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Summary: The end of the world is merely the end of the beginning!
Review: The Stand is by far King's best novel, probably one of the bet novels of the 20th century although most "sophisticated" people would disagree. However, most of those people have never written anything themselves nor will they ever, they only read boring old books that are overated because it makes them feel smart and allowes them to put themselves on a pedestal above everyone else. The Stand begins with a lot of excitement and tension and is a high velocity story that refuses to slow down until the middle of the book. In a top secret government research institute in California a virus that was designed as a biological weapons escapes, the reader never knows how but my guess is that the forces of evil which reveal themselves later in the book had a hand in whatever mechanical malfunciton or human error allowed the virus to escape. A sentery escapes just barely even though it should not have been possible for that to occur. He wakes up his sleeping family and hits the road in their car to try and escape the virus, of course he does not and by the time he hits Texas and crashes into a gas pump his entire family is dead except him. They have all died of the "superflue", just imagine the common cold times ten. Stu Redman, in his early 30s, one of the books main characters, is at the gas station when the soldier and his doomed family arive, closely followed by the United States Army biological division. The whole town is put under quaritine and the inhabitants are moved to a "secure" location for "treatment". Meanwhile, in New York City Larry Underwood is sleeping in his car outside his mother's house. He is on the run from a cocaine dealer after he took to much coke on credit that he could not afford. Larry, in his mid20s, had just signed a big record contract and had a huge hit signal and the party just would not end. By the time he figured out that he could not afford all the coke he borrowed it was to late and he ran to New York. Larry is another of the novels main characters. Franny is a teenaged girl who lives in Maine who just found out she is pregnant by her boyfriend who turns out be more boy than man, tension with her mother is steadily building. She is another main character. Nick is a deaf mute drifter in his early 20s who gets jumped by some local tough gusy in some midwestern state (sorry I cant remember which one) and is in the hospital recovering. All of these characters play pivotal roles in the future although they do not know each other at the beggining of the book. The superflue hits America and spreads like wildfire, of course the government says everything is under control and of couse the exact opposite is true. Within a few weeks people are dropping dead left and right, except for a lucky few who seem to be immune for no reason anyone can understand. The military has long since implemented total censorship and shoots anyone who disobeys but it does not matter because the soldiers are dying as well. King portrays erielly well the responses of those in power and how they would react. Meanwhile, Randal Flag, the walking man, a demon in the disguise of a drifter is biding his time while America falls apart, he has some ideas about what will rise from the wreckage. All of the above mentioned characters watch their little worlds fall apart around them, all of their relatives die. The survivors in each part of America drift aimlessly through the wreckage of society looking for other people that still live. Frannie is unforunate enough to be stuck with Harold Lauder, the town nerd who is the only person other than her to have survived. Nick meets a retarded drifter who he befriends. Larry meets and older, pill popping neurotic women. Stud meets Harold and Frannie and Frannie and Stue begin a romantic relationship that leaves Harold out in the cold and bitterly jealous. Not all of the people who lived through the superflue were good, in fact at least half of them are evil. The good ones starting having dreams about an old black woman who lives in Nebraska named Mother Abigal, the bad ones start to dream about the walking man named Flagg and start going to Las Vegas to serve him and construct a new world order. He has recruited many a misfit to serve in his army but some are evil enough to be selected to be his lieutants. The trash can man, Doland, is a pryomaniac who finds acceptance with Flagg, another man Floyd is a small time crook who becomes his lieutant. The good people go to Nebraska to work with Mother Abigail. Many adventures occur along the way, people encountered on the journey both good and bad and in between. Harold's jeaoulsy leads to horrible consquences. Larry encouters a beautiful women with a dysfunctional little boy, this women is also not who she seems. Conflict between Flag's Vegas camp and the camp of Mother Abigail is inevitable, both sides send spies to the camps of the others. The book begins to weaken about halfway through and the ending is very anti-climatic. But it does not matter because the first 400 or so pages will blow you away. Never has the end of the world been so realistically and belivibly portrayed as by King in this novel. One of my friends said it best, "when you look up from the pages you almost expect to see corpes splayed everywhere around you" The characters are so well developed they seem like real people, King provides snippits of the disasters occuring all over America as people who know they are doomed go crazy in orgies or violence. King will never write anything this good again, far and away the best novel he has ever written or ever will write.
