Book Review: The Stand

I would love to tell you that I have a fabulous excuse for not writing anything in a month, and in a way, I do. I mean, I have just been gestating a child for that time. Sure, that has required zero actual effort from me, save for doctor's appointments, but it does require naps. And extra eating. And by God, if it's for the good of the child, who am I to say no?

The other big excuse for not writing any book reviews in that time is because I haven't actually finished any books. Such is the fun of embarking on the journey that is The Stand, all 1,200 pages of it.

But without further ado, the great return.

The Stand

For those who somehow missed the last few decades, The Stand is Stephen King's epic tome about the fall and rise and fall and rise again of humanity. You could really break it into a few different sub-books (which is exactly what the 1994 miniseries starring Gary Sinise and Rob Lowe did over four nights), but here is as succinct a summary as I can give you: The U.S. government inadvertently releases a superflu meant for biological warfare. The flu, designed to act like the flu right up until the moment the patient dies, does its job and over the course of a few weeks one spring/early summer, kills more than 99% of the population.

What's left is a ragtag group of people who, for some reason, find themselves immune. We watch the downfall of civilization while learning their stories: there's Stu, a quiet factory worker from a small town in Texas; Frannie, a young co-ed who just discovered that she's pregnant by her ex-boyfriend; Larry, a one-hit wonder rock star hiding out from drug dealers at his mom's house; Nick, a young deaf-mute drifter; Lloyd, a small-time criminal who finds himself abandoned in a maximum security prison with no one to free him; the Trashcan Man, a pyromaniac; and more. Once everyone they know and care about dies, everyone starts to realize they're having the same dreams: about a sweet elderly woman named Mother Abagail in Nebraska and about a dark, evil man named Randall Flagg in Las Vegas. The "good" people, the ones chosen by God (including Stu, Fran, Nick and Larry) go to Mother Abagail; the "bad" (Lloyd, Trash) to Flagg.

Along the way, they meet up with people good and bad. Frannie travels with a teenage loser from her neighborhood named Harold who not-so-secretly pines for her. Stu makes friends with an old sociology professor named Glen. Larry befriends Nadine, a mysterious and guarded woman, and Joe, a young boy turned savage from PTSD. Nick becomes close with Tom, a mentally disabled guy, and Ralph, a country boy.

Anyway, the various groups go to their respective destinations and start to re-create societies there. Things quickly get bureaucratic with Team Mother Abagail until an internal attack leaves a few people dead and makes everyone realize that, oh yeah, there's a war about to start. God, through Mother Abagail, picks four people to walk to Las Vegas and confront Flagg, the "stand" referred to in the title.

This book is, by far, my favorite Stephen King book. It never ceases to impress me how he's able to develop his story so gradually and yet keep it interesting (Glen's ramblings about the dangers of society notwithstanding); he's also able to create dozens of characters, each unique and with their own characteristics. In a lot of King's books, you can easily pick out who kind of represents him, good or bad: Ben in 'Salem's Lot; Jack in The Shining. You can see parts of these King archetypes in some of the characters: Stu's sense of heroism that arises when needed; Nick's quiet intelligence; Harold's identity as a writer; Larry's overcoming his own personal demons to become a better person. But they are their own characters, and the others are fully developed, as well. And each continues to develop as the story goes on, allowing the changes in temperament or character that they display is obvious. Is the Harold that finishes the story the same that started it? Not by a long shot. The same could be said for any of them.

I read this as part of my (and by "my," I mean stolen from the Guardian) Stephen King chronology project, although I must admit, I did cheat and read the uncut rerelease version that came out in the 1980s. I mean, if you're going to read something, you might as well go whole-hog. It remains my favorite and I can't imagine that will change. Now I can look forward to watching that 1994 miniseries (the first DVD I ever purchased) and even awaiting the feature version (although that project sounds like it might be kaput).

Either way, if you never read another Stephen King book, or if you're the type to say you don't read Stephen King because you don't like monsters/gore/violence/etc., this is the one to read. There is a devil, and he is a villain, but the real danger, the real "bad guy" lives within all of the human characters - good and evil. The government officials who created this terrible disease; the doctors who abused Stu when they couldn't figure out what made him immune; the good people who make bad decisions out of jealousy or misplaced loyalty or pride. There isn't a murderous clown or a rabid dog or a hotel full of ghosts to do us in; we do a fine job all by ourselves.