The Stand

Rating:
Summary: Less enchanted the second time around
Review: I picked up THE STAND again last week basically because I had nothing else to read. I buzzed through it my freshman year in high school, lost in the strange world King had created.

The second time around, I'm noticing flaws in the picture he paints. A repetetive narrative. Far too much exposition. The irritatingly self-righteous Mother Abigail. Randall Flagg, who sounds like every other villain King has created.

Still, THE STAND remains an addictive thrill. Its weaknesses are, for the most part, the same ones you find in all of King's work, as are the strengths.

Rating:
Summary: On No, not another Review!!
Review: In spite of all the words which have gone before me, I must add my own to what I believe is an energetic and engrossing read from cover to cover. The Super Flu devastates the world, and the battle of good versus evil begins, with characters which are close to the author's heart. However, his vision of Apocalypse is far different from the biblical one, and one needs to read this book for what it is - fantasy/and or horror. A great read, though, and make sure you have the coffee pot on.

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant novel!
Review: Before I get to the meat of my review, I feel I should provide a little bit of perspective. First, I am not a die-hard Stephen King fan. In fact, aside from "The Stand", I have only read collections of his short stories, so I can assure you my review isn't the rabid defense of an overly loyal admirer. Second, I am not a fan of horror and I wouldn't classify "The Stand" as such. Finally, I am a big fan of the "apocalyptic fiction" genre, and I believe I have a pretty good basis for my evaluation of this novel.

That said, "The Stand" is an incredible novel; perhaps one of the best I have ever read, by any author or in any genre. The story is predicated on the accidental release of a "super-flu" that wipes out 99% of the humans on the planet. The survivors find themselves drawn into a battle between good and evil that will determine the future of the entire planet.

As one might expect, a novel with such an ambitious plot and of such prodigious length touches upon numerous themes. In order to simplify my review, I am going to break down the novel's strengths into the following categories, and then consider them one at a time: world-building, plot, characters and themes.

First is world-building. In most apocalyptic fiction, one (if not both) of two things will be true: 1. The characters stay in one place or 2. The action picks up after the disaster. An example of the first is "Earth Abides" and of the latter "On the Beach". There's nothing wrong with either plot device, but in "The Stand" King injects a remarkable level of detail into his novel by covering the super-flu from start to finish. The novel starts at the very beginning of the outbreak, and many key plot lines are developed before the epidemic ever rears its head. King charts the breakdown and eventual destruction of civilization, and then offers a short, but remarkable, picture of the survivors in the immediate days after the flu has run its course. He makes the subtle observation that many survivors would die in a second wave of suicides, accidents and depression that would weed out many of those unequipped for an empty world. Finally, as the story progresses, King makes remarkable (but not overbearing) predictions about how nature would reshape the U.S. in the absence of man.

Second to consider is the plot. As I alluded to earlier, King has used the emptied United States as a battleground between good and evil. Soon after the flu has run its course, the survivors begin having dreams about an old woman (Mother Abigail) who seems to be marshalling the forces of good, and a malign presence (Randall Flagg) who is gathering those who would serve him and his ends. Insofar as the reader knows, the choice is clear-cut, irrevocable and mandatory. It is very much a "are you with us or against us" type of situation. That said, much of the book is devoted to the characters traveling across country to Boulder or Las Vegas (guess which side is where), no mean feat in a world without mass transit, hotels, etc. In fact, King's writing is so effective, the novel would be fascinating if the characters did nothing but travel around and attempt to reestablish society. The second, metaphysical, layer just makes it all the more interesting.

Thirdly, we have the characters to consider; I'll won't name names or speak in specifics to avoid ruining the plot, but there are a few general points worth mentioning. To start, the cast of characters in "The Stand" rivals that of "Lord of the Rings", and King handles it every bit as well as Tolkien. One might expect that a novel with a story this complex would skimp on character development, but the opposite is actually true. King took a huge idea (good vs. evil) and reduced it to a human element that the reader could digest. His characters show an incredible range of emotion, and even their flaws serve to enhance the reader's view of them. They struggle and fail and are rarely sure of themselves, in other words, they are human. As such, their actions take on a level of realism that is astonishing.

