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Stephen Kings 'The Stand'

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Comments

  • #32
    Rayden Fat Stagehand
    Posts: 15,814 ✭✭✭✭ Rayden Fat Stagehand


    Thargor wrote: »
    200 pages in and agreeing with this post so far, pure classic King as you say. I wouldnt have touched his books before as I always assumed he was cashin in on the family relation even with the pseudonym but Ill grab his other stuff when I see it from now on...

    The fact that he refused to use his fathers name and then tried to hide his identity implies that he wasn't interested in cashing in. If he'd wanted to he could have made a big deal of his family connections but didn't and you have to respect him for that.


  • #33
    GLaDOS
    Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 23,197 Mod ✭✭✭✭GLaDOS


    youcancallmeal wrote: »
    The Stand is up there in my top 10 fav books of all time so decided to give Swan Song a go. I Just finished it and must say I did not enjoy it at all. Very poorly written and full of cliched one dimensional characters. I really can't understand its popularity? It reads more like a young adult novel, some of the lines are just laugh out loud bad, just one off the top of my head is "The bullets were flying about like flies at a bin man convention". That is an actual line in the book and there are many more like it.

    I read Stinger by McCammon and wasn't impressed with the writing and particularly the characters.

    Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test



  • #34
    Frank Lee Midere
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,780 ✭✭✭Frank Lee Midere


    King doesn't always overwrite. His short stories are taut and superb. Pet Cemetry and Misery are amongst his best books. In fact I would say that I'd alwaysprefer his shorter stuff were it not for my love of IT.


  • #35
    Snake Plisken
    Registered Users Posts: 12,415 ✭✭✭✭Snake Plisken


    I love King I bought a paperwhite for my holidays during the summer and read Mr Mercedes, Doctior Sleep and Joyland all excellent King and enjoyed them all, lab other King book I read was Hearts in Atlantis which I found pretty disjointed and poor by Kings standard, I loved the Stand when I originally read it when it em first came out, but feel no need to read it again. Biggest King disappointment for me was the finale of The Dark Tower series, a bit of a col out by King! Looking forward to Revival and the second book in the Mr Mercedes trilogy.


  • #36
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,863 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Thargor wrote: »
    200 pages in and agreeing with this post so far, pure classic King as you say. I wouldnt have touched his books before as I always assumed he was cashin in on the family relation even with the pseudonym but Ill grab his other stuff when I see it from now on...
    Deleted User wrote: »
    The fact that he refused to use his fathers name and then tried to hide his identity implies that he wasn't interested in cashing in. If he'd wanted to he could have made a big deal of his family connections but didn't and you have to respect him for that.
    Did not enjoy this NOS4A2 book at all, it started out great with what seemed at first to be a genuinely disturbing paedo kidnapper character in the classic Stephen King mould then just went downhill. This book to Stephen Kings books is like the way 18 horror films used to be when we were kids, genuinely disturbing with proper gore and proper scares, this book was more like modern horror films, sterile affairs with a max 15 rating instead of 18 with no real fear factor, just bland mush to fill as many seats as possible. Joe Hill didnt seem to be brave enough to give King fans what they want, this book was 12A instead of the 18 you get from his father, stupid ending aswell.


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  • #37
    Rayden Fat Stagehand
    Posts: 15,814 ✭✭✭✭ Rayden Fat Stagehand


    Part of the joy of it is that it doesn't need to go extremes. It's subverts expectations and plays around with established tropes and has a little fun along the way.


  • #38
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,863 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    I didnt get any joy from it anyway, well maybe for the first half, the rest was just a chore.

    Ive got a load of Richard Laymons on my reader I must get around to reading, he writes some genuinely fcuked up stuff, Quake is his best, an Earthquake destroys LA and a fat geek uses it as an excuse to go mad, hilariously violent.

    1053577.jpg


  • #39
    Eoin
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 21,238 CMod ✭✭✭✭Eoin


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Anyone who enjoys King work should check out Hill's output, in particular NOS4A2 which is the best Stephen King novel ever written.

    I just finished this, based on this thread. It was pretty good and while it didn't feel as meandering as King's books can be, at the same time I thought it seriously dragged on. I'll probably read more of his books though, but it certainly didn't measure up to King's best books to me.


  • #40
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    Bacchus wrote: »
    I'm 61% of the way through this according to Kindle :cool: I've stopped reading it twice and just 2 nights ago picked it up for the first time in months to give it another go. I enjoy reading it but it's sooooo long that I eventually want to take a break from it. I find it very easy to pick up though and just read on. My favourite part has to be the early days of the plague though, the way he touched on so many aspects of it, fantastic world building right there. Loved it. Since things have settled down and the main story got going, I found it less interesting (and have since taken 2 breaks from it) but it's picking up again I think.

