The Stand

[Anonymous No.3161504]

Why is this book so popular? I got until halfway through Book Three and I gave up and read the ending on Wikipedia.

Tell me what is so great about this book because I don't see it.


I will concede that the first half of Book One was REALLY good and really enjoyable but HOLY SHIT did this story go nowhere.

[Anonymous No.3161513]

Did you get the complete/uncut edition?

[Anonymous No.3161520]

>>3161504
good question
character development, and the consequent attachment felt towards characters.

[Anonymous No.3161522]

>>3161513

Yes I did.

[Anonymous No.3161527]

>>3161522

There's your problem.

[Anonymous No.3161534]

>>3161520

I felt attached to the characters but after awhile I no longer felt like they would amount to anything of sincere investment.

At about the midway point in the novel the story became largely focused on a very small group of characters (Harold/Nadine & Stu/Frannie) while everyone else is set to the wayside as this predictable arc takes itself to its ending very, very slowly. Meanwhile the rest of the characters are relegated to nothing more than dialogue boxes in a bunch of town meetings where they discuss boring things that aren't interesting while nothing really changes as a result of these meetings.

It's not that the meetings or the concept of seeing a town being revitalized and a society be reestablished is boring, it's just that the execution is so bland and takes itself one long tedious step at a time without cutting out any of the fat.

[Anonymous No.3161540]

Then of course FINALLY when this stupid fucking Harold/Nadine stuff is coming to a close they kill Nick, one of the most interesting characters who sadly was almost entirely absent for the second half of the book except for meeting scenes. Apparently he comes back to help out Tom Cullen or something but at this point I don't care anymore because I can see that this isn't a story about things being interesting its a story about who the fuck knows

[Anonymous No.3161656]

bump

[Anonymous No.3161743]

Worst deus ex machina novel end I've read.
In King's autobiography, On Writing, he says he had no idea what to with the story or where it was going, so he blew everyone up to see what they would do.

[Anonymous No.3161787]

>>3161743
Dat Deus Ex Machina man.
Fucking shameful.
M-O-O-N that spells Thank god I got this book from the library and didn't buy it.

[Anonymous No.3161797]

I liked it

[Anonymous No.3161801]

Why is everything Stephen King popular...?
It's all crab. Just like Barbara Cartland....
But hey, each to their own

[Anonymous No.3161841]

>>3161787
>>3161743
If you're trolling, 10/10.
If not, I am surprised you have enough brain power to operate your autonomic system.

[Anonymous No.3161844]

Who said it was great?

[Anonymous No.3162244]

>>3161844

Rapists.

[Anonymous No.3164111]

>>3161504

I still want answers.

[Anonymous No.3164120]

>>3161504
I don't know what these "Book"s are, but the first half of the entire book is actually good. It's a really well-drawn presentation of what a post-apocalyptic society would be like. And then of course King brings God into it and fucks the whole thing up. But then, his country-poon readers would of course lap that up.

[Anonymous No.3164126]

I thought it was pretty slow and dragged out in a lot of places, but it nevertheless had a pretty redeemable ending. Of all the books by Stephen King that I read in my early teens, this was by far my favorite. I can see where you're coming from though, OP.

[Anonymous No.3164162]

>>3161504

The edited version is better - King is an author whose work suffered when he became the biggest writer in the world, and everyone with a red pen backed off him.

That said, I don't think The Stand is his best work - it represents the time when he stopped writing straght-up scary stuff and started to write the crypto-religious fantasy stuff that he's mostly doing now.