surprises galore, and also with a sense of looming disaster, as their path seems destined to cross with that of a prolific serial killer, whose grim story occupies another track of the novel.

I won't gush any more about this book, one of Block's most unusual, enthralling and compelling tales--noted SF writer Spider Robinson does an excellent job of this in his insightful introduction, which opens with the words, "Welcome to one of the most glorious journeys ever undertaken." I can't recommend this book highly enough--I think you will enjoy it, and suspect it will stay with you long after you turn the last page, just as it has for the last twenty years with Mr. Robinson and me.