Hmm...
Okay.
The Stand.
One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. In college I briefly flirted with majoring in English (if it isn't painfully apparent) and I remember the withering looks I'd get for even mentioning Stephen King. As someone who has read a significant portion of his work I am all too aware of the jokes and perceived quirks. The term I've heard most commonly is schlock, which...I get. Crazy or hokey premises. That actually seems to be a more recent development. The Family Guy gag about a 'lamp monster'? Turns out it wasn't too far off the mark. His recent collection, Just After Sunset, while full of interesting stories, does contain one about what essentially is a haunted exercise bike. Yeah.
Despite these obvious flaws, there is plenty worth defending. Some of his character work is absolutely outstanding, particularly his early work. Do we discount U2 and all their bland posturing despite their historic early work? Or say, Kubrick and his decent into muddled results in his later years? Carrie stands out. So does The Shining, which also was turned into a phenomenal film by Kubrick. Hell, look at some of the movies that have been adapted from King's novels - The Green Mile. Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption and the recent re-teaming with Frank Darabont for the grim and gritty Mist, based on a spectacular novella. Basically it boils down to King taking flack from the academia but writing widely popular material. So why do I advocate a popular if hackneyed author? Because one of his best, if almost forgotten these days, novels has recently been green lit for production as a major motion picture. You should read it before the hype grows and fades, only to leave the inevitable bad taste in your mouth of a Hollywood book adaptation.
King has (somewhat sheepishly) admitted that his secret intention when starting The Stand was to essentially create a modern, American take on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Obviously it's an arrogant and overly ambitious thing to do. The crazy thing is, though, is he came pretty damn close. It's a massive, sprawling book, full of richly drawn characters and tons of vivid scenery. Do yourself a favor if you undertake the book - pick up the expanded and uncut edition, which clocks in at an almost obscene 1141 pages. If you don't like it you can always hollow it out and store a Bible inside. It's that big. But go for it! It's worth it to get the extra flesh on the characters and subtle plot developments.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though.
The book stemmed from King overhearing a piece on the radio about a chemical spill that killed a large amount of sheep in Utah. Had the wind shifted slightly, Salt Lake City would have been affected instead of livestock. While it made the news at the time, it was quickly swept under the rug with surprisingly little fanfare. The inherent potential in such an idea was immediately apparent to King. What sets the ball in motion for the whole novel, then, is the accidental release of a superbug, a flu-like virus, from a chemical/germ lab in the desert. One man and his family make it out and the first section of the novel traces the spread of the disease as we are introduced to some of the characters. This opening volley has been hailed as some of King's best work for its honest voice and believable setting. It's not until the bug spreads and humanity suffers that things get weird.
The flu, or Captain Tripps as it comes to be known, turns out to be 99.99% fatal. It spreads across the country with ease, since people were dismissing it as allergies or a cold at first onset. We meet our cast, people from all walks of life, as it culls the population. Society starts to break down and people, understandably, wig out. Larry Underwood, one-hit wonder and washing-up rocker, experiences a creepily deserted New York, empty but for that surviving .01%. King does an amazing job of painting the picture in this section of the book. Things simply break down and slowdown to a halt. Reactors blow. Bodies rot. Many people die alone. It really is disturbing and terrifying.
We've only just begun!
The people we've met thus far begin to have dreams, vivid ones, of a corn field in Boulder. Either subconsciously or just out of desperation, our cast heads west, towards Boulder, CO. As various cast and crew converge along the way, alliances are formed and pockets of humanity agree to work together. Arrival in Boulder brings about the formation of an ad hoc society of survivors, led in part (though she would rather not have it) by a 108 year old woman named Abigail Freemantle.
At the same time, a separate faction of people are compelled to head farther west, to Las Vegas, under the tutelage of a shadowy stranger. He's described in nervous spits as the "dark man" and the "walkin' dude", someone whose eyes you won't want to meet and whose smile makes you sick and uneasy. King's descriptions of this man, this force of a person, are eerie and strange, effective in the best way. As these people settle into their lives and going about the business of getting back to civilization a conflict begins to emerge and a showdown is inevitable.
Obviously condensing over 1100 pages into a few paragraphs does no justice to the saga. It's a staggering work of world-creation and character development that King constructs bit by bit, until you're deep into the novel with a rich cast of people (and a lovable dog, natch) all with fleshed out, believable motivations. The ambition to do the Americanized Ring cycle was insane, but rewarding. What results is a book that is so real and rich that I've read it twice and plan on going in for round three somewhere down the line. It's made an impact on others as well. Many of his fans cite it as his best work. It's clear that he was at the height of his game when King wrote this. Whether you're on a plane or trapped inside due to the incoming blizzards, I highly suggest you give this book a go.
Chemical warfare. Germ labs. The last people on Earth. Sometimes King's scary material isn't the supernatural, but the dangers of our modern world. He hit it on the head in this case. It's a fantastic book, in every sense of the word. Happy reading, and sleep tight, kids. After all, it's not like this could ever happen in real life, right?
Okay.
