2012, according to some misinterpreted Mayan calendars, New Age prophets and Roland Emmerich, is the end. On December 22nd, we’re all going to brush up on our Katniss Everdeen skillz and fight our way into creating a new world which probably looks all shiny and clean, but is mostly likely corrupt and powered by forsaken children. Think of the children.
Nowadays, with the dystopia boom in literature and the news reports of everything from crashing financial markets to real life zombie attacks, it does feel like we’re living in the dystopia, but we just haven’t admitted it yet.
So what happens if something, like, say, one of those remaining smallpox vaccines just happened to get out into the world?
Stephen King’s The Stand wasn’t the first post-apocalyptic work I was exposed to, but I think it left a very lasting effect on me. It’s my favorite of all of his novels, to the point where I was reading it at least once a year. Which is saying something, as it’s over eleven hundred pages. With illustrations. But as much as I love this book, I haven’t sat down and given it a good read in a long time.
As part of a longer project, I’ve been rereading my personal library, but didn’t quite know how to retackle The Stand. I’ve loved following the various Second Time Around blogs here and the Mark Reads blog and thought “Why not?” It’ll certainly be an experience. Also, because I’m a masochist, I’ll be hitting three chapters in each review. This may or may not change depending on my schedule.
NOTE: I’m putting this out here now, I’m probably the only Stephen King fan who hasn’t read the Dark Tower series. I’ve read one story, and aside from the numerous characters who pop in and out of the ‘verse, that is the extent of my familiarity with it. I plan on getting to it one day, just not…soon. So, please, no major spoilers for the Dark Tower specifically. (All other King works are fair game and will be discussed. That may or may not also include Faithful.)
The Stand fascinates me. I’ve only made it through the book (unabridged edition) once, but I’ve seen the miniseries half a dozen times now, and read the scripts for both the miniseries and George Romero’s failed attempt at a film version in the early 90s (the entire novel compressed into a single film – doesn’t work at all, but still bizarrely wonderful to behold). I really love the first half of King’s story, but every version always starts to lose me as it moves into the second, and I really dislike the conclusion. I’m curious to hear what you have to say about it all, and will definitely be following along. 🙂
And I’ve yet to read Dark Tower, as well.
Oh, gods, the Stand as a single film. Hahaha. No. I was a little disappointed when I heard that David Yates was leaving the most recent attempt to make a film trilogy- I like his Potter movies the best, and he does a really good job of getting what needs to be told to the audience while making a good story.
Like I said, it’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but I do really love this book. Even the boring bits in the middle that start to lose me. It’ll be nice to see if I still have those same feelings.
Color me excited! I last read The Stand a couple years ago, and that was the first time I read the “uncut” version. I grew up seeing my dad read the books, and it was The Stand miniseries that got me to ask him if I could start reading them too at the age of 12. I have read The Dark Tower series, and highly recommend it, but I promise I won’t bring up any spoilers here. Looking forward to your posts!
I’ve read both the original and the uncut, but I haven’t read the original copy in so long…My mom and aunt are huge Stephen King fans and were pleasantly shocked once I started reading him.
As for the Dark Tower, I only bring up the spoiler warning because I do know how big of a role Flagg plays in that series, so, I don’t want to be accidentally spoiled for that.
Awesome. Probably my all time favorite single novel (The Dark Tower books are my favorite all time series, so I also highly recommend them). I might just read this again, along with you.
Awesome. I haven’t picked it up in six or seven years, so it’s really refreshing to go back and reread it after so long.