Stephen Kings 'The Stand'

Wailin · 04-08-2014 2:59am #1

Was a big fan of his back in the day and read most of his early classics. My favourites include Salems Lot, The Shining, Dead Zone, Bachman Books and Christine. I think Desperation was the last book of his that I read and stopped since, until recently. Since then, I've read Under the Dome (disappointing) and 11/22/63 (loved it). Two classics of his that I never read (for unknown reasons) where The Stand and IT, so I went to choose one and went with The Stand. Now I know it is widely regarded as his best book, and maybe that style of writing just doesn't appeal to me anymore, but I am finding it a chore to read. It is a bloody big book (uncut version), I am over 1,000 pages in, but I struggled with it from early on. I am certainly not hating it, it's enjoyable enough, but for me it is well below some of his other stuff.

So what are other folks opinions on the book? Do you think IT would have been a better choice? I also plan on starting The Dark Tower series, hopefully I'll find it more to my liking.

First_October · 04-08-2014 10:50pm

The Stand displays all of King's worst habits: overlong, deus ex machina ending, etc. I loved the first ten or so chapters, but found my interest waning the more of it I read. His most overrated book IMO.

IT on the other hand is OUTSTANDING. I think it's the best thing he ever wrote: a near-flawless masterpiece of horror writing.

Wailin · 04-08-2014 11:55pm

First_October wrote: »

The Stand displays all of King's worst habits: overlong, deus ex machina ending, etc. I loved the first ten or so chapters, but found my interest waning the more of it I read. His most overrated book IMO.

IT on the other hand is OUTSTANDING. I think it's the best thing he ever wrote: a near-flawless masterpiece of horror writing.

Totally agree, haven't got to the ending yet so can't comment there. Great to hear your opinion on IT though, look forward to reading it.

The Peanut · 05-08-2014 12:05am

Will second all the issues posted about The Stand.

IT, on the other hand, is an incredible masterpiece. 25 years after reading it I can still remember how much it terrified me. It's the kind of book I wish I hadn't read so I could now read and experience for the first time.

MagicMarker · 05-08-2014 12:49am

I prefer The Stand to IT, in fact I prefer 11/22/63 to IT.

Paddy Samurai · 05-08-2014 1:49pm

Wailin wrote: »

.

So what are other folks opinions on the book? Do you think IT would have been a better choice? I also plan on starting The Dark Tower series, hopefully I'll find it more to my liking.

I first read the Stand 15+ years ago and enjoyed it big time. Recommended it to everyone I knew at the time. Not sure I would feel the same now about reading it. Although a couple years back I did get the graphic novel set of the stand ,and enjoyed reliving the story in the easier format.
Being a big king fan in the past I read a lot of his books .My favourite books by king at the moment are The Green Mile and Salems Lot which I love. I hope to read "IT " sometime in the future as I hear good things about it. 11.22.63 is sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

Regarding The Stand ,I prefer "Swan Song" by McCammon ,and all my friends that I have recommended it to have agreed some of whom are still big King fans.

Tom Joad · 05-08-2014 9:15pm

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.

Dial Hard · 06-08-2014 9:59am

I suspect people who still cleave to The Stand in later years subsequently read the Dark Tower series and as such, the book retains a lot of relevance (and actually benefits from re-reading the further into the DT series you get).

As for its deus ex machine ending, which someone complained about earlier, well:

that was the whole point, clearly. King didn't use the device to get out of a corner he'd written himself into; the ball of fire which ignites the warhead is literally the hand of God. It's not a contrivance, it's a natural ending to a novel which has the struggle between God and his dark counterpart as its centrepiece.

ancapailldorcha · 06-08-2014 10:01am

I read it last year. Wasn't terribly impressed given how highly regarded it is. There are certainly some good characters but the whole thing was a bit bland to be honest.

Wailin · 06-08-2014 10:10am

Yeah that's my impression of the stand, it's a bit bland and overlong. I think it is well below the standard of say Salems Lot or The Shining. I have the first book of The Dark Tower series to read after The Stand but I think I will try IT first, after some of the comments here.

GLaDOS · 10-08-2014 5:12pm

Loved The Stand myself, though I loved the Dark Tower and had read them beforehand so that definitely helped.

Would have The Stand and It as my 2 favourite King novels.

Kilgore__Trout · 12-08-2014 12:59pm

Thought it was decent, but way too long. So long, I'd probably never be willing to invest the time to read it again.

In "On Writing" by the man himself, he talks about issues with the number of characters he created increasing the story complexity (and I guess by extension, length). If you've read the Stand, the solution he came up with to solve this problem should be evident : )

r3nu4l · 13-08-2014 2:09pm

Loved the Stand when I read it but do recall that there were long segments (following the detailing of the initial catastrophic event) that were tough to get through just because they were long and unwieldy. I read the unabridged version and can't help but wonder if the more heavily edited version might have removed chunks of those sections.

However, other than that criticism, I've no real problem with the book. I still think it's one of his best and I've read all of the Stephen King 'Classics' (Christine, Carrie, Salem's Lot, Pet Cemetery, Cujo, It, Needful Things, Four Past Midnight etc, etc.)

I've never read the Dark Tower series, despite all the people who rave about it.

I'm currently re-reading IT as I don't remember much from the first time I read it

Everlong1 · 13-08-2014 2:14pm

I recently read "Dr. Sleep" which is a follow up to The Shining. It's excellent, whould recommend highly to any King fans who haven't read it yet.