Finally, we come to the themes of the book. The way I see it there are three: the dualistic nature of good and evil, redemption and hope. The first is the most obvious, King correctly points out that good cannot be appreciated or striven for in the absence of bad. We can strive to limit the effects of evil, but it will never be overcome, as King sees greed and hate as intrinsic to the human condition in general, and civilization specifically. The second theme, of redemption, is subtler and offsets the first. King does not paint anyone is irretrievably lost, and along the same lines, he considers how good intentions are frequently misdirected through ignorance and fear. King seems to believe that given the opportunity and support, anyone can salvage their lives. Which brings us to the final theme of hope. As the novel ends, the reader knows that evil has not been vanquished, but also that it can never triumph because within its very nature are the seeds of its destruction. Over time, evil empires have gained power because they have torn down their enemies (see Nazi Germany), but as the saying goes, live by the sword, die by the sword. There is always hope, because evil cannot win.

There are so many other points to touch on, I could write indefinitely, but what it all comes down to is this: if you're looking for a novel that will entertain you even as it makes you think, "The Stand" is for you.

Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: An All-Time Favorite Of Mine
Review: This was the first King book I read and I fell in love with his writing style. This is one of the few books I've read repeatedly.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing novel
Review: I want to write three things immediately and then continue with my review. I read this book because I heard it had a connection with King's Dark Tower Series. Second, I have never read the original version. I think parts of this book were dull and progressed very slowly. Finally, King writes a note at the beginning of the book warning readers that this is an expansion of the orginal book; providing more detail into the lives of the main characters. I read the note, and thought, "Stephen King can't write a dull book." I proceeded to read the novel thinking his author's note was worthless. I was wrong. But the meaning of my third point is: If you have read the original, you will probably love the uncut version. If you haven't read the original, you will probably think King is leading you in many worthless directions that do not pertain to the story.

I feel the Stand has definite potential. It was a great plot, but the uncut version was one of the longest novels I have read- 1140 pages in paper back. I am not scared of long novels, I read War and Peace for fun. But most of the first eight-hundred pages weren't that good. Sure there were two-hundred pages of great stuff, stuff that won't let you put a novel down. But then there were six-hundred of semi-pertinent information. The Uncut version goes from ten pages of amazing writing, to thirty pages of in depth character analysis. I am sure if I had read The Stand before, I would have found the additional information interesting. But since I started with the uncut version, I was disappointed.

The novel has a great plot. The story about the germ spreading, and the military's reaction were good. The superflu spreads, killing 99 percent of the world, and our military manages to cover it up for weeks. That was what I expected from King, exciting and suspensful writing. Then the story dredges into the lives of each main character. I think I could tell which parts were needed and which parts King added for the Uncut version. The lives of Frannie Goldsmith, Stuart Redman, Nick Andros, and Larry Underwood are essential, but all the detail is not. Then the plot heats up when the survivors begin accumulating under Mother Abigal in Boulder and under Flagg in Las Vegas. The ending was a little weak, but was still a good novel.

Maybe I was disappointed because of my motivation for reading the book. I wanted to learn about the thinny in Roland's world. I wanted to know who Mother Abigal and the Walkin Dude were. Why was Kansas dead, what was the superflu? I found all those things out, and that was good. One of King's strengths is his continuity throughout his novels. I first read about Flagg in the Eyes of the Dragon, then in the Dark Tower Series, and now in The Stand. Flagg is interesting character, I encourage anyone who hasn't to read the other novels. So in my Dark Tower withdrawal, I read the Stand and found it was not a Dark Tower Series book.

But I finished 1140 pages, I think that speaks enough for the novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Monumental History Making Horror Novel For All Time
Review: There's obviously nothing I can say that hasn't been said before about this wonderful book except to once again echo the sentiments of so many others in urging you to read it. If you're not a Stephen King fan, this is a good one to start with. If you already are a King fan and haven't read it......well, you've got issues!

Right off the bat I can tell you what I liked best about this. King didn't waste time or a quarter of the book in the destruction of the population of the world. He takes care of most of us wham bang and moves on to the real story.....good and evil doing the dance one last time.

This is a moving and (dare I say it?) spiritual novel that goes to the heart of who we are, what we're made of (or not made of), and what we hold dear. The characters are believable, and the story never lags.

Sadly I must leave the road always travelled by King fans and say this is NOT his best work. Yeah, it's way up there but he has matured much as an author since this was written. Excellent in every way, to be sure, but for his emotional best read Bag of Bones and for the ultimate scare, well that's IT!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Classic King, but not his best
Review: I picked this book up last week because, as a life-long King fan, there's no book that stands out on the bookshelf more than this 1100 page epic. Mammoth in scope and length, it was one of King's first, and one of his most beloved. Set in 1990 (futuristic for when it was written, 1978), The Stand tells the story of an ensemble of people - Larry Underwood, a musician; Franny Goldsmith, a pregnant woman; Stu Redman, a southerner; Nick Andros, a deaf-mute; and many more - as they deal with a man-made plague that whipes out 99% of the world's population. The survivors are summoned together in two groups - by Mother Abigail in Boulder, and by Randall Flagg in Las Vegas - for a final showdown between good and evil.

