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Summary: Still My Favorite King Book.
Review: Stephen King is one of my favorite authors, and "The Stand" is my favorite Stephen King book. It is also the longest book I have ever read-- 1200 pages, I think, and while I typically detest overly-long novels, this one held my attention from cover to cover. I read the entire thing in one week, and I am no speed reader. I loved the mystery of Randall Flagg, and I am still not sure who or what he was supposed to represent. Oddly enough, and I do mean oddly, "The Stand" brought a kind of religious revival to my life. I had been struggling with some questions about the nature of God, and the 108 year old sage's character inspired me to "suck it up" and go on with my faith. Bad stuff happens. So what? All we are required to do is stand for the right things when our turn to stand comes. I highly recommend the stand, and I also recommend a book called "Castle of Wisdom." If you really liked the stand, you will like it too.
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Summary: Stand is a horror novel. Stand is a sci-fi novel. Huh???
Review: It's quite predictable that purists in either genre will hate this book's aspects of the other--that's a given in fusion forms of anything. But where King surpasses most apocalyptic sci-fi writers--and EVERY other horror writer--is that he has the character development skills usuallly found in authors of bona fide literature. Every character in here is believable. The only larger-than-life type is the main bad guy, who's of supernatural caliber. Randall Flagg seems a fusion of the Revelations Antichrist and Satan himself. As for everyone else, Mother Abagail is a very spiritually-minded elderly black woman whose greatness lies in her sprituality and her simplicity. Stu Redman is a good ole boy, a redneck without any of the flaws commonly associated with the type. Larry Underwood is a minor rock star who doubts his own integrity because people who expect too much of him critique it all the time. Frannie Goldsmith is an attractive young coed with a sensible side inherited from the father she adores. Nick Andros is a very decent guy who happens to be a deaf-mute. Were that not the case, he'd be the stuff of which great men are made. Harold Lauder is a brilliant school nerd type that it would be easy to feel sorry for, were it not for the fact that having been picked on and degraded all his young life has turned him into a very mean-spirited young man. Glen Bateman is a very solid middle-age college professor that might be the absent-minded prof cliche, were it not for the fact that his common sense shares at least equal billing with his intellect. Tom Cullen is a retarded young man who was taught good and evil as a kid, and it stuck. The result--not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but one hell of a decent guy. Among Flagg's troops are Lloyd Henreid, a lowlife punk who pulled a stickup which escalated into murder. Julie Lawry is a sluttish teenybop airhead who attracts trouble like a lightning rod. Real life analog--Amy Fisher. Dayna Jurgens is a bit of a paradox--plays with the bad boys but isn't really that bad a person. Another paradox is Nadine Cross, part of Mother Abagail's group until a dream tells her she's supposed to father Flagg's child. Barry Abanks is a former LAPD command cop whose religion is law and order. Not exactly a flaw, except that the good guys don't exactly have a monopoly on it. But you know what the bottom line should be before you file this book under either of the obvious genres? Stephen King just about ALWAYS writes about the struggle between good and evil--once you've spotted that here, you'll be able to pick up on it in his other books. Sci-fi sometimes does that, but it always involves some heoric Captain-Whosisname type. King reminds us of the capacity for good or evil in real people--as well as a great story, this book is the signature work of that side of King's mindset as a writer.
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Summary: "Dreaming with your eyes open"
Review: is what King called writing. Reading can be the same thing, if you run across the right author. And King is often the right guy. Although a bunch of snobby high-art wusses like to put King down, all I have to say--a pox on them. King is the quintessential Ameican writer. He has the country down pat--his believable and sympathetic characters, the realistic dialogue, his unique and engaging style. He'll be read a hundred years from now. I certainly can't say the same for his critics.
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Summary: Stood and Delivered
Review: The Stand is a large novel, perhaps the largest one of the latter half of the 2nd millenium. At no point does Stephen King reveal his hand. He is relentless as always up until the bitter end. People die. The end of the world is HAPPENing, not theorhetical. With drunken allure to a religiously unsatisfied working class and positive props from scared Sunday school students, King keeps his audiences in check. The Dark man has entered the world and is working his dark magic as everyone falls under his spell of plague except the fortunate few who have some chromosomal indifference to death. The characters have a choice which is more closely linked to a calling pulling them either for good (GOd) or evil Dark Man. We jest at ourselves unbelieving that his identity is the same as Satan's. Will good champine over evil? Let your previous King experience be your guide, or better yet, pour through this oft poetic text of mayhem until the bitter/beautiful end.
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Summary: One of the best books I have read
Review: I don't give a best book rating often because there is usually something always wanting in a novel. I have always maintained that Mr. King is one of the greatest contemporary authors the late 20th century has created. In the age of the dollar he constantly produces works that are worthy of purchase and a person's time. I love long tomes and the uncut Stand qualifies. For anyone who is dubious of reading King then this is the novel to taste for it has all of the elements. A cruel antagonist and more than one fallible and human hero. Full of love and hope this novel will bring a tear to any person. Even though Mr. King maintains that he didn't like this novel I think that it is an awsome work. This is a novel that I will gladly share with my children when they are old enough.
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Summary: The Stand Is Absolutely Brilliant!
Review: Yeah, so I am only 12, but I can read novels. Stephen King's The Stand Complete and Uncut is the absolute best book ever published. I started out with a bad attitude (do I HAVE to read this?) and ended up turning pages for hours at a time. The quest so amazing and brilliantly realistic. It's scary thinking that a super flu epidemic could decimate the population, and to top it off a force like Randall Flagg's could gain power. The book pits two forces together: The good (lead by Mother Abigail) and the bad (lead by Randall Flagg). The main characters form an immediate bond, but BELIEVE ME, there are twists in the plot. Whether you favor Stu Redman, Nick Andros, Frannie Goldsmith, Larry Underwood, Mother Abagail, or even Randall Flagg, THE STAND is unargueably the best book ever written.
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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!
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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...
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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.
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