The Stand

Rating:
Summary: Left Behind for the Rest of Us!!!
Review: I've read most of the Left Behind series, fascinated (probably becauseI'm sure that, given the criteria you need to meet in order to be"Rapturized", I'd certainly be one of those left behind)with the story of good versus evil.

If you, too, find yourselfinterested in the Left Behind series, but find the message in thebooks too preachy, the characters magnificently underdeveloped, andthe overall writing rather juvenile, then I highly recommend thisbook.

You can read many reviews on this book that outline thestory -- all we can add here is a testimony that this is our favoriteStephen King book. Where Left Behind takes the Bible's Revelation andinterprets it literally, this book goes to the heart of themessage.

It begins as a sudden severe epidemic wiping out manypeople, do-gooders and bad boys alike, regardless of race, creed, age,gender, political affiliation, religion, IQ or physical condition. Noexplanation is ever given (nor needed) for why some survive. Butsurvive they do. Left behind is a small percentage of the world'spopulation (we assume, although this is all based stateside), fromseveral walks of life.

We meet the survivors and watch as they aredrawn toward one of two polar leaders -- Miss Abigail, a 108 year oldblack Christian or the Dark Man, Randall Flagg. Individuals on eachside unite to win.

Seekers of the good (a very left-wing liberalbunch of folks) head toward Boulder, Colorado. The dark side ishome-based in Reno, Nevada. A very American story, we don't learn whatis happening in other nations -- (then again, we do think we're thecenter of the world!) This book is in places a most unpleasantread. Flagg is the epitome of evil, seemingly the reincarnation ofAdolf Hitler and every other mad leader the world has known, makingexamples of captured enemies by placing their heads along the road, ordisemboweling them.

The story transcends into the ultimate battlebetween good and evil, externally and internally. Readers can taketheir position (of course those of us who read it would be a survivor,just as in the Left Behind series we'd be one of the unsaved soulsleft on earth) and identify with the well-developedcharacters. Together we can ask ourselves, if good triumphs in abattle, is evil is gone forever? History contains the answer!

Yes,this book is lengthy. The original version was long, and King hasadded much more. Think of this as the entire Left Behind Series, inone book -- only better.

This is a book that will take some timeto read, but is hard to put down!

Rating:
Summary: My unsurpassed favorite book
Review: I have had lots of friends who don't think they like Stephen King...until I have convinced them to read this book. If you hate typical King, then read this decidedly un-King novel. (King fans recognize this as more a VERY King novel, but it does not look "typical" to th outsider.)

King thinks this is his worst book, but almost every King fan thinks it is the best or nearly so...

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever Written
Review: Stephen King is so underrated as a novelist. People here his name and think of these terrible horrer movies that never do his writing justice. King's greatest strength is his attention to detail and his characters in his stories. The Stand has the most real, vivid characters you will ever read about. You'll feel what they're going through. It wasn't until Shawshank Redemption that SK started to get the credit that was due to him by the mass public. It is unfortunate that because of a few bad movies he had nothing t do with, people judge his talents off of it.In the Stand it depicts the end of the modern world from a super flu that escapes. The first half to 3 quarters of the book deals with the survivors of this flu travelling to Mother Abigail (the good force) or Randall Flagg (the bad or dark force). King's absolute mastery of storytelling allows the reader to switch character's abrubtly throughout the novel and never lose interest. Stephen King is a underrated geniues and this is his greatest achievement. Go out and buy the Hardcover... you'll love it that much. It has suspense, drama, romance, horrer, and comedy. The perfect tale of good, versus evil.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever Written
Review: Stephen King is so underrated as a novelist. People hear his name and think of these terrible horrer movies that never do his writing justice. King's greatest strength is his attention to detail and his characters in his stories. The Stand has the most real, vivid characters you will ever read about. You'll feel what they're going through. It wasn't until Shawshank Redemption that SK started to get the credit that was due to him by the mass public. It is unfortunate that because of a few bad movies he had nothing to do with, people judge his talents off of it.In the Stand, the story depicts the end of the modern world from a super flu that escapes a govenment lab. The first half to 3 quarters of the 1200 page book deals with the survivors of this flu travelling to Mother Abigail (the good force) or Randall Flagg (the bad or dark force). King's absolute mastery of storytelling allows the reader to switch character's abrubtly throughout the novel and never lose interest. Stephen King is a underrated geniues and this is his greatest achievement. Go out and buy the Hardcover... you'll love it that much. It has suspense, drama, romance, horrer, and comedy. The perfect tale of good, versus evil.

