A review by knenigans
The Stand by Stephen King

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Great story, great cast of characters. A lot of food for thought.
Would've been 5 stars if it weren't for the two rape scenes and the aggressive fatphobia. One of the rape scenes was directly plot related and was relatively vague, the other was explicit and did not contribute to the plot. While not shown, there is one section of dialog graphically describing other rapes.

Also about 0.05 of that missing 0.25 stars is because it seems like EVERY character in this book pisses themselves at least once. I'm quite sure there was more pants-pissing in this one book than all the others I've ever read in my entire life. I really hope one of the survivors turned out to be a pelvic floor therapist so they can help all these poor people control their bladders....

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