Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Stand

Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Stand by Stephen King

34 reviews

laird_br0wn3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Though it took me 3 years to read this, it has one of the biggest impacts on me that any book has offered. I don't say that lightly. While some denigrate it as "silly Christian fiction" toward the end, I think they miss a certain literary style used in the 2nd half, Southern Gothic, so it uses many symbols to add emphasis as plot devices.
I gotta say, it still felt like it could've gone longer and I'd still feel satisfied.

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nichole_of_numenor's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book has been on my TBR for so long and I even tried to start it once. It is ultimately the telling of a post-apocalyptic battle between good and evil.

What I didn't like:
- Part of the book (in true Stephen King fashion) were a bit slow. Slow but necessary to the overall story. (-0.5 stars)
- I really, really disliked the character of Franny Goldsmith. I found her to be immature, petulant, and VERY annoying.

What I did like:
- The flashbacks of Mother Abagail to her life as a young adult. They were so beautifully written they brought me to tears. (Not an easy feat.)
- Even during the slow parts, I kept wanting to know more. What happened next?
- The early descriptions of how the Super Flu spread were so very realistic and engaging, espcially in an era where we are still dealing with the COVID-19 virus. I'm really glad I didn't read this early in the pandemic because it would have probably freaked me out more. As a phyisican, I really appreciated the accuracy of the evolution of a pandemic. Fantastic.
- Tom Cullins. Love this character. M-O-O-N. That spells love Tom Collins.

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mswarning's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Omg I finished this M-O-O-N, that spells monster, of a book. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As someone who did not read a book over 500 pages until mid September, I deserve a gold star for reading a book this long. Holy shit.

I know this tells you nothing of what I thought of the book itself. Well, I added a lot of notes while I read this book. Allow me to share:

2%: "The n-word usage is not my fave." - SG
2%: "This one is sooo long. Hoping I can finish in 18 days 😬 " - Instagram
5%: "I'm not super into this narrator." - SG
30%: "I'm getting there, slowly but surely. Waaaaay too many characters and POVs. And I'm so-so on the narrator." - GR
30%: "I'm listening to the extended uncut version, btw. I'm sure the original one is better." - GR. At this point, I was still naïve AF.
30%: "Took awhile to get into it, especially with so many povs. 12 days to finish now. 🤞" - Instagram
43%: "M-O-O-N spells slog." - GR
53%: "The first 40% was way too long. I can't believe I didn't know that this book is over 1100 pages. 😂" - GR
69%: "I have to finish in 5 days, which I think is doable. If I had to do this over again, I would stick to the print." - GR
69%: "Semi-regular 'The Stand' update. Feeling less irritable about the length now. Pretty confident I'll finish in 5 days. I can't say it's been a pleasurable experience racing to the end. I can tell this book sits better on the buildup of anticipation with dread steadily increasing - as all good King books do. Get a copy without a due date and stay away from the audiobook. Or if you do get it, prepare to increase the speed or you'll feel it suck the life out of you. I miss listening to music or letting myself think in silence. I feel guilty when I watch TV, that I should be listening to this book. Ugh." - Instagram
82%: "I might make it? The book is due in 3 days. Less than 9 hours left [in the audiobook]." - GR
95%: "I'm gonna make it after allllll." - GR
100%: "Finished with 5 hours to spare! I feel like all of my complaints were 1) the audiobook narrator and 2) the loan period. So don't make those mistakes, and you'll be fine." - Instagram

Highlights: Walking at the lake this past weekend listening to the book aloud because my bluetooth headphones had no battery left. The, uh, sex scenes and n-word usage while doing so was a bit sketchy. I had to pause the book or turn down the volume as I passed people.

Overall, I still ended up liking this book. You can tell how naïve I was about the length. I mean I knew it was 47 hours long, but I didn't really know ANYTHING about what that meant. I kept thinking I knew where this book was going or how it would end. I think that's the point, you're prepared for certain tropes or plot twists because authors tend to pull the same shenanigans. I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't say it's my favorite King book, but I think it's definitely my favorite King reading experience. Because of all my thoughts and feelings and the fact that I documented it all here.. and on GR and Insta. 😂

I still stand by all the updates/comments I made while I listened to The Stand. It's too long. As time went by and all the characters met up, I kind of forgot about the slog of the beginning. Part of that is recency bias, I think. But I understand why it's so long. I can appreciate it more on this side of it, even if I hated it while it was happening.

And yeah, check out the content warnings. There are a lot.

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snowypineapples's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was a very good book, the story and plot and journey were incredible, thought provoking and interesting. However the conclusion to the plot is rather silly:

the literal hand of God appears in the sky

The silliness really ruined that part of the boom for me and although I loved the majority, there was lots of areas, not just that, where the boom felt like a chore to read

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