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Stephen King Reading Circle - The Stand


Kell

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I'm about at page 600 and still not half way through :lol:

 

I have to say I am loving this book. I'm normally put off by long books but there is something about the length that really works here. king can fit loads of characters in and while that was a bit off putting at first I love the diversity now I am really settled into it.

 

I think my favourite character so far is Nick Andros. I love the bits with him and Tom Cullen. I can't wait to find out what happens when

they all get to nebraska.

 

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Tom Cullen is a great character, so is Nick ----- Well they all are, there is not a duff one in the whole book, even the baddies :lol: Stu is my favourite tho Gary Sinese played a blinder in the mini series. Unfortunatley they had Molly Ringwald playing Frannie and that spoilt her for me cos even now I still hear her whiney voice when I read the book !!!! Dunno who decided that was a good idea, but they had not read the book !

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Yes you're right. Even the baddies. I really enjoyed the bit where

Randall Flag gets Lloyd from the jail. He's horrible.

 

 

ETA: Oh I just remembered my dream last night. I was one of the last survivors after the human race was almost wiped out by a disease. My BF also survived, as did Richard and Judy who were broadcasting advice on TV. I wonder what could have made me dream that :lol:

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I had a strange experience when I read The Stand for the first time, my daughter was only about 6 at the time (she is 21 this year !!!) and she came home from school sneezing - well I went to pieces thinking she had Captain Trips (DOH!) My other excuse is that I was very pregnant at the same time and had hormonal wobblies !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :):lol:

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  • 5 weeks later...

Finally finished this gigantic book :readingtwo:

 

It was brilliant and it just kept getting better and better.

 

The bits that stood out for me were

 

chapter 31

where Randall Flagg torments Chris Bradenton who is desperately ill with the flu. That was by far the most horrible bit of the book, and I had to skim read some of it

 

 

The central part of part two, "On the Border" where

we see Harold almost come good and then finally fall to temptation. I was really rooting for Harold to come through and was gutted when he didn't

 

 

The bit with Trashcan and the Kidd.

 

The final two hundred pages where

Stu and Tom come home.

 

 

So many good characters but I loved Nick, Harold, and Kojak. My favourite though had to be Tom Cullen laws yes.

 

My only complaint was that the wrapping up at the end took a bit long. I was ready to put this book down by the final page.

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  • 1 year later...

I think of this book often, but i'm still undecided on whether I liked it or not. I thought Stu was great as a hard, quiet character till he met that Fran. Was anyone else disturbed by how sickly sweet and goody goody them and their relationship was? The evidence i'd point anyone to is the meeting they had in the free zone, the dialogue between them was unbearable to read- so many pet names, if i was at that meeting i would have had to spit. I couldn't believe that stephan king wanted me to like these two characters!

 

My favorite was trash can man because he was so perfectly flawed. The way he carried the arm injury with him and didnt have the sense (or desire) to mend it really struck a chord with me.

 

I'd love to know what other people thought of this book. Masterpiece or Faux pas?

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I'd love to know what other people thought of this book. Masterpiece or Faux pas?

 

This is one of the books I've read twice. When I was a child, I read a comic called Eagle. In this comic there featured a story called Survivor, about a virus that swept the world, killing everybody except for a small percentage of children that held a particular resistance within them. I loved it.

 

Consequently, when I picked up The Stand I was drawn in hook, line and sinker. I really enjoyed the struggle to get to Boulder (I've even played in Boulder - this was a real treat for me!) and the development of the characters, but the Stu and Fran thing did irk me more than somewhat - m.o.o.n spells irked!

 

I find that Stephen King can blow hot and cold - some of his works are genius, some of them are complete turkeys.

 

I loved It, too. :lol:

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Hi Mac. Aw brilliant! I'm glad i'm not the only one who saw it like that. I know what you mean about the virus killing everyone being fascinating. I actually had no idea what The stand was about before i began reading it, i found the virus very intriguing and the fact it was government created made it all the more juicy.

 

I agree with you about stephan king as well, i thing he has great concepts (the plot in The Stand) but poor execution (the dialogue between Stu and Fran in The Stand)

 

I also liked The Shining and The Dead Zone(sort of).

