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A review by herm333s
The Stand by Stephen King
4.0
4.2*
M-O-O-N, that spells love!
The Stand is a masterful and character-driven story of humanity.
After the virus called Captain Trips escapes a military facility and wipes out 99% of the population the story follows amazing Stu, strong and sweet Frannie, Tom (M-O-O-N), heroic Nick, Joe/Leo, bright Glen, twisted Harold, pyromaniac Trashcan Man, repulsive The Kid and other survivors into a pandemic fallout.
Whereas humanity is being stripped from modernity’s limitations previously seen as benefits— think stimuli, food, media consumption— it opens up (or goes back) to “irrational” experiences. Using King’s signature clairvoyant power the “Shine”, these characters start to share dreams about Abagail, a 100-year-old woman and Randal Flagg, the negative man, the dark man. Where both, respectively embody goodness and evil in this post-pandemic world. Using natural and Cristian imagery, Stephen King showcases the main thesis to his literary universe . One is brought upon the ever turning wheel of life, where one cannot be for too long but must be willing to stand again and again.
In its journey from the shores of Maine through the cadaver-filled Lincoln Tunnel in NYC, to the snowbound peaks of the Rocky Mountains in beautiful Boulder, Colorado; Stephen King ushers his cast of characters through a complete horrifying societal collapse (my own biggest fear) to a growing community of survivors that even start to make new government.
I liked the momentum of the narrative. The characters slowly start crossing paths as the climatic event approaches. And although I’ve come across the criticism this pacing receives, (Stephen King himself acknowledging his “diarrhea of the word processor) I criticize myself the modern-day art consumer’s impatience to slow burns or paces. Because the book doesn’t drag, it just takes its time.
For the magic in King’s writing is found in the particularity of each of his characters and the poetic framing of mundane events. The characters all have their own mannerisms, stock phrases (Laws, yes!) and attributes that give them a quality of reality I’ve rarely encountered in fiction. (You believe that happy crappy?!)
If anything, I procrastinated the reading. After having finished 800-pages—long-high-fantasy A Day of Fallen Night, I found myself wanting more longer tales. There’s something entrancing about a well written fiction piece that exceeds the typical page count. Ever since I read IT (and never forgetting) I’ve lurked on the Stephen King subreddit community. And The Stand is frequently getting discussed so I decided on ordering a copy, excited to read more of King. I started the book in May, right before visiting Colorado and finished it the last week of December last year, parallel to the story’s own timeline which starts on my birthday June 16, 1990 and ends in January 10, 1991, something I really didn’t plan but somehow benefited from. For the plot starts with intense momentum with the escape of the infected man from the military testing facility. But begins to slow towards the middle, taking care in exploring each character arc until its exploding (yet slightly underwhelming) ending. Although it’s there in the middle point where the character study and King’s literary talent shine most, it never loses its overarching symbolism of the wheel/circle/cycle, opening and closing.
When I did decide to dedicate more time to the story, I found myself immersed in adventures and horrors that not only entertained but mirrored much of our peculiarities, dangers, our hopes and fears. Speckled with the supernatural, as the characters own experiences make them be more open to the magical (Tom’s trances, Nadine’s planchette, Stu’s survival) the reading experience parallels a progressive perspective from realism to the fantastical. As the capital/materialistic realms crack in the story the magical forces of nature leak and permeate unto a people now delegated with the reformation of society. So not only do they pay allegiance to the flag and reinstitute the Constitution, they must also discuss the dark shape in their nightmares, the presence in the woods, the eye in the sky; the tall man of no age in faded, pegged jeans, sharp-toed cowboy boots and a denim jacket. xD As the sociologist Glen explains in one scene when pondering upon decisions going forward, “…we may be beginning to accept...a different definition of existence. The idea that we can never understand anything about the state of being. And if rationalism is a death trip, then irrationalism might very well be a life trip…”
The horror in the novel is not only present in the figure of Randall Flagg, but also found in the terrible way Captain Trips would swell the neck to the size of the head and kill its host by drowning it in its own snot. In the frightening scenery of the streets filled with cars, corpses, and survivors who might be on the offensive or with wrongful intentions, like when Frannie’s group stumbled upon an armed group of men that had started to enslave women. The repulsion in the character of The Kid and his torturing of the Trashcan Man, while the latter also burnt cities for pure pleasure. The psychotic obsession of Harold over Frannie, his dark diary of hatred and his lethal time with Nadine. And Nadine’s own dark fate with Randall Flagg.
Nonetheless in this allegorical battle of the forces of nature, goodness also fights. Frannie’s endurance and leadership through her pregnancy. Mute Nick and Tom Cullen’s heroism, friendship and honor. Mother Abagail’s wisdom and commendation to God’s own game plan. And last but not least the sacrifices and events partaken by Stu, Larry, Glen, and Ralph in that last, atomic, Vegas confrontation with the dark man.
I’m very happy to have read this novel. I’m looking forward to reading more Stephen King and possibly follow the dark man over to his own book series, The Dark Tower.
