Author: Stephen King
Published: 1978
Publisher: Doubleday
First published in 1978, the book details the story of post-apocalyptic survivors after a super-flu pandemic that nearly wipe-out the whole population on earth. The author explores not only the good versus evil aspect but also our fears in times of hopelessness and despair, civil unrest and unlawfulness.
In the narrative the survivors of the pandemic are brought together by dreams that foretold of a Dark Man, a prince of Evil on a mission to wipe out those that oppose him and his army that will pit good versus evil in a final confrontation.
Once again, he excels telling his horror stories. I would say that he has this knack of zooming into the inner most human physche quite thoroughly in the process of reading the book. A good book is when you have decide to invest thoroughly in the good that is in the book
Having said that, I have to say the Achilles heel of the whole experience of reading the novel is in fact it's length, which is at 1421 pages on paperback and 1152 on hardcover for The Complete and Uncut version. During it's publication back in 1978, Stephen King decided to cut out approximately 400 pages ( around 150,000 word) to make it more accessible to readers.
It can get pretty draggy on a bad day, if you do have one, but once you have the mentality of a slow tortoise eventually winning the race, you will enjoy the book. Having said that, I wonder where he gets his inspiration from to write in such manner.
Overall, The Stand in my opinion is truly one of the best from the King of Horror. The stories of it's characters with their point of view will keep you entertainment until the very last page.