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Summary: Often imitated, never duplicated
Review: There have been a lot of books and movies about a virus that wipes out everything and everybody and this is by far the best. The best aspect of the book is the characters. They all seem like people you could live next door to. The book is long but it keeps you intersted every step of the way. It will take you awhile to read but at the end you will feel very satisfied.
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Summary: My all-time favorite SK novel
Review: How can you not love a book that starts with a lone soldier escaping from a secret government installation, carrying the end of the world as we know it in his body? I re-read it at least once or twice a year, and every time I find something new. It's totally addictive. And I admit, when the SARS epidemic intially made headlines around the world, Captain Trips/Super flu was my first thought. King's amazing abilities take you deep in a world where 99% of the population is dead and the survivors are being drawn into the ultimate war of good vs. evil. Each character is so unique and real, you have no problem remembering who anyone is (rather amazing is a book of this sheer size). King also cleverly ties this story into his Dark Tower series, as well as various other stories he's written with his Walkin' Dude, Randall Flag. A short read it isn't (and definitely much better than watching the mini-series), but it's well worth the time and effort.
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Summary: Captain Trips is coming for you...
Review: It seems strange that something as relaxing as reading could actually leave you short of breath, but somehow King has managed to suck the air right out of me. I checked this book out from the library after reading first "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and then "Everything's Eventual". Neither of those books prepared me for this display of what could only be called King's immense POWER as a writer. The thing that has always made his writing so strong, for me, is how well he writes emotions. In "Tom Gordon", he MADE me feel like a little girl absolutely scared to death. In "Eventual" his dark humor actually made me cynical for the rest of the day. And now, because of "The Stand", everytime I hear someone sputter out a hacking, phlemy, smoker's cough, I find myself wincing and looking over my shoulder. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE ALREADY READ THE STAND: Was anyone else just a little bit paranoid when this whole SARS thing started? A strange sudden illness appears out of nowhere featuring hacking coughs, excessive phlem, respiratory problems, and then eventually, after you seemingly get better...you DIE??? Sounds familiar my friends... THE PLOT: A military experiment gets loose and spreads like wildfire across the world. An indestructable disease known as the SuperFlu (aka: Captain Trips) takes the lives of 95% of the world's population. The way this flu kills you is ugly! Meanwhile, what happens to the other 5% who are mysteriously immune to this epidemic? They start migrating, that's what. Each person left is guided by enigmatic dreams to either the east or the west. Which direction you go will determine if you're good or evil. This mass gathering of forces and the huge strain on every heart has to erupt sometime...and it does. Unfortunately I don't think my plot description is very catchy, but I'm just trying not to give too much away! Please read this book! It is soo good! When I checked it out from the library, I had two weeks before it had to go back. At the end of two weeks, I was only halfway done and I HAD to see what was going to happen! Rather than return the book and wait for it to be reshelved so I could check it out again, I just kept it and it may have cost me $15, but by golly I finally finished and it was very worth it! Remember how I said I love King's writing because he so accurately describes what it's like to really BE a character? Well this book freaked me out because one of the main characters, Frannie, is EXACTLY LIKE ME IN EVERY WAY!!! Well, except for the pregnant part. But everything else, what she said, how she acted, what she felt, even the personalities of her mother and father had my life down to a T. It was frickin weird! My boyfriend of 3 years is named Jesse -- JUST LIKE HER!!! Ah! It's like Stephen King's mind lives in that book and whenever you open it up, his mind fies out of the pages and into your head. It digs around in your brain and writes the story as you read it. It writes the people to be just like you so that you'll keep reading, because you know that whatever happens to that character in the story is going to happen to YOU if the SuperFlu ever hits! Anyway, I loved this book. It's really long (over a thousand pages if I remember right) but very hard to put down. For those of you who would prefer the gory, sexy parts of King's stories, I warn you there are some chapters of just plot development and little action, but I promise the development is crucial to the story and he makes up for the lack of excitement with plenty of destruction! Haha! Bravo, King. You've succeeded in creating another addict. =~)
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Summary: My favourite book of all time
Review: I first read this book over 20 years ago and have re-read it countless times and still find it as fresh and captivating as I did then. I am a Stephen King and horror fan but there was something in this book that captured my imagination more than any other book I have ever read. The characterisations are well rounded, both good and bad the actual premise was not too far fetched (especially living in a SARS infected city at this time) and the whole thing was written in such a way that it never becomes boring. There are genuine shocks as beloved characters are killed and the winning of good over evil is never a sure thing.