Loved The Stand myself, read if first in my early teens and again later as a world weary adult. Enjoyed it thoroughly both times.

nc6000 · 13-08-2014 8:58pm

I also liked The Stand even if the ending wasn't great. The version I read was the extended one and with only a few pages left I was beginning to suspect that the end wouldn't be too good.

Just finished Doctor Sleep and thought it was pretty good, I've got 11.22.63 on my Kindle ready to go.

Ormus · 15-08-2014 3:18pm

Everlong1 wrote: »

I recently read "Dr. Sleep" which is a follow up to The Shining. It's excellent, whould recommend highly to any King fans who haven't read it yet.

Loved The Stand myself, read if first in my early teens and again later as a world weary adult. Enjoyed it thoroughly both times.

I was disappointed with Dr. Sleep, not a patch on the Shining, or even on some of his recent works.

I actually really liked Lisey's Story and Duma Key, though they seemed to get a low key reception

blue note · 20-08-2014 1:53pm

I loved the Stand and am shocked to see mixed opinions of it, particularly from obvious Stephen King fans.

I went book shopping yesterday and had IT in my hand, but decided to go for "Stoner" by John Williams instead. I will definitely get to IT, but it just seems like quite a commitment. Stoner seems brilliant to be fair anyway!

Thargor · 20-08-2014 2:31pm

Thanks for the tip on Swan Song, never heard of it before and Im a post-apocalyptic junkie...

Thargor · 20-08-2014 9:50pm

blue note wrote: »

I loved the Stand and am shocked to see mixed opinions of it, particularly from obvious Stephen King fans.

I went book shopping yesterday and had IT in my hand, but decided to go for "Stoner" by John Williams instead. I will definitely get to IT, but it just seems like quite a commitment. Stoner seems brilliant to be fair anyway!

Forgot to say, IT is basically the best horror ever written as far as being actually scary, you just dont know what ITs going to do next, some serious WTF moments aswell,

I think everyone who's read it will know what Im talking about, doubt King would have dared release it in this day and age!

:eek:

Great film aswell.

The Stand is also one of my favourite books of all time and one I could happily reread any time and I never reread books, dont thing its padded at all, its utterly riveting whatevers happening, great tv miniseries aswell which nobody I talk to has ever heard of for some reason:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stand_%28TV_miniseries%29

nc6000 · 23-08-2014 7:08pm

I think I'll give Swan Song a go.

bumper234 · 23-08-2014 7:12pm

The stand is my Christmas book that i read every year, love it and read every word even though i know exactly what's happening. Currently reading Mr Mercedes (enjoying so far) and have downloaded IT to read next as it's years since i read it.

GLaDOS · 26-08-2014 4:51pm

Swan Song is one I've been dying to read myself, never seen it around though. Might just get it online.

31-08-2014 12:16pm

Started a reread of The Stand a few weeks back, the second time I've done so over the past two years and once again I found myself giving up half way through. THere's no doubt that there is a great novel in there but it needs someone to come in and edit it substantially. I threw on the mini series and watched it and by God it's poor, not terrible but it's got some odd casting, Gary Sinise as the hero, a man who looks like he's constantly on the verge of stabbing you in the back and the restrictions of network TV meant that it could never go where it had to.

Read Mr. Mercedes awhile back and enjoyed it though like a lot of King's work it falls apart toward the end. Had the same issues with 11/22/63, a novel that needed a rewrite and an edit before it should have been released though I did find the ending to be rather effective, thanks no doubt to the fact that it was his son Joe Hill who came up with it. Anyone who enjoys King work should check out Hill's output, in particular NOS4A2 which is the best Stephen King novel ever written.

MagicMarker · 31-08-2014 12:32pm

The worst casting in the mini series has to be Rob Lowe, jesus!

31-08-2014 1:18pm

MagicMarker wrote: »

The worst casting in the mini series has to be Rob Lowe, jesus!

Molly Ringwald is ten times worse, I think that partnering Rob Lowe with Patrick Star was good fun.

Wailin · 31-08-2014 2:17pm

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.

It's a Joe Hill novel I think, not Stephen King, he had nothing to do with it. But it's one I will definitely look out for, never heard much about it.

31-08-2014 2:26pm

Wailin wrote: »

It's a Joe Hill novel I think, not Stephen King, he had nothing to do with it. But it's one I will definitely look out for, never heard much about it.

I know, which is why I said to "check out Hill's output, in particular NOS4A". It's pure King in it's set up and execution but Hill's prose is better than his fathers and he doesn't fall into many of the pitfalls that King does.

youcancallmeal · 02-09-2014 9:25am

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Regarding The Stand ,I prefer "Swan Song" by McCammon ,and all my friends that I have recommended it to have agreed some of whom are still big King fans.

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.

Bacchus · 02-09-2014 9:31am

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.

Wailin · 02-09-2014 11:39am

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 never heard of swan song until I read about it here and was interested in reading it until I read reviews such as your own. Opinions are definitely divided on it and I have read many complaints on how poor the writing is. Will give it a miss! I have to say, The Passage by Justin Cronin, for me, was a superb book. Gave up after only a few chapters on the sequel though, would love to hear opinions on that book.

Thargor · 02-09-2014 11:46am

Deleted User wrote: »

I know, which is why I said to "check out Hill's output, in particular NOS4A". It's pure King in it's set up and execution but Hill's prose is better than his fathers and he doesn't fall into many of the pitfalls that King does.

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...

Stephen Kings 'The Stand'

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