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The Shining was the first Stephen King book I read - it really gave me the willy's (I was about 13, I think). We might get done, talking about other Stephen King books on this thread - but I don't know how to merge them!

 

I think Michelle started a thread on Stephen King. I'll have a look and post something so you know where it is. :lol:

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I'd love to know what other people thought of this book. Masterpiece or Faux pas?

MAsterpiece! It's one of my all-time favourite books and I've read it about a dozen times - LOL! (We're talking the complete, unabridged version, here!) THe Stu an Frannie relationship can be sickeningly sweet, but I think that's part of te charm - that a down-to-earth tough guy can fall so hard and completely for a girl that he turns to mush. Plus, I have to admit that Dale and I can tend towards the "Awww, ain't they a sweet couple" that borders on the yack-making (truthfully - even after 9 years togehter we are totally loved up - LOL!), so I think I side with them almost as a form of solidarity. :lol: On top of that, every time I read it, I fall in love with Stu Redman a little bit more - I think he's such a fine, upstanding kind of guy who isn't afraid to let his softer side show and is utterly dependable and likeable. :blush:

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Hi Kell. I think that was definately King's intention to create Stu as the perfect "new-age modern man" that would make women go weak at the knees! It didn't work on me :lol:. do you think King fell in love with Stu aswell, is that why he didn't die in the end with the others?

Larry Freeman was more my kind of guy, he was good at heart but all his life he struggled with trying to do the right thing. It all came together for him in the end but a bit too late-as is usually the way with most things. & trashcan man, he was a poor unfortunate soul failed by everyone around him.

I guess this book is a masterpiece, i think of it often, probably everyday.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 5 months later...
My favourite though had to be Tom Cullen laws yes.

 

Mine too! M-O-O-N spells he's-my-favourite!

 

 

Have to say, I was so not happy with Nick and the others sending Tom to Vegas. Oh they had their reasons, sure, and I know what Mr King is trying to say by having him be the one that evades RF's grasp, too, but to me, that was just wrong. They used him and he didn't know why or what for, or even have the chance to choose whether or not he wanted to go. Wrong wrong wrong. Still, I'm up to the bit where he's on his way back now, and he seems to feel something has changed in him for the better, so maybe I'll change my mind, but I don't like that they did that and took advantage of him just because he's a bit simple.

 

 

This is a re-read for me, having first read it 30-odd years ago. It's great, because I've forgotten most of what happened, so it's almost like reading it again for the first time.

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Oh, ok...I posted in the other thread, but will do so here... :)

I'm still only 1/3rd through Cryptocomicon...but it's speeding up. Then I have one planned after this, at least.

I could be reading The Stand by February. I can try for earlier, but dunno. I'm sure I won't get it for a week at any rate.

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Hi Pontalba

That sounds fine. No presssure at all. Go ahead with the books you had on tap then drop me a note when you're ready. I have a gazilllion other books I can read to gill in the gaps . Thank you :)

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I finished it last night :smile:

 

 

My feeling about the way he dealt with Tom Cullen didn't really go away in the end. Tom comes back from Vegas a bit smarter (which wasn't explained at all, was it?), rescues Stu and gets him back to Boulder. As soon as they get there, Tom is forgotten about, he's never mentioned again. Grrrr. In fact, there were a lot of questions unanswered, which is fun in a way, but I did get the feeling King was basically saying "I don't know - it is how it is, get over it". I could've done with some more explanation of the supernatural side of things, as I felt he just used it as a McGuffin to move the story forward and get everyone where he wanted them, but little else. I liked that Trashy was the downfall. I thought Flagg was a brilliant, scary presence for much of the book, but then - when he became a central character in the final part - it all sort of drifted away and got a bit weak.

 

This sounds like I didn't enjoy it. I did. Muchly. The fact that it's playing on my mind so much is a good thing! :smile:

 

 

I posted a brief non-spoilery review here: http://www.bookclubf...post__p__284924

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  • 8 months later...
  • 9 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Guess, it's time I just sit down and do this. I've put reading this book off for way too long. The size of it is intimidating, I like a book between 300-500 pages.

Loved the movies, so I'm going to do it. Will pop back in from time to time.

 

ive never found a book or thought a book was intimidating just cos it had more than 900 - 1000 words, i think books are better more pages they have, especially the stand!!

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