Rating: 
Summary: Among the living, follow me or die! [no spoilers]
Review: This was the first Stephen King book I read 10 years ago. I'm not a large fan of his works or the horror genre but the premise sounded interesting and inspired me to read it.A compelling book about good versus evil on a social level and a personal level. Add fate, religion, and a little magic to help compliment the story and you receive a first rate novel. The writing is superb. For a novel this large, someone might fear a dragging story however about every chapter connects to the overall story without appearing as filler. Slow parts are appropriately placed. If you've travelled throughout the United States, the cities and highways are real with a few exceptions. Not too gory or graphically violent. Great characters. I recommend this for those who enjoy reading thought provoking stories on a higher level. One of the flaws are the few loose ends but I prefer to think of them open to reader conclusion/philosophy. Another of the flaws are spelling errors and misquotes. Considering how many different copies and prints have circulated through the years, these errors should be fixed. But these flaws are minor given the scope of the work and don't really detract much from the book. Someone else may have noted this fact but for me the song "Among the Living" by Anthrax took a more colorful perspective after reading The Stand. If they would write a song about what this book encompasses, they are well read. Cool song for a great book. If you're a fan of heavy metal, listen to the lyrics. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Fraught with meaning
Review: I recently completed my second reading of The Stand. It all started with the movie..I was entranced, I loved it so much. I became so close to the characters, felt as though I was going through the struggle with them. I fell in love with Stu (East Texas), Frannie, Nick, Tom, Larry (I ain't no nice guy), Glen, Mother Abigail, (even Kojak!) and was completely fascinated and frightened of the Dark Man, the Walkin Dude, Randall Flagg. After I read the book, I was amazed at how loyal they were to the real story, although there are many differences between the movie and the book. I do agree with some of these previous reviews, that sometimes King does provide too much information about some minor characters, but if you have a problem with that, you can just skip over it. This movie and book just fascinated me and I cannot believe someone wrote to throw it out your window or something of that nature. Obviously it is a long book, but it needs to be long. The world can't be ended in 100 pages, nor can you be introduced to wonderful characters in 200 pages. Words cannot even express how this work has effected me, but I can tell you I just finished watching the movie again and reading the book, and I am going to watch the movie AGAIN!! Anyone else who read this and wants to talk about The Stand, feel free to e-mail me or IM me on AOL!!
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding end of the world novel... 4 1/2 stars
Review: "The Stand" has become one of Stephen King's most popular novels, and is known as one of the greatest end of the world novels ever written. I put off reading "The Stand" up until recently, because of all the acclaim that it has received. When a book is hyped up that much, it usually fails to meet my expectations. Not to mention the fact that the book is over 1100 pages long, and has a story that spans over the entire U.S. That means a lot of time and patience has to be put into keeping track of all the different characters and other aspects of the story. I am so glad that I finally gave this book a chance, and I was amazed that I was actually begging for more after the story had ended. The story is over 1100 pages, but it moves incredibly fast. The thing that appealed to me the most about this book, was that the story lets perfect strangers across America gravitate towards one another. What the characters have to overcome is amazing. Not only do they have to survive a killer virus, and society as they know it breaking down, but also something more evil then they ever could've imagined. Another aspect of the book I found appealing was the focus on religion. Anytime you have an end of the world novel seem like a battle between God and the Devil, it is often much more appealing. Another reason to read "The Stand" is to witness King's character development at its best, due to the fact that this book dealt with many likeable characters. Randal Flagg is obviously the story's best one. He is the source of the greater evil, and is known as the "Walkin Dude". He posses unimaginable powers and is basically the Devil himself. Obviously when you have a character like Randall Flagg, people are going to be seduced by the evil that such a character offers. The "bad guys" are my favorite characters in the book, because King puts a lot more energy into them, than he does the heroes of the story. The characters on Flagg's team are well developed villans, that really stand out and make an impact on the story. God's team is led an extremely old negro woman named Mother Abagail. She is the driving force for the survivors, and the reason that all the survivors seem to find each other. King was brilliant with her, because he portrays her as God's weapon against the Devil. All of the characters that come together to form the society of survivors are well written, likeable, and posess courage and determination that is extremely inspiring. It is very hard to choose a favorite character when reading this book! "The Stand" is an epic masterpiece that offers rich character development, an intriguing end of the world story, the fight of good against evil, and the overall strength of the human condition. This is definately one of King's best novels.