Rating:
Summary: 99% of humanity dies in 3 weeks then things get REALLY NASTY
Review:
I read this book in one weekend, it's that good! Be warned that I didn't get much sleep that weekend. I read for 16 hours, fell asleep in my chair, woke up, ate, read for another 7 hours, ordered pizza, read until the pizza arrived, ate, then read for another 3 hours, fell asleep, woke up, ate, and read for a few more hours until I finished the book.

The black plague is genecticly engineered by the military to be stronger and to be passed along like the flu, escapes, 99.5% of humanity worldwide dies in 3 weeks,then the final battle between good and evil begins. Watching the collapse of the social order of the United States is quite facinating - the President of the United States keeps denying that there is a problem as the government orders that cities be sealed off by Army and National Guard units to try to stop the spread of the plague. Barbed wire is set up around the perimeter of the cities and the soldiers have standing orders to shoot anyone attempting to leave and to burn their corpses with flamethrowers to prevent the spread of the disease.

The survivors are having dreams. They are dreaming of an old black woman, "Mother Abigale" who is calling the good people to her shotgun shack in a cornfield in Kansas. People are also dreaming of "the walking dude" or Randal Flagg. Randal Flagg is very close to a demon and is recruiting most of the scientists (because they crave order and can't handle the chaos of collapse of civilization) and the evil people - calling on them to converge on Las Vegas. Randal Flagg's goal is to gather up most of the existing military hardware and then go wipe out the remaining survivors following Mother Abigale who are setting up shop in Boulder, Colorado. But there are some surprises in store for everyone - because nothing goes as planned!

Rating:
Summary: Fantabulous
Review: An absolutely amazing book but, like "IT", it's too short!!

Rating:
Summary: Classic Horror Novel
Review: This is perhaps King's greatest achievement. It is a long novel, so it takes longer for the greatness to end. There is a huge cast of distinct characters each with their own detailed history. This shows King's keen knack for characterization. The plot is extremely detailed and makes one pay attention so as not to miss anything important. It's a great speculation on how the hazards of biotechnology and the primordial tendencies of man would affect our society. You won't forget any of the characters, or anything that happens. Yes, I know that sounds strange, seeing as how this is an extremely long book, but King is such a good writer that he makes it easy. Read this book. If you like it, I also recommend "Outbreak" by Robin Cook (this "Outbreak" is different from the novelization of the movie with the same name, and much better.)

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous!
Review: Despite part of the ending spoiled for me in Danse Macabre, because I don't read King's books in order, this book is great. I actually put myself in the situation of the characters like Stu Redman and Larry Underwood. Don't let the length fool you. This book will be over before you know it. The ending leaves a bit to desire though.

Rating:
Summary: The Original Left Behind
Review: The Stand is by all definitions a work of art. The characters are dynamic and are brought to life on the pages through the end of the world we know. All it took was a simple virus to destroy civilization and open the opportunity for the denizens of evil to infiltrate our plane of existence.

If you have read the Left Behind series, you should read The Stand which provides another route to the end of the world.

Rating:
Summary: The finest book King has ever written.
Review: This work is, without a doubt, is Stephen Kings finest. A biologically engineered disease is leaked from a government facility by a frightened worker who leaves the facility after he's been infected. The highly contagious 'superflu' spreads like wildfire through America and quite probably the rest of the world. Those who are infected develop flu-like symptoms and then die. America is in a sudden panic, but no one can escape the disease -- nobody but the people who are mysteriously immune to it. With most of the population of the United States (and possibly the world) dead, the survivors begin to band together. Everyone has more vivid dreams, and their dreams all call them to one of two places to follow one of two leaders. The indomitable Flagg pops up again to lead the 'dark element' of what is left of America, and an elderly lady takes her place as the leader of the 'good element'. What ensues is a war which places all of their lives and souls in jeopardy.

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