I liked a lot in the book, but I liked the smaller things. I liked Frannie's introduction, and the struggles she has with her unwanted pregnancy before the plague. I liked Larry's struggles to appease his mother after having left her to pursue stardom. I liked Harold's identity crisis, and the way I was never quite sure whether he was siding with the good guys or the bad guys, or where he would end up. Every character has a story, *is* a story, and seems somehow real. It's a quality few writers has mastered as thoroughly as Stephen King.

And I liked the fact that Stephen, like always, didn't shy away from having these stories potentially cut short and incomplete by disaster. Let's face it folks - sometimes stuff happens and life doesn't give us the answers we were looking for, and nobody recognizes that quite like Stephen King. It's meant to make you upset that there is no resolution to the conflicts introduced before the plague: there was no resolution for the characters, and that's reality. (He excels also in showing the potential sex frustration of people in this apocalyptic setting. It may be unsettling to some, but I couldn't deny how *real* I thought it felt. I imagined myself in those people's positions, and I began to wonder what I would do . . .)

But the BIG issues aren't as deep as you might want (in my opinion, anyhow). There isn't really any insight into what composes "good" and "evil", why some people choose one, while others go the other way. (The best commentary on this comes from Harold's inner struggles, which is one thing I would have liked to have seen resolved.) Other than that, everything just simple *is* good or evil, and we're never allowed to speculate as to *why* this is. And, surprisingly given the premise, there is very little insight into man's ability to destroy itself, no look at what we've done commentary. It's not The Chrysalis, where you're continually wondering *how* this could happen. You just sort of accept that it has happened, by some fluke accident, and humanity has moved on to its next conflict. So, if you're looking for something profound on that level (as I was) . . . well, you're probably not going to get it. Maybe I missed the "point", as it were (although King admits in On Writing that even he didn't think there really was one), but I didn't feel any more inspired about the issues of good, evil, destruction, etc., after having read this story. It's just a story.

And what makes this story good, if overlong, is the characters. The story seems at times just like a vessel for them. It's almost like King just arbitrarily picked the apocalyse as the setting so he could get Stu Redman, Harold Lauder and Frannie Goldsmith together and depending on each other. Or Nick Andros and Tom Cullen, the mute Nick needing to write things down to communicate, and Tom unable to read. These are the interesting struggles, and they're the ones that form the crux of the story.

Welcome to the twisted mind of Stephen King. Characters are what he does best, and this is exemplified with this work.

Matty J

Rating:
Summary: Long.
Review: Several people insisted that I give this book a shot. Well, I did and man, I'm disappointed. I'm not a huge King fan to begin with and this read did not improve my opinion on his works.

I found The Stand to be long and well... dull. I didn't enjoy it all that much. I know I'm totally in the minority with this review, but that's just how I honestly felt about The Stand.

Rating:
Summary: Alec
Review: Great book.
every time i sneeze, i wonder... hehe
really a great book, read it

Rating:
Summary: A Warning
Review: It is a great book. The plot is amazing, the charectors are great and it is as scary as a good book by Stephen King should be. But more than anything, it is a warning. this book, written before AIDS was a well known disease, King is describing the possibilty of a plague that is killing most of the humanity, a doom's day version of the 1918 flu. And the worst thing is that this virus is men-made.

From the terror, groups of survivors that are immune to the virus, start to regroup. Some are choosing the way of good, others the way of evil. As in any of King's book, there are many supernatural things in it, but I think they are less important.

Like the story of the Easter Island this book warns us. It warns us to make sure that whatever demons we are messing with in science, we must keep them locked. It warns us that the crazy armor race that is going on, might one day do what it's meant to do and destroy us. It warns us that our uncontroled scientific and technological development might turn against us, and it reminds us how small we are actually, in the end of the day, when the lights burn out and all that's left from our science is the same primitive life form that we were 15,000 years ago.

And yet, it is a message of hope. It shows the greatness of the human soul, and the human ability to survive against all chances. And it shows us that mother nature, after all, is the best scientist.