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isaacblevins's Reviews (460)
I've said it many times: Stephen King can write crap...but he can also write brilliant fiction (and he's smart enough to know which he is writing at any given time). I began reading King when I was in high school and although I've read most of his works there have been a few that I have avoided. I don't like his science fiction, so I skipped those novels...and I hate post-apocalyptic fiction...so there went The Stand.
Recently, however, I was browsing around and kept coming upon reviews that praised The Stand as King's best work. When I read an article that mentioned the novel as King's attempt to create an American version of the fantasy-epic-quest, I decided that I should finally sit down and read it.
After 1175 pages, I'm ready to way in on which brand of King The Stand turns out to be.
Is it a perfect novel? No. Is it a good novel? Yes; I'd even go so far as to say it's a "damned good" novel. In The Stand we have many examples of what Stephen King does best: he creates believable characters, rich settings and threatening situations. The characters are many but never get confusing because they are fully realized as individuals. Coming from various backgrounds, they reflect their upbringings...which becomes quite interesting when they are the only human's left after the plague.
At it's heart, The Stand is the story of an epic battle between good and evil. The novel's major flaw is that that battle never seems to arrive. We spend most of the book slowly making our way with the followers of good (banded together by dreams of the prophet Mother Abigail) to their "safe zone" in Boulder. Then, when they realize that the followers of evil (led by the demonic Randall Flag) have colonized their own settlement, we are sure that these two sides must meet and take the titular "stand". What actually happens seems anti-climactic. There is no major battle, no epic showdown, in fact, only three of the main characters ever really encounter Flagg in person. Now, perhaps King was trying to say something about the nature of evil by having it destroyed by forces within itself. Maybe the novel is supposed to make a statement about the inevitable survival of good and the eventual collapse of evil. I don't know...but I do know that the novel's end seems rather abript after all the time we have spent with the characters and the story.
I felt okay about the fates of the characters, but there is one I will always wonder about: Tom Cullen. What happens to the childlike Tom? I hoped he would go with Stu Redman and Frannie when they left for Maine and spend the rest of his life with them...and yet there is no mention of him after he is seen playing games with the children of Boulder.
Recently, however, I was browsing around and kept coming upon reviews that praised The Stand as King's best work. When I read an article that mentioned the novel as King's attempt to create an American version of the fantasy-epic-quest, I decided that I should finally sit down and read it.
After 1175 pages, I'm ready to way in on which brand of King The Stand turns out to be.
Is it a perfect novel? No. Is it a good novel? Yes; I'd even go so far as to say it's a "damned good" novel. In The Stand we have many examples of what Stephen King does best: he creates believable characters, rich settings and threatening situations. The characters are many but never get confusing because they are fully realized as individuals. Coming from various backgrounds, they reflect their upbringings...which becomes quite interesting when they are the only human's left after the plague.
At it's heart, The Stand is the story of an epic battle between good and evil. The novel's major flaw is that that battle never seems to arrive. We spend most of the book slowly making our way with the followers of good (banded together by dreams of the prophet Mother Abigail) to their "safe zone" in Boulder. Then, when they realize that the followers of evil (led by the demonic Randall Flag) have colonized their own settlement, we are sure that these two sides must meet and take the titular "stand". What actually happens seems anti-climactic. There is no major battle, no epic showdown, in fact, only three of the main characters ever really encounter Flagg in person. Now, perhaps King was trying to say something about the nature of evil by having it destroyed by forces within itself. Maybe the novel is supposed to make a statement about the inevitable survival of good and the eventual collapse of evil. I don't know...but I do know that the novel's end seems rather abript after all the time we have spent with the characters and the story.
I felt okay about the fates of the characters, but there is one I will always wonder about: Tom Cullen. What happens to the childlike Tom? I hoped he would go with Stu Redman and Frannie when they left for Maine and spend the rest of his life with them...and yet there is no mention of him after he is seen playing games with the children of Boulder.
