The Stand
Moderator: lucimay
- Zarathustra
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 19635
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 12:23 am
I liked his "foreshadowing" the first few times I encountered it. I thought it was a ballsy and original thing to do, just flat out tell the readers who was going to die, etc. But it's not really foreshadowing, is it? It's more like a spoiler. I do like how it shifts the tension from "what's going to happen?" to "how's it going to happen?" Used wisely it can increase the tension. But used over and over, it starts to seem like King just doesn't know how to write a true, subtle foreshadow.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the hell out of this book. I just can't help studying it--what works and what doesn't--as I read.
Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the hell out of this book. I just can't help studying it--what works and what doesn't--as I read.
Joe Biden … putting the Dem in dementia since (at least) 2020.
- Zarathustra
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 19635
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 12:23 am
Well, the end saved it. With about 50 pages to go, I was ready to call this book mediocre. It had been a decent ride, but the end of the Walking Dude seemed pointless to me. The good guys didn't need to die. They did absolutely nothing to make the atomic bomb go off. But then Stu (after journeying home to Boulder) said they were the sacrifice which God demanded. So they weren't supposed to do anything. Okay. I don't like it, but at least that was intentional.
But the journey back to civilization to see the baby--and all that represents in terms of the future--was a refreshing, welcome addition to all the darkness. I like how it went big at the end, summing up the importance of everything that had gone before in terms of society, violence, good, evil, etc.
I think that King is absolutely wrong in his judgment of men. But he told a fairly good story with that judgment. The idea that civilization is the root of all evil is laughably, demonstrably false. It's the flip-side of the Noble Savage myth. Disappointing that an author of this stature is promulgating such outdated, easily disproven myths. But it has made him rich, so who am I to judge? Good thing he had civilization to print, market, and sell his books!
But the journey back to civilization to see the baby--and all that represents in terms of the future--was a refreshing, welcome addition to all the darkness. I like how it went big at the end, summing up the importance of everything that had gone before in terms of society, violence, good, evil, etc.
I think that King is absolutely wrong in his judgment of men. But he told a fairly good story with that judgment. The idea that civilization is the root of all evil is laughably, demonstrably false. It's the flip-side of the Noble Savage myth. Disappointing that an author of this stature is promulgating such outdated, easily disproven myths. But it has made him rich, so who am I to judge? Good thing he had civilization to print, market, and sell his books!
Joe Biden … putting the Dem in dementia since (at least) 2020.
- Shuram Gudatetris
- <i>Haruchai</i>
- Posts: 683
- Joined: Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:48 pm
- Location: Cameron, Missouri
- Contact:
I've really liked every Stephen King book I have read, and loved most of them. I've read somewhere around a dozen or so--counting DT and GM as one each. But until last year, I'd never read The Stand.
I saw a copy of The Stand at the thrift store; I grab every King book I haven't read when I see one at the thrift store (in fact, I'm working on Under the Dome right now, recently acquired). I read the preface, and became super excited: apparently this book is most people's favorite Stephen King book!
I thought I was in for a treat.
Boy, was I wrong.
Not only is this my least favorite Stephen King book, it is one of my least favorite books that I actually finished. I found it boring, and the ending was unsatisfying. If I wasn't unemployed, I doubt I would've committed the time to read it.
I read the extended version.
No offense intended to the people who like this thing. I wish I could have had a good experience with it. Maybe if hadn't known it to be most people's favorite, I wouldn't have had my hopes so high. But, man, was it boring.
I liked Nick Andros.
I saw a copy of The Stand at the thrift store; I grab every King book I haven't read when I see one at the thrift store (in fact, I'm working on Under the Dome right now, recently acquired). I read the preface, and became super excited: apparently this book is most people's favorite Stephen King book!
I thought I was in for a treat.
Boy, was I wrong.
Not only is this my least favorite Stephen King book, it is one of my least favorite books that I actually finished. I found it boring, and the ending was unsatisfying. If I wasn't unemployed, I doubt I would've committed the time to read it.