Rating:
Summary: His masterpiece
Review: "The Stand" is perhaps the best book King ever wrote! You cannot put this book away until you've read the last page. Although it has so many pages - 'cause you never know what will happen on the next one. This books takes place in the future - almost the whole mankind is dead because of a manmade epidemic. That's the time for the last, ultimate fight on earth- between the good and the bad, between Satan and God - and their chesspieces on earth, mother Abigail and Randall Flagg.
Of course both of them are having their own assistants - Stu, Ralph, Nick, Glen, Tom and Larry for the "good guys" and Lloyd, Harold and Nadine for the other side. Of course there are many more characters, who are almost as important as those i wrote down, but the list would be to long, because ther are no minor characters in this book, every small thing one person did is later on very necessary. King wrote many individual psychologic charecters - one as credible as the other one. You can understand every step a character has done, and you will be surprised how this book ended - and after the last page you had the same feelings like Harold an the others: Joy, Pain, Dissapointment, Happyness, Anger. It's really the best book I've ever read - buy it, you'll love it!!!
Rating:
Summary: short, no; good book, yes
Review: I found The Stand, Complete and Unabridged by Steven king to be an excellent book. It has many great characters, such as The Walking Dude, Randall Flagg, Mother Abigail, and the assortment of everyday people who manage to survive the Captain Tripps plague. The epic tale tells of their journey from across the country to Boulder, Colorado, and that of those drawn to Las Vegas and Randall Flagg. King weaves a complex story line, with many twists and turns in the plot. He is considered a bit wordy by some, but I enjoy the detail in his writing. The complete and unabridged version of The Stand has almost another large novel on the first edition of the book, and the story line is not changed, but the additional detail changes the character of the book somewhat. It develops the characters and their personalities more, and allows the readers to become more familiar with them. The evil present in Flagg, Trashcan Man, and the others attracted over the mountains is present in most people, they just never experience an event that brings it out. The death of 99 percent of the population allows those who survive to do what they want, and it brings out the worst in some and the best in others. This is definitely a five star book.. It is not only an enjoyable and engrossing read, it makes you think about what side you and those you know, if any of you survived, would be on if something similar occurred. I feel that those who believe that this book is overly long are entitled to their opinions, and for some people it is. If you do not enjoy books with incredible detail or if you like to have everything over in four hundred pages, this is not a book for you. Then again, you will not like most Steven King books. However, if you enjoy detailed books, Steven King is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Good: great depiction of the end, Bad: long, Ugly: The end
Review: Stephen King's uncut "The Stand" is long, long, long. Arguably too long. Thankfully, the sheer bulk of this book does not detract from King's surprisingly good characterization and the compelling plot hook - a virus that wipes out just about the whole world save a small percentage of the population. Both are handled well, with believable people and graphic depictions of the aftershocks of such a virus. Only in the end, when metaphysical religious mumbo jumbo takes over, does the epic "The Stand" truly falter. The uncut version of this book is a doorstop, easily surpassing 1,000 pages of text. Most of it is very good. The depictions of the virus' impact on the world are scary and well portrayed. We see well-written and detailed glimpses into the lives of our main characters - too many unnecessary and lengthy glimpses, admittedly - that allow us to know these people inside and out. And we are drawn into the world of the few survivors as they try to rebuild the world that was lost. The first half, maybe two-thirds, of the book sail along briskly despite the time King takes to dwell in insignificant character details. The latter portions of the book, however, are a disappointment. A building mystery and a strong tale of survival ultimately leads to a hokey pseudo-religious showdown that fails to compel. By this point, you're turning pages not because you ant to see the mystical action unfold, but because you have already read 700 pages and are therefore compelled to keep going. A very poor end to an otherwise great buildup. That criticism isn't to say the book isn't worth reading. The portions of the book that are strong - and that's most of it - are simply great. King is a better writer than some credit him as being, the story is fascinating, and the bleak future disturbing. Really great stuff (though I am inclined to read the original, "cut" version to see how it compares). King fans are likely to enjoy this regardless, so pick it up. Non-King readers are warned about the extreme length, much of it unnecessary. Yet those same readers should know that if they enjoy disaster stories, post-Apocalypse tales, stories about the breakdown of civilization and other such themes, "The Stand" will fit right in with your tastes. It is a well-done look at a future we hope we don't have. (They just might want to stop before the disappointing end).