    98% :pac:

    It did pick up again :) Excellent build up to the conclusion.

    I've another 2% to go but overall I thought it was an excellent read, though a bit bloated in parts (I read the updated/expanded edition). In particular, there was a laaarge chunk of the book where the evil doings in the West were entirely ignored and the focus was solely on the protagonists (
    Harold and Nadine were like mini-antagonists but that whole rebuilding Boulder & mother Abigail going missing section dragged a bit for me
    .


  • #41
    Wailin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,407 ✭✭✭Wailin


    Just close to finishing NOS4R2 and I have to say it is pretty ****e. Whoever said it was as good as anything his father came out with needs to have their head examined! Also, he may have changed his name to give the impression of not cashing in on the father's name but there are plenty of references to Daddy's books, (eg Shawshank prison). So not recommended from me folks:pac:


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  • #42
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,863 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Totally agree, when they went to that
    evil Christmas-land
    place for the ending I was just thinking "WTF am I reading?", wont be bothering with him again anyway.

    I read Duma Key and Mr Mercedes recently by King and he's gone from one of my favourite authors to complete indifference. They're so flat and boring compared to his older stuff. Mr Mercedes especially I was cringing at how badly it was written in places.


  • #43
    ivytwine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,114 ✭✭✭ivytwine


    I loved the Stand but agree it could have done with a bit of a trim. IT has been sitting on my shelf for ages, but I'm scared to start it because I really like my sleep :o


  • #44
    Snake Plisken
    Registered Users Posts: 12,415 ✭✭✭✭Snake Plisken


    Thargor wrote: »
    Totally agree, when they went to that
    evil Christmas-land
    place for the ending I was just thinking "WTF am I reading?", wont be bothering with him again anyway.

    I read Duma Key and Mr Mercedes recently by King and he's gone from one of my favourite authors to complete indifference. They're so flat and boring compared to his older stuff. Mr Mercedes especially I was cringing at how badly it was written in places.

    Wow really I have to say I enjoyed them both along with Revival and Finders keepers. I usually save them up for my holidays and I read them in a day or two, I read a couple of Joe Hill's books and while they weren't up to his dad's standard I did enjoy Nos4R2, Heart Shaped Box and Horns!


  • #45
    Mach Two
    Registered Users Posts: 711 ✭✭✭Mach Two


    Looks like Stephen's fictional novel is about to come true.


  • #46
    Wailin
    Registered Users Posts: 4,407 ✭✭✭Wailin


    Fùck it, I'll read the thing again so for some survival tips.


  • #47
    nc6000
    Registered Users Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭nc6000


    Mach Two wrote: »
    Looks like Stephen's fictional novel is about to come true.

    He doesn't think so -

    https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1236782826911150080


  • #48
    Paddy Samurai
    Registered Users Posts: 3,014 ✭✭✭Paddy Samurai


    youcancallmeal wrote: »
    The Stand is up there in my top 10 fav books of all time so decided to give Swan Song a go. I Just finished it and must say I did not enjoy it at all. Very poorly written and full of cliched one dimensional characters. I really can't understand its popularity? It reads more like a young adult novel, some of the lines are just laugh out loud bad, just one off the top of my head is "The bullets were flying about like flies at a bin man convention". That is an actual line in the book and there are many more like it.

    IMO its a better story with better characters.I also love the post nuclear setting more. Until I read Swan Song ,the Stand was my no 1 post apocalytic book.
    But its great that The Stand is your favourite.

    Just for info.... Swan Song won the 1987 Bram stoker Award ,and tied with King's Misery .


  • #49
    clsmooth
    Registered Users Posts: 3,553 ✭✭✭clsmooth


    Tom Joad wrote: »
    The Stand is King's finest work by a long way and I'm a big King fan.

    +1 on Swan Song - a fantastic read too.


    Both brilliant books :cool: Up there with The Count of Monte Cristo (Buss translation) as my favourite books ever.


  • #50
    nc6000
    Registered Users Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭nc6000





    Trailer released last night......


  • #51
    nc6000
    Registered Users Posts: 3,220 ✭✭✭nc6000




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  • #52
    Everlong1
    Registered Users Posts: 878 ✭✭✭Everlong1


    Not impressed with that trailer at all I have to say. For a world supposedly reeling from a viral plague it all looks very slick and civilised. I always pictured the Randall Flagg character as this grungy gnarly creep along the lines of Willem Dafoe or maybe Joaquin Phoenix in The Joker. The Flagg character in that trailer looks more like a mildly pissed off male model. A missed opportunity I think. And of course it has to be all politically correct and in conformity with the culture war rules of engagement - I don't recall Stu Redman being an African American in the book.


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