This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.
And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides--or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail--and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
In 1978 Stephen King published The Stand, the novel that is now considered to be one of his finest works. But as it was first published, The Stand was incomplete, since more than 150,000 words had been cut from the original manuscript. …
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.
And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides--or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail--and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
In 1978 Stephen King published The Stand, the novel that is now considered to be one of his finest works. But as it was first published, The Stand was incomplete, since more than 150,000 words had been cut from the original manuscript.
Now Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil has been restored to its entirety. The Stand : The Complete And Uncut Edition includes more than five hundred pages of material previously deleted, along with new material that King added as he reworked the manuscript for a new generation. It gives us new characters and endows familiar ones with new depths. It has a new beginning and a new ending. What emerges is a gripping work with the scope and moral complexity of a true epic.
For hundreds of thousands of fans who read The Stand in its original version and wanted more, this new edition is Stephen King's gift. And those who are reading The Stand for the first time will discover a triumphant and eerily plausible work of the imagination that takes on the issues that will determine our survival.
source: www.booksontape.com/book/92992/the-stand/
Been interesting reading this a few years after the COVID-19 pandemic first began in 2020.
All in all I felt this book was twice as long as it really needed to be. I stayed up all night plowing through the final 1/3 of the book because I wanted to get to the resolution and I found myself skipping entire chapters of meaningless exposition. As a fan of Stephen King I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised. Maybe I’m just anxious to get through this Man In Black character development so I can continue on my Dark Tower Extended Reading journey. I miss the gunslingers.
This was another re-read of mine. My third time reading it, actually. My first time was the original edition from the late 70s, and then the uncut version when it was first released. This was the uncut one again.
The Stand is a book in 3 parts, and to this day I feel Book 1 is by far the strongest. The descriptions of how life falls apart under the reign of Captain Trips is captivating and truly horrifying. It could happen, you know. It surely could.
The middle stretch is a bit on the dull side, and the end is a bit too open-ended for me.
Nevertheless, this is my favorite Stephen King, with compelling characters and a story with a vast scope. A King classic, would read again and likely will.