Rating:
Summary: Look What They Done to My Book, Ma
Review: OK, so obviously this isn't "my" book in the sense that I wrote it, but long-time fans and admirers of "The Stand" like me consider the book to be a masterpiece and are kind of possessive about it. I was excited about reading an expanded version of The Stand, in supposedly its original state as submitted by Stephen King to his publisher in 1978. I was very dismayed that this edition actually contains some *new* material that Mr. King wrote around 1989. As a result, this edition suffers from some temporal dislocation. An example: the rock singer Larry Underwood goes to a girl's apartment where she has displayed a "Love Story" poster -- very 70s. Then afterward he goes to a Freddy Krueger movie. NOOOO! This just doesn't work for me. It takes me right out of the dark spell that the previously published "Stand" put me under. I still give it 4 stars because the story is so powerful. But if you haven't read "The Stand" yet, I would really recommend that you read the truncated (edited) version first.
Rating:
Summary: Epic Tale of Good VS Evil
Review: I bought this book at a local bookstore in 1994 after seeing the miniseries on ABC. I got the Signet mass market paperback edition with a photo cover of Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald. The book is about the survivors of a plague after a "superflu" virus kills most of the world's population. Sides are taken. The good are led by the 108-year-old Mother Abigail. The evil are led by the demonic Randall Flagg (a villain in several of Stephen King's novels, such as "The Eyes of the Dragon" and his "The Dark Tower" series). Those of you who have seen the miniseries, read the book anyway. It has a lot more to it. Of course, there is swearing, sex, and lots of death and destruction, so it's not for the overly-sensitive. There are lots of characters: a hick, a pregnant girl, an obsessed nerd, a rock star, a judge, a bisexual woman, a farmer, a prisoner, a mental patient, etc. Everybody is sure to find someone that they like in here. This is a very long story (over 1,000 pages), so make sure that you have a lot of free time. In a two-part introduction, King explains how and why this version of "The Stand" came to exist. That's an interesting story in itself. If you've read the original version published in the 1970s, I'd recommend that you go ahead and read this version, too. It's much more complete. There are nice black-and-white drawings of several scenes. I did read part of the hardcover edition in high school, and I noticed that the Signet paperback edition is missing at least one line. In "The Circle Closes", below "He woke at dawn.", the line "He had his boots on." is missing. Odd. Anyway, this is a great book.
Rating:
Summary: The Stand
Review: The Stand was apretty good book but it is really long.Plus, there is a lot of boring parts int the book, yet there are more exciting ones. The only real problem I had was the ending. Itwas so dissapointing. I would recommend this book though. It's one of King's best. Another really good one but really long is IT by king.
Rating:
Summary: Exceptional Masterpiece from the mind of Stephen King
Review: The Stand is, more or less, a story depicting the end of the world. It begins with an accidental outbreak of super flu from a government facility, which soon breaks free to wreak havok on unsuspecting humans and animals. Almost everyone dies, and does so considerably fast. The army tries to stop it, but no one succeeds. Those that DO survive are people who have a natural immunity to the bug. Eventually these lucky souls band together to form a sort of community. The atmosphere is bleak and gritty. It's depressing, but at the end of the tunnel they find a light through each other. They try and maintain hope and see it through to the end, while fighting the seemingly impossible at the same time. Not a feel good book necessarily, but then again most horror isn't. Suspense was built up when it should have been, and most of it had my back muscles stung up pretty tight. Stephen King is one of those authors who has a natural talent with characterization. The Stand is no different, and although there are several key players to keep track of, I wasn't confused as I have been in some of his other novels. I can't speak of a "main character," because there were several, and each person brought forth their unique traits, their past histories, and their own individual purposes, that were important to the plot. Each one enhanced the tale, and without this important element the story would not have succeeded so well. I didn't like everyone, but thankfully those I didn't care for got less time than the others. Some may see the page count of this one (817) and fear it would be too slow for them, rest assured it's not. The pace goes along surprisingly well for such a lengthy read.
Is the Stand haunting? Well...it's never fun to imagine that basically the entire world is dead and you are left alone, forced to seek out other survivors and make them your new family because your real ones are dead. It's not fun to go into the street and be greeted with the stench of decaying corpses, or to no longer have electricity and signs of modern times. Getting wrapped up in the story like I did, I was able to imagine what this would have been like, and let me tell you it wasn't pretty. That theme alone was creepy. The end of the world isn't a time I'd want to live in, especially if it goes out this way.
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