The Stand: Book Review

I just finished the first third of The Stand, by Stephen King. I chose to read this book in thirds, breaking up the reading with other novels, so this post will cover only parts that I have read. I will post reviews of the second and third chunks of the novel later on. The Stand is about a pandemic, where 99 percent of the population is decimated by a bioweapon accidentally released onto the population, but with a creepy wizard named Randall Flagg spliced in, as he takes advantage of the aftermath. This is widely considered to be one of King's best novels, the book coming in near the beginning of his career. (As a slight aside, I am reading the uncut version released a decade later).

Overall, I really enjoyed the first third of the book. This is actually something that I have read before. My first time I read through, the first third of the novel was amazing, but I DNFed the book due to distractions. My reading this time around, older and honestly much wiser, I can say that the first third is, if anything, better than the first time I read it.

Strides (Spoilers for First Third)

The best part about this chunk of the novel is the depiction of societal collapse the happens in the wake of the pandemic. King's writing style is very conducive to large scale stories that span whole continents and routinely jump from perspective to perspective. He makes great use of this. All of this is encapsulated perfectly in one chapter in particular, where King leaves behind the main cast of characters that he has pulled together and puts the reader through a long sequence detailing the breaking point where everything falls into disarray. The pandemic has been noticed by the population, yet the government is lying about it, including minimizing the lethality and claiming that a vaccine is on its way. The reader knows this will never happen, as the bioweapon was designed to resist such a thing. Martial law has been declared. Reporters are being shot to keep the message quiet, but now it is undeniable, and soldier are now being ordered to invade radio stations and slaughter the people there to keep the message from getting out. There is obvious internal push back against this, but the death penalty, literally being shot on the spot, is punishment for desertion. All the soldiers are sick, themselves. The President, lying about the pandemic, is also sick, even as he had been escorted to the bunker. The disease centers have been killed off. Sick students are rioting and protesting, attacking soldiers, and are mowed down by machine guns. Political opportunists take advantage of the situation to kill people for their agenda. We're talking about a lengthy sequence of horror as everything breaks down. This sequence was something I was looking forward to, and it was brilliantly done by King.

Something tightly related to the above is the so-called second pandemic. This wasn't another disease, but the aftermath of people trying to survive in the wake of a societal break down. King chose to zoom out from the main cast of characters again to show a long string of tragedies as people fail to adjust to the new conditions. This includes a five-year-old boy who loses his whole family, then falls down a well and dies of starvation and injuries sustained by the fall; a woman terrified of rape trying to kill an innocent man and merely killing herself; and many more. I like how King maintained the macro focus of the story, to give the reader some perspective that would be lost if it was merely following the main characters.

Despite the fact that I liked King's choice to zoom out from the main cast of characters, this is not to say they are not worth mentioning. As usual, King's characters are amazing, and this is earlier King, so you can expect the lengthy, somewhat rambling passages going over the lives of the characters in question. While contributing nothing to the plot, I loved the many sequences that took time to tell us about the characters and allowed us to get to know them. One in particular was Frannie's past with her mother and how that was juxtaposed with her father. This was apparently an added scene in the uncut version, and I understand both why it was cut and brought back. When the pandemic kills off both of Frannie's parents, we feel the trauma much more because Frannie, herself, feels so real. All of the characters feel very distinct, too. They have strong personalities that are evident on the page, from Stu's silence and intelligence, to Larry's indulgent irresponsibility, to Frannie's independence and goofy way of viewing the world. These are what make the pandemic feel personal. The zoomed-out view of society as a whole gives us a picture of how everyone is affected, but these characters help us understand what it is like to be personally affected by the events.

I also like Randall Flagg, as a villain, even as we have only seen snippets of his character. I remember my younger self being put off by him. However, this was an irrational bias the time. I remember that this came around the time that I was into movies like The Dark Knight, and I was somewhat put off by The Avengers movie, with all of the aliens in it. I was just not tuned into the weird supernatural elements that stories increasingly had. My opinion on this has changed, in general. Randall Flagg is a classic King addition to an otherwise interesting story, and he fits the bill very well. But that is all I can say, at this point, because he was only just introduced. I am hooked, and that is all that I need at this point.

Missteps (Spoilers for First Third)

I'm not really sure what I want to complain about. I heard the book's last half is where it gets weaker, so I am probably going to have to wait until then to give my list of complaints. For now, let's just say that this book is near flawless.

Conclusion

Overall, the first third of the book was amazing. I will give it a 10/10.