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They reach Texas, the home of our first protagonists, mainly Stu Redman. When the survivors find Mother Abigail, they also find the deserted Boulder, Colorado, where their civilization is to be built, and known as the Free Zone. These survivors all start heading out amongst the post-Apocoylpse country, and eventually even finding each other, linked with this dream of an old black woman named Mother Abigail. It's complex, has true character and story. If you can't stand some good vs.
Go read Twilight.And now onto my thoughts on the book; this novel was amazing. It is clear that Randall Flagg is something a little bit beyond human, if human at all. King has stated that what he truly writes about is people, and the relationships people have with one another. When the virus spreads in Texas, there is a military takeover to stop the spread, little do they know it's already head east.
When these survivors find each other, the main goal in their cross-country oddyssey is to find Mother Abigail, as they realize there is something important about her. Randall Flagg's society in Las Vegas, however, is built upon totalitarianism, and torture and even crucifixion to those disloyal to Flagg. It has gritty realism, and yet is so surreal and outlandish.This is the breakdown of the epic story:BOOK I: Captain TrippsA biological man-made virus gets out of a military base, and the only surviving soldier goes AWOL with his wife and daughter, unknowingly taking the virus with him. When the superflu virus kills most of the town, Stu Redman later escapes confinement, uninfected. With this, the Free Zone survivors become aware of Flagg and his civilization in Las Vegas, and are sent by Mother Abigail to travel there and confront him.
First, I must address issues from haters of The Stand:"It deals too much in good and evil"One argument here is that good+evil is the only theme King works into all of his books, but that's not what Stephen King is about. However, various other survivors across the country, including an inmate, a pyromaniac, a nymphomaniac, various criminals and misfits are drawn via dreams to a different savior, a drifter in Las Vegas (or what was Las Vegas) that they only know as the Walkin' Dude, or the Dark Man. This "saviour" is much different from Mother Abigail, this saviour is Randall Flagg. Mother Abigail and her survivors build this society as a free, democratic society with a foundation of peace and civil diplomacy. There's rioting, violent censorship, vigilantism, and civilization begins to collapse.BOOK II: On the BorderThese individual survivors witness the fall of society and the death of millions via failed government or the superflu. To "stand".BOOK III: The StandThis final part of the novel is the Apocolyptic confrontation, or "stand", between good and evil, between the followers of Mother Abigail and the followers of Randall Flagg. evil, then don't try any Shakespeare or anything, your head would explode."It's too long."A real end-of-the-world scenario would not shorten itself for your convenience, impatient one."It's boring"That's because your attention span sucks.
I've decided not to give anything away, only to say some will be disappointed with this ending, but others will be "blown" away by it. Select people all manage to survive the plague in their individual areas, as it becomes evident to the nation that the plague is government-made, and martial law takes over to stop this spread of information. They are all, in their individual areas, on their own, until they begin having dreams of a 108-year-old black woman living in Nebraska. Flagg's supernatural influence reaches the Free Zone, as well, and causes two survivors there to cause horrible acts of treachery against their new establishment. Ultimately, "The Stand" is, as has been said, a book you either love or hate, and thank King, I loved it.
Every epic novel I read gets compared to The Stand. You just cannot forget the foreboding presence of the Walkin' Dude or spell anything without first thinking M-O-O-N after reading this novel. When it first came out, I read the uncut version in about five days; I could not put it down. The characters are so real and complex, the plot is fantastically haunting yet easily identifiable, and the moral lessons about humanity are as true today as they were in the 70s when King originally wrote it. The Stand is simply King at his pinnacle, and I would argue it is one of the greatest modern fiction novels ever written. This novel still has me thinking about it seventeen years later (there was one "guilty pleasure" re-read I did about two years ago, though).
This book is of course a classic in Stephen King writings. Excellent read and worth every hour and penny spent.
Absolutely a great book. Absolutely an outrageous price. To reiterate others, I will never pay $40.00 to download a book to my Kindle.never.
The stand is definitely an enthralling book and one that deserves more than one read. The price on the other hand is horrendous. Why should anyone pay $40.00 for the kindle e-book when the paperback version is only $8.99. This is a flagrant ripoff considering that the e-book is all profit since there is no production cost besides the initial kindle format conversion.
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