Any DISers out there fans of Stephen King's "The Stand?"

[LindsayDunn228]

My husband and I watched the mini-series which came out in the early 90s last week. I found it intriguing. The only thing about it was I felt they resolved the crisis a little too quickly and left a lot of unanwered questions. So I decided to read the book.

I picked it up at the store yesterday and began reading. So far it's really good. Do any of you King fans have any comments about The Stand? Enjoy it? Dislike it? Is it better than the mini-series (as books usually are)?

Thanks for any and all help!

ETA: I have ready only one other King book before and that was "Misery." I loved it!! Mainly because it wasn't monter-ish, more psycho-crazy-lady-ish. Know what I mean??

 

[Sparx]

I love The Stand. Its a great story. I love how King attaches all of his stories together. Like in another story of his (can't remember which, but I want to say the Dark Tower series) he mentions a man in cow boy boots (flag) and in yet another story he mentions a huge explosion (the one that Trash Man caused in The Stand) and in even another story he mentions a town of dead people, who appeared to die right in the middle of their every day life.

 

[JESW]

Didn't see the movie, but the book creeped me out for the longest time!!!

Jill

 

[LindsayDunn228]

JESW, wonderful!!! I don't know that I've ever been creeped out by a book before, so I'm looking forward to it! Oh wait, Running With Scissors creeped me out.

Hey Sparx, I bought the complete and uncut edition and King makes the exact notes you mentioned in the forward. Cool eh?

Thanks for the comments!

 

[carolfoy]

I loved the book (even though it was like a brick!) I must admit to getting worried though halfway through when I started getting a cold.
I thought it was almost biblical and not just for the size of it, the way it was ultimately a story of good triumphing over bad and with sacrifice and war along the way.
excellent book, will read it again now!

 

[Sparx]

Hey Sparx, I bought the complete and uncut edition and King makes the exact notes you mentioned in the forward. Cool eh?

I remembered reading the stories and making all of those connections, but I can't remember which books had the notes in them. I know Dark Towers had at least one. lol It could have all of them.

 

[Pixiedust34]

It's been a while since I read The Stand , but I did enjoy the story! Stephen King has a way with words. If you think about his books too much, they'll keep you up at night!

 

[Virgo10]

The Stand is my favorite book. Not just my favorite SK book, my favorite book of all time. I usually read it at least once a year. The mini series was pretty bad though. The Fran character (Molly Ringwald?) was terrible although I liked Gary Sinise's portrayal of Stu Redman and the guy that played Tom Cullen.

Arguably Stephen King's best story ever.

 

[Holly]

The Stand is a great book. Some of my favorite characters of all time are in that book- Stu and Ralph and Nick and Tom and Glen and Mother Abigail. The story is full of strong, well developed characters.
The story itself if quite disturbing, especially the underlying "good vs. evil" like someone mentioned above.

Happy Reading!

 

[bicker]

What's sad is that Stephen King's books pretty-much went downhill from there, and while it was a pretty good amount of room to drop, he managed to get all the way down to the bottom with some of his later books.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

You know, this is so funny. My hubby and I went to a used bookstore this weekend. Now keep in mind, the place is CRAZY big. So I thought I'd pick up a copy of The Stand there. Um, not quite. The had shelf after shelf after shelf of King books in both hardback and paperback, but no copy of The Stand to be found anywhere.

I thought this was really strange but if so many people enjoy it so much I could see why they would have it

 

[tinkamom]

The Stand is my favorite Stephen King book. I'll have to go reread it know!

 

[MsLeFever]

Fabulous book! But I had a cold when I was reading it and it freaked me out!

 

[disneymouse]

i read The stand years ago as a teen but i have never forgotten it. it's one of stephen kings best.

 

[Marseeya]

The Stand is up there on my top 10 list! I love post-apocolyptic novels and this one is so in depth and detailed.

Another book you might want to try is Swan Song. I think Robert R. McCammon wrote it, but I'm not entirely sure. It's very similar to The Stand.

 

[Nevergrow'nup]

One of my favorite books!! I like the good vs. evil and good wins!! Another one that similiar but more biblical is the Left Behind series. I burned thru these very fast as well!

 

[BalooTheBear]

Currently RE-reading THE STAND for about the 20th time........

When I first read the book, it was during the month of June/July and I remember it really creeped me out that - Hey this could happen.....

The mini-series was done very well. It kept in pace with the book, where a lot of Stephen King's book to movie transformations failed....

I agree that Stephen King's books haven't really been that good since then (IMHO).....

Also..... Did you know that in the 80's there was a song that came out called - "Make A Stand".... Related to that book... Very freaky..... Wish I could remmber the name of the group that did it.

 

[Magickndm]

The book is so so much better than the movie.

A lot of his stories do tie in with his Dark Tower series. And his character Randall Flagg is in many of his books.
I got to meet and get a book and Dark Tower poster signed last weekend by Stephen King. I'm not quite as crazy as Annie Wilkes was, but the experience was overwhelming.

 

[BalooTheBear]

Googled it....

Found the song..... "The Stand" by the Alarm...

http://www.5pmusic.com/lyric/25706.htm

 

[Brianne]

It's my absolute, all-time favorite book.

You have to read the uncut version though, IMHO! To me, so much of the story is the backstory--getting into the heads of the characters & the history of each one. The cut version did remove a good portion of all that, so I was thrilled when I read the uncut book.