AliventiAsylum's Full Review: Stephen King - The Stand: Complete and Uncut
"The Stand" by Stephen King is the first "adult" book I can ever remember reading. I was 12 years old when it first came out, and it is still my favorite book of all time. I usually re-read it about once a year, and I have just started on it again. It is an epic in the true sense of the word. The mini-series that was made based on the story - while decent - does not even begin to delve into the details that makes this story so wonderful.
It is a story of apocalyptic fiction; a virus destroys 99% of the population and those who are still alive must fight the ultimate battle of good vs. evil. What makes this book special is the characters; you grow to care about them. There's Stu - a good ol' Texas boy who's "old Time Tough", Frannie - the pregnant college student, Larry - an up & coming pop star who always seems to self-destruct, Nick - the deaf mute with a heart of gold, Tom Cullen, the retarded man who "sees" more than anyone else, Harold - the man/boy who was the outcast in high school. We follow their stories through a summer of hell as they come together with "Mother Abagail" in Boulder, CO to fight Randall Flagg - the devil incarnate and his followers who are holed up in Las Vegas.
I won't give away the ending, but Stephen King describes in the introduction how people come up to him and ask "Whatever happened to __________ and ________?" like they are real people. This is what makes this book so good, you are so into the characters that you want to believe they are real and want to know what happened.
The version I first read was a cut-down version of this novel. The publishers were apprehensive about sales of a book that, in hardcover, runs 1,153 pages! Having read both versions, I can say that the extra pages are well worth it. The characters are more complete and rounded. We get to know them better. One of the most notable scenes that was missing from the original version is Frannie's confrontation with her mother. "Trashcan Man" one of Flagg's followers, is also developed much better in the uncut version.
There are parts of the uncut version that probably could've stayed on the cutting room floor from some people's perspectives. I believe that details of the time and what was going on, not just with our characters but in the country at the time, are important to our understanding of just how strong these people are. Yes, the details of what's going on in that little underground facility that manufactured the virus adds quite a few pages to the book, yes the details of just how the military was used to try and control the dying population added even more, but I think it's well worth it.
As I said, I first read it at 12. It did not give me nightmares, but this is by no means a kid's book. You know your child best and I would definitely read it for myself before allowing a young-teen to read the novel.
Stephen King s best book is now even better. When The Stand was first published in 1978, 150,000 works were cut from the manuscript. With this new edi...More at Buy.com
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.