The Stand (Mini-Review)

The Stand is a novel written by Stephen King. It follows the outbreak of a virus nicknamed Captain Trips that quickly kills the majority of the world's population. But those who died were the lucky ones as the survivors are caught in the ultimate battle of good versus evil.

This is my first time re-reading The Stand since I was a teenager. While I had forgotten a good majority of the book, there were small moments that had really stuck with me over the years. Such as M-O-O-N, Frances "Frannie" Goldsmith's soon to be ex saying he expected not to leave the room for the weekend, and Larry Underwood's girlfriend being dead when he wakes up. Though I remembered those three key events out of order and I was surprised how my memory had rearranged them. Such as I thought the last moment I mentioned happened near the very start of the book. Which it doesn't.

The book doesn't go through the outbreak quickly at all. Not only do you meet a bunch of characters, some of who are more than mere canon fodder, but you also get an extensive look at how Captain Trips was released and managed to nearly destroy humankind. And if you're hoping that the book moves on from the outbreak after showcasing people dying from the virus, you will be disappointed. Readers are also shown how and why people who survived the initial outbreak died. One of the most haunting scenes, for me at least, is when a woman is finally freed to live her life but ends up dying. I won't say how but...wow. Just wow. Those small scenes add realism to the book.

I wasn't expecting this book to be so religious. Which slightly disturbed me as I'm not Christian and it doesn't fit in with Stephen King's vast multiverse. In his other novels there is shown to be no Christian God or Devil. So I ended up creating headcanons to make this book work within King's multiverse. Instead of Randall Flagg being a servant of the Devil, he's a servant of the Crimson King. As for God...I didn't have a character I could point out as representing goodness as in King's multiverse there isn't something like God.

My feelings about Harold Lauder changed as the book went on. For a good majority I loathed him and wanted him to die. He thought he was better than anyone else and thought of Frannie as his. When the pair first run into Stuart "Stu" Redman, Harold is antagonistic as he doesn't want the newcomer to 'steal' the girl that doesn't think of him as anything more than a friend. But by the end of the book I felt conflicted about Harold.

This is Randall Flagg's first appearance in King's works and it isn't entirely consistent with how he appears in other Stephen King books. So I ended up creating a little headcanon, that I may flesh out in the future, about why Randall is acting so odd. Basically when Randall seemed to die at the end of the Dark Tower series, he actually was able to escape at the last moment. But his body and psyche were heavily damaged. This would explain the mismatched memories he has during the course of the book.

I would recommend The Stand to Stephen King fans. I would also recommend The Stand to horror fans.