I can honestly say this is my favourite book of all time and I am an avid reader and have read thousands of books of all genres.
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Summary: Very long read
Review: This novel is really long but I think well worth the effort to finish it. I really enjoy Mr Kings work and this was written about the time his novels turned from Horror into weird.
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Summary: NOW MY FAVORITE STEPHEN KING BOOK!
Review: When I first picked up The Stand I was hesitant. I was not only hestitated by the book's bulk, but also by the plot. After reading Desperation, I was worried about reading another large book about the battle between "GOOD AND EVIL" and feeling like I wasted my time. The Stand was nothing like Desperation.
The Stand was the best written story I have ever read by SK. The characters are well crafted and you really connect with them. SK drags you into the middle of the action and his writing makes you feel like you are right there.
I was also worried that since the book was so long, I would forget characters and important details. WRONG! The way The Stand is written it is almost impossible to forget anything!
I highly recommend this book to anyone! Also the movie makes a great companion.
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Summary: The original version was superior
Review: If I were reviewing the original of this novel, I'd definitely give 5 stars. I read it years ago and loved it. I was heartbroken, though, to read this version with all those pages that had been originally edited out and which, years later, King decided to have put back in (purely out of ego, I'm sure, because he couldn't bear the thought of any of his writing being discarded). Examples: 1. In the original, I recall being impressed that you got an explicit sense of what Frannie's mother was all about, even though she wasn't in a single scene. In the new version, she's in there, taking up space. 2. Similarly, I liked the understated reunion between Larry and his mother. You got a clear impression of their awkward relationship in just a few pages. But once again, SK decided to throw in a lot more exposition that wasn't at all necessary and slowed down the book. 3. There is now a completely gratuitous and really grotesque homosexual rape scene that I could have lived happily without. 4. Worst of all - SPOILER ALERT - There is now a tagged on ending that renders completely meaningless the sacrifices made by the heroes of the novel. 5. SK claimed he was putting back in original material and yet he has a character wondering if the plague is some strain of AIDs. When The Stand came out, no one had ever heard of AIDs. 6. The character of (I believe) Dana originally crops up in Denver with a minimum of history attached. Now there's an utterly ridiculous description of how she and some other women had been kidnapped and turned into sexual playthings for a wandering gang of thugs before being rescued. I guess to sum it up: King's editors knew what they were doing back in the days when editors actually dared to edit him! I just hope he leaves The Shining and Salem's Lot alone. I can see why everyone's giving 5 stars, but I really wish you all could have read the original - You really missed out, and I'm sure you can't find it anywhere now.
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Summary: I Vote To Take a Stand
Review: Maybe I am just a dyed-in-the-wool Stephen King fan but I loved this book. I read it from cover to cover in its original release and then read it from cover to cover in its complete and uncut version. What struck me the most was Mr. Kings amazing characterizations. You really can root for the bad guy if you want to because you know just as much about The Walking Dude as you do about Stu or Doc or the dog, for that matter. Of course if you believe that humans are at the top of the food chain and therefore will not/cannot/must not be destroyed, then this book is not for you. But, if you do enjoy/can enjoy watching mankind wipe itself out and then rise from its own ashes while surrounded by the monuments to its amazing arrogance, pull up a chair. This story takes a while but is well worth the time and definitely worth the trip.
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Summary: Stephen King's Absolute Best
Review: This is my favorite work of fiction. Basically a government created virus breaks loose and is spread all over the world killing 99% of the population. That in itself is terrifying. But then in the post apocalypse America a demon named Randall Flagg (who appears in the Bible) comes to Earth in human form and begins to gather his followers in Las Vegas. Those who are still good follow Mother Abagail to Boulder, Colarado. The rest is a religious battle between good and evil. There are so many details to this story that give it such a broad range. The characters must not only struggle to live with their memories of the world they must leave behind forever, they must also survive in a world emptied of it's institutions, and on top of all that they are faced with a terrifying menace. This story is great. I liked the Biblical parallels that King placed. The Bible describes people as fasting or traveling to the wilderness to purify themselves. The evil counterfeit versions of this are in the book. Such as Lloyd Henreid almost starving to death in a jail before Flagg rescues him or Trashcan Man travelling across the desert to Las Vegas. This book is excellent.
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