Roadwork

Roadwork, by Richard Bachman (a.k.a. Stephen King) is a short story that tells the tale of a man who is loosing his house due to a new highway being built through his neighborhood. As far as the “Bachman Books” go, this one is not my favorite. The main character of the book, Dawes, is not really a likable character. Yes, sometimes you do feel bad for him. Throughout the course of the story he looses his son, his job, his marriage, his home and more. There is a lot of time focused on each of these losses, to try and make you feel like he has no choice but to do the things he does. Additionally, the people that Dawes has to deal with, are often portrayed as greedy, selfish, and uncaring towards his situation. But, it is established early on in the story that Dawes is already mentally unstable, so I don’t believe that there was ever a chance for him to have a happy, normal life, even if there wasn’t a road being built through his house.

For a short story it’s quite long, so we spend a lot of time with this character, and a lot of time watching him make bad choices. He does things that are counter-productive to his happiness so ultimately, it’s not the roadwork that gets Dawes, but not being able to deal with his own life. There are also a couple random things that happen in the story, such as an encounter with a young woman, that really don’t have any bearing on the outcome so I’m not sure why they are there. At the end of the day, Dawes does not go out with the bang that he wanted, but with more of a whisper.

If you are a fan of Stephen King, you should definitely take the time to explore the Bachman Books, but there are other stories that are more interesting and engaging that this one.