I read the extended version.
No offense intended to the people who like this thing. I wish I could have had a good experience with it. Maybe if hadn't known it to be most people's favorite, I wouldn't have had my hopes so high. But, man, was it boring.
I liked Nick Andros.
me too.Avatar wrote:I preferred the extended one myself.
--A
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
wayfriend wrote:"That's what she said" ?lucimay wrote:me too.Avatar wrote:I preferred the extended one myself.
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
- Rawedge Rim
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 5248
- Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:38 pm
- Location: Florida
I found the Stand underneath a step on the ship I was serving on back in '78, back when no one had heard of Steven King. Read it and thought the book was great.
Read the extended version years later; not as good. Extra material not all that interesting, and he also updated material to reflect events that happened later.
Original edit was much better IMOHO.
Read the extended version years later; not as good. Extra material not all that interesting, and he also updated material to reflect events that happened later.
Original edit was much better IMOHO.
“One accurate measurement is worth a
thousand expert opinions.”
- Adm. Grace Hopper
"Whenever you dream, you're holding the key, it opens the the door to let you be free" ..RJD
thousand expert opinions.”
- Adm. Grace Hopper
"Whenever you dream, you're holding the key, it opens the the door to let you be free" ..RJD
It's my goal to re-read both versions after I'm done with school and I have some free time. I read the original in '79 or '80, and the expanded version the day it came out. I've done at least 2 re-reads since (the last being at least 10 years ago), but only of the expanded version. I like the additions, if only to spend more time in that world. But I've become much more critical since then.
King is a much better short story-teller than he is a novelist, but every once in a while he hits a homer with his novels (It, Wizard & Glass, Carrie, Christine, and a few others). I feel like The Stand was something he really felt, rather than one of his stories that he phoned in (pretty much anything from the cocaine days, and a lot of his post-accident novels). I stick with him, because every once in a while the magic is back (Duma Key, Mr. Mercedes, Hearts in Atlantis).
King is a much better short story-teller than he is a novelist, but every once in a while he hits a homer with his novels (It, Wizard & Glass, Carrie, Christine, and a few others). I feel like The Stand was something he really felt, rather than one of his stories that he phoned in (pretty much anything from the cocaine days, and a lot of his post-accident novels). I stick with him, because every once in a while the magic is back (Duma Key, Mr. Mercedes, Hearts in Atlantis).
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
- Rawedge Rim
- The Gap Into Spam
- Posts: 5248
- Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:38 pm
- Location: Florida
Agreed. His novellas and short stories are awesome, but give him some time to be wordy, and the quality tends to go down, especially in his later novels.Cail wrote: King is a much better short story-teller than he is a novelist, but every once in a while he hits a homer with his novels (It, Wizard & Glass, Carrie, Christine, and a few others). I feel like The Stand was something he really felt, rather than one of his stories that he phoned in (pretty much anything from the cocaine days, and a lot of his post-accident novels). I stick with him, because every once in a while the magic is back (Duma Key, Mr. Mercedes, Hearts in Atlantis).
Thought Tommyknockers was 30% too long, and had he chopped Needful Things in half it would have been a great book.
The Mist, Langoliers, and Library Policeman were great examples of his novellas, while "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band", "The Jaunt", "Quitter's Inc.", and "The Raft", and great shorter stories.
“One accurate measurement is worth a
thousand expert opinions.”
- Adm. Grace Hopper
"Whenever you dream, you're holding the key, it opens the the door to let you be free" ..RJD
thousand expert opinions.”
- Adm. Grace Hopper
"Whenever you dream, you're holding the key, it opens the the door to let you be free" ..RJD
Oh yeah, The Raft is great. Hell, I don't think there's a bad story in Skeleton Crew or Night Shift.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
So I picked up The Stand recently (the extended one), and so far I'm about a normal book's length into it and it's really just the introduction Not reading the rest of this thread yet because I don't want spoilers, but I'm enjoying it so far.
"You make me think Hell is run like a corporation."
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information