For my latest read of 2024, I dove back into Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’.
As with most of King’s work, ‘The Stand’ is something I read as a teen and wanted to revisit. A monster of a book, I began this while on holiday in Finland over the summer. It took me from mid-July to last week to finish. When I was a kid and had no commitments, I could burn through a tome like this in a week. But those days are long gone.
You might stick with a book this long for one of two reasons: either it drags, and you dread picking it up, or you love it so much that the length doesn’t matter. ‘The Stand’ definitely falls into the latter camp. It’s an absolute triumph and one of King’s best.
The book begins with a catastrophe at a military base. What follows is a pandemic that ends almost all human life. A few smatterings of survivors remain, left to rebuild how they see fit. Groups form around two individuals who the survivors dream about. Mother Abigail, a 108-year-old black woman, serves as a force for good. Randall Flagg, an evil figure with supernatural powers, is hellbent on destruction. King writes so many characters that it’s hard to pinpoint a single protagonist. But there are clear groups of ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’, and the large cast adds depth and complexity.
The intro is electric, with that cloying, inescapable destiny thing that King does so well. As soon as the wheels start to fall off – and the body count rises – King doesn’t let up. After this, the tempo slows, and we get to know our wide cast. The characterisation of this wide range of people, from good to evil, is astonishing. As things become more complex, you can’t help but feel their losses and celebrate their wins. Nobody does this like King. You’ll be so hooked when the magical elements – e.g. prophetic dreams – come in that you won’t mind the shift to fantasy. ‘The Stand’ is a glorious book from one of the best to do it.
It’s a long read, but every single page is worth it.
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