M-O-O-N, that spells love!
The Stand is a masterful and character-driven story of humanity.
After the virus called Captain Trips escapes a military facility and wipes out 99% of the population the story follows amazing Stu, strong and sweet Frannie, Tom (M-O-O-N), heroic Nick, Joe/Leo, bright Glen, twisted Harold, pyromaniac Trashcan Man, repulsive The Kid and other survivors into a pandemic fallout.
Whereas humanity is being stripped from modernity’s limitations previously seen as benefits— think stimuli, food, media consumption— it opens up (or goes back) to “irrational” experiences. Using King’s signature clairvoyant power the “Shine”, these characters start to share dreams about Abagail, a 100-year-old woman and Randal Flagg, the negative man, the dark man. Where both, respectively embody goodness and evil in this post-pandemic world. Using natural and Cristian imagery, Stephen King showcases the main thesis to his literary universe . One is brought upon the ever turning wheel of life, where one cannot be for too long but must be willing to stand again and again.
In its journey from the shores of Maine through the cadaver-filled Lincoln Tunnel in NYC, to the snowbound peaks of the Rocky Mountains in beautiful Boulder, Colorado; Stephen King ushers his cast of characters through a complete horrifying societal collapse (my own biggest fear) to a growing community of survivors that even start to make new government.
I liked the momentum of the narrative. The characters slowly start crossing paths as the climatic event approaches. And although I’ve come across the criticism this pacing receives, (Stephen King himself acknowledging his “diarrhea of the word processor) I criticize myself the modern-day art consumer’s impatience to slow burns or paces. Because the book doesn’t drag, it just takes its time.
For the magic in King’s writing is found in the particularity of each of his characters and the poetic framing of mundane events. The characters all have their own mannerisms, stock phrases (Laws, yes!) and attributes that give them a quality of reality I’ve rarely encountered in fiction. (You believe that happy crappy?!)
If anything, I procrastinated the reading. After having finished 800-pages—long-high-fantasy A Day of Fallen Night, I found myself wanting more longer tales. There’s something entrancing about a well written fiction piece that exceeds the typical page count. Ever since I read IT (and never forgetting) I’ve lurked on the Stephen King subreddit community. And The Stand is frequently getting discussed so I decided on ordering a copy, excited to read more of King. I started the book in May, right before visiting Colorado and finished it the last week of December last year, parallel to the story’s own timeline which starts on my birthday June 16, 1990 and ends in January 10, 1991, something I really didn’t plan but somehow benefited from. For the plot starts with intense momentum with the escape of the infected man from the military testing facility. But begins to slow towards the middle, taking care in exploring each character arc until its exploding (yet slightly underwhelming) ending. Although it’s there in the middle point where the character study and King’s literary talent shine most, it never loses its overarching symbolism of the wheel/circle/cycle, opening and closing.
When I did decide to dedicate more time to the story, I found myself immersed in adventures and horrors that not only entertained but mirrored much of our peculiarities, dangers, our hopes and fears. Speckled with the supernatural, as the characters own experiences make them be more open to the magical (Tom’s trances, Nadine’s planchette, Stu’s survival) the reading experience parallels a progressive perspective from realism to the fantastical. As the capital/materialistic realms crack in the story the magical forces of nature leak and permeate unto a people now delegated with the reformation of society. So not only do they pay allegiance to the flag and reinstitute the Constitution, they must also discuss the dark shape in their nightmares, the presence in the woods, the eye in the sky; the tall man of no age in faded, pegged jeans, sharp-toed cowboy boots and a denim jacket. xD As the sociologist Glen explains in one scene when pondering upon decisions going forward, “…we may be beginning to accept...a different definition of existence. The idea that we can never understand anything about the state of being. And if rationalism is a death trip, then irrationalism might very well be a life trip…”
The horror in the novel is not only present in the figure of Randall Flagg, but also found in the terrible way Captain Trips would swell the neck to the size of the head and kill its host by drowning it in its own snot. In the frightening scenery of the streets filled with cars, corpses, and survivors who might be on the offensive or with wrongful intentions, like when Frannie’s group stumbled upon an armed group of men that had started to enslave women. The repulsion in the character of The Kid and his torturing of the Trashcan Man, while the latter also burnt cities for pure pleasure. The psychotic obsession of Harold over Frannie, his dark diary of hatred and his lethal time with Nadine. And Nadine’s own dark fate with Randall Flagg.
Nonetheless in this allegorical battle of the forces of nature, goodness also fights. Frannie’s endurance and leadership through her pregnancy. Mute Nick and Tom Cullen’s heroism, friendship and honor. Mother Abagail’s wisdom and commendation to God’s own game plan. And last but not least the sacrifices and events partaken by Stu, Larry, Glen, and Ralph in that last, atomic, Vegas confrontation with the dark man.
I’m very happy to have read this novel. I’m looking forward to reading more Stephen King and possibly follow the dark man over to his own book series, The Dark Tower.