The Stand.
One of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. In college I briefly flirted with majoring in English (if it isn't painfully apparent) and I remember the withering looks I'd get for even mentioning Stephen King. As someone who has read a significant portion of his work I am all too aware of the jokes and perceived quirks. The term I've heard most commonly is schlock, which...I get. Crazy or hokey premises. That actually seems to be a more recent development. The Family Guy gag about a 'lamp monster'? Turns out it wasn't too far off the mark. His recent collection, Just After Sunset, while full of interesting stories, does contain one about what essentially is a haunted exercise bike. Yeah.
Despite these obvious flaws, there is plenty worth defending. Some of his character work is absolutely outstanding, particularly his early work. Do we discount U2 and all their bland posturing despite their historic early work? Or say, Kubrick and his decent into muddled results in his later years? Carrie stands out. So does The Shining, which also was turned into a phenomenal film by Kubrick. Hell, look at some of the movies that have been adapted from King's novels - The Green Mile. Stand By Me, The Shawshank Redemption and the recent re-teaming with Frank Darabont for the grim and gritty Mist, based on a spectacular novella. Basically it boils down to King taking flack from the academia but writing widely popular material. So why do I advocate a popular if hackneyed author? Because one of his best, if almost forgotten these days, novels has recently been green lit for production as a major motion picture. You should read it before the hype grows and fades, only to leave the inevitable bad taste in your mouth of a Hollywood book adaptation.
King has (somewhat sheepishly) admitted that his secret intention when starting The Stand was to essentially create a modern, American take on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Obviously it's an arrogant and overly ambitious thing to do. The crazy thing is, though, is he came pretty damn close. It's a massive, sprawling book, full of richly drawn characters and tons of vivid scenery. Do yourself a favor if you undertake the book - pick up the expanded and uncut edition, which clocks in at an almost obscene 1141 pages. If you don't like it you can always hollow it out and store a Bible inside. It's that big. But go for it! It's worth it to get the extra flesh on the characters and subtle plot developments.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though.
The book stemmed from King overhearing a piece on the radio about a chemical spill that killed a large amount of sheep in Utah. Had the wind shifted slightly, Salt Lake City would have been affected instead of livestock. While it made the news at the time, it was quickly swept under the rug with surprisingly little fanfare. The inherent potential in such an idea was immediately apparent to King. What sets the ball in motion for the whole novel, then, is the accidental release of a superbug, a flu-like virus, from a chemical/germ lab in the desert. One man and his family make it out and the first section of the novel traces the spread of the disease as we are introduced to some of the characters. This opening volley has been hailed as some of King's best work for its honest voice and believable setting. It's not until the bug spreads and humanity suffers that things get weird.
The flu, or Captain Tripps as it comes to be known, turns out to be 99.99% fatal. It spreads across the country with ease, since people were dismissing it as allergies or a cold at first onset. We meet our cast, people from all walks of life, as it culls the population. Society starts to break down and people, understandably, wig out. Larry Underwood, one-hit wonder and washing-up rocker, experiences a creepily deserted New York, empty but for that surviving .01%. King does an amazing job of painting the picture in this section of the book. Things simply break down and slowdown to a halt. Reactors blow. Bodies rot. Many people die alone. It really is disturbing and terrifying.
We've only just begun!
The people we've met thus far begin to have dreams, vivid ones, of a corn field in Boulder. Either subconsciously or just out of desperation, our cast heads west, towards Boulder, CO. As various cast and crew converge along the way, alliances are formed and pockets of humanity agree to work together. Arrival in Boulder brings about the formation of an ad hoc society of survivors, led in part (though she would rather not have it) by a 108 year old woman named Abigail Freemantle.
At the same time, a separate faction of people are compelled to head farther west, to Las Vegas, under the tutelage of a shadowy stranger. He's described in nervous spits as the "dark man" and the "walkin' dude", someone whose eyes you won't want to meet and whose smile makes you sick and uneasy. King's descriptions of this man, this force of a person, are eerie and strange, effective in the best way. As these people settle into their lives and going about the business of getting back to civilization a conflict begins to emerge and a showdown is inevitable.
Obviously condensing over 1100 pages into a few paragraphs does no justice to the saga. It's a staggering work of world-creation and character development that King constructs bit by bit, until you're deep into the novel with a rich cast of people (and a lovable dog, natch) all with fleshed out, believable motivations. The ambition to do the Americanized Ring cycle was insane, but rewarding. What results is a book that is so real and rich that I've read it twice and plan on going in for round three somewhere down the line. It's made an impact on others as well. Many of his fans cite it as his best work. It's clear that he was at the height of his game when King wrote this. Whether you're on a plane or trapped inside due to the incoming blizzards, I highly suggest you give this book a go.
Chemical warfare. Germ labs. The last people on Earth. Sometimes King's scary material isn't the supernatural, but the dangers of our modern world. He hit it on the head in this case. It's a fantastic book, in every sense of the word. Happy reading, and sleep tight, kids. After all, it's not like this could ever happen in real life, right?
