The Stand was originally published in 1978. A Complete and Uncut edition was later released in 1990.Warning, this review does contain spoilers.
The Stand is divided into three sections. In Captain Trips, a man made super flu escapes from a research facility. Officially named Project Blue, the super flu was also called Captain Trips. Regardless of the name, it is deadly, killing ninety-nine percent of the earth's population. Society breaks down as martial law cannot stop the violence the ensues.
The second section is On The Border. Many survivors begin having dreams of an old woman in Hemingford Home, Nebraska. They begin journeying towards her sensing that she represents the good in a battle that is coming. The groups come together at Mother Abigail's home and tries to set up a new society.
Another group of survivors congregates in Las Vegas. This group is lead by Randall Flagg, who represents the evil in opposition to Mother Abigail. Flagg rules with fear and violence, using crucifixion and torture to ensure that his people follow him. They restore power and learn about weapons.
The third section is called The Stand. This is the battle between good and evil. A delegation from Mother Abigail's camp goes to Las Vegas to confront Flagg. They refuse to submit to him and one is killed by one of Flagg's followers. Before he can make examples of the others, a crazed man known as Trash Can Man shows up and detonates a nuclear bomb.
The book ends in true Stephen King style with two of Mother Abigail's survivors wondering if mankind can ever learn from it's mistakes.
I only touched on the overall story above. There are so many complex plot lines and characters that I could not possibly condense it down to just a few paragraphs. This is a story of epic proportions. The Stand is quite a long novel, and the uncut edition is even longer. Be prepared to dedicate some time to this one.
Parts of the novel are slow, but the overall story makes up for it in my opinion. Also be warned, that this one contains plenty of violent and sexual material. I will not go into any details here, but know that this one is for mature readers. My favorite part of this novel is learning how all of the individual stories come together. King spends a lot of time developing several of the characters and their interactions are fantastic.
The Stand was made into a TV mini series in 1994. The cast included Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Laura San Giacomo and many, many more. The series was good in my opinion. However, a TV mini series could never truly capture the mood and graphic themes presented in this novel. It felt very watered down to me. The overall story was there, but without the punch.
No comments:
Post a Comment