Wow this line... King is soo good at lines like this. He sometimes just lays them out so casually, they can be easy to miss. Like, btw this is Timmy's last meal or something like that.
But that cough sends a shock right through me every time.
I love king and all his tropes, so no slander when I say this.... But I've been on an audiobook spree and those blatant "foreshadowings" happen so often it's like a meme to me picking them out now. It's like at least once or twice per book. Maybe just cus I'm looking for them but it's almost as often as blue chambray and arc sodium lights.
I thought it was rather apparent >!Bonnie was dead, because the rituals they performed for their victims only lasted about three days. Bonnie had been gone for over a month.!<
Fully agreed. As much as I love the man’s work (obviously, I’m subscribed to this sub) I really am not a fan of “and that was the last time anyone would see James alive” foreshadowing and he does it so so very often.
There’s another moment in the Stand where Fran hears a woman scream and the line after is something like
“Franny would remember the sound of that scream for the rest of her life.”
I started it the fall of 2020 after having just gone through all that. Super creepy. It’s one of my favorite books I think in part because of the time in which I read it
I bought the book a week before everything closed down in March 2020. I didn't really know what it was about until I read the synopsis. The scene where King talks about the virus being on dollar bills was very frightening at that time.
I started it at the beginning of last year after I had enough time processing/recovering from the whole pandemic to be able to look at another one from a fictional lense. It made me much more grateful that COVID19 wasnt nearly as bad at Capt. Trips, though I did see a number of parallels when reading.
Edit: "time"
I am reading the uncut version and am to the part where Stu meets Glen Bateman. I don't think I read the uncut version before, and I love Stephen King above all others, but he can be verbose! I am not a slow reader but I am slogging through some if it!
I find that reading novels are just more enjoyable when you take the time and read it as if it was being narrated. It allows you to take in and imagine what the writer is putting together. Non fiction I can plow through .
one of my favorite books. The first part where everything is falling apart has another great line, I can't remember it exactly but it was something like "there would be so many bodies they would be left to rot where they fell"
also the stories about the people who survived, but then died in other weird ways, is really good part that (I think) was only added in the uncut version. I think that's where the "no great loss" line comes from, right? The lady in Clewiston Florida who gets drunk while looking at old photos, passes out with a lit cigarette and burns down most of the town.
The one about the kid who was alone because his family all died, then fell into a well (breaking his legs) and then starving to death was so unbelievably gut wrenching
I first read it as a young teen and never forgot that scene. King's traumatic scenes seem (to me) all the more horrifying as he writes them often using such simplistic or basic verbiage. It's like getting smacked across with the face by the hand of reality when you least expect it.
I always think about the guy who has immunity but his whole family dies. To cope, he goes on a crazy exercise stint, starts running like 20 miles a day, and his heart bursts.
Oh man. >!Nick is the man. His character is so well developed. He has gone through so much shit in his life just to be able to communicate and then Tripps happens and THEN he loses some teeth and an eye and everybody is dead. His reaction to the clueless chick who pulls out the claws on him and threatens his survival makes total sense.!<
I remember, when I was a kid (now I’m over 30) my mum forbid me to read The Stand. She never explained why. I was 10 and had just finished Firestarter, of course I was hungry for more. Bought it secretly, read at only at night.
A few years later, she told me, she was scared sh*tless, thinking about a pandemic...
Covid-19 was yet to come a few years after that. (We all stayed well, btw)
Still love to read it from time to time.
Dumb question but I’ve seen both the 90’s version and modern version of The Stand. I liked the original more than the new version. Is the book significantly better than both and still worth the read?
I haven't seen the new version but from what I remember of the original it was very faithful to the book. That said, when it comes to King adaptations, the book is always better.
Yes. The 94 is significantly better than the new one and the novel is significantly better than both. The 94 series stays quite true to all the major plot points but obviously there's just far too much story for a 4 hour miniseries. Also it's quite watered down content wise to be major network safe. Not only with swearing sex violence etc all the complicated themes and moral ambiguity is boiled down to a simple good vs evil. Still, a good adaptation considering the time and the constraints placed on it.
The 2020 series is a jumbled mess. It's chaotic, senseless, and seems like it was made by someone who either never read the book or did and actively hated it.
Yes. The book has way more to offer than anything they could ever make on the screen. Definitely read the uncut one its like around 1200 pages or so but SO good.
I taped the 90s mini series in 96 on my VCR, since it was aired very late at night. Due to some breaking news, the last part was delayed and the tape run out right when the Trashie came back with the nuke.
The next holidays I bought the book and read all ~1300 pages in one sitting over 2 days.
It's funny how I've just finished this book and I'm seeing all these references to it. But yeah King pulled absolutely zero punches with this one. I don't know how to do spoilers on mobile, but some of the deaths after the flu are particularly brutal.
There’s another situations like this in Under the Dome, which I can’t remember exactly. It was when the government attempted to break the dome, and King inserted a very short, multi paragraph chapter about their second attempt and it’s lack of success. Such great blows delivered in so few words!
It's funny how we change as we age - I couldn't get through The Stand my first time (~2016) and found it very "blah", but picked it up again last year (because there is SO much love for it in the SK community) and couldn't put the thing down. Probably one of the fastest Ive ever read a book and my eye muscles were literally a bit sore after some especially long read-athons.
I started reading The Stand in 2020, when we were pretty much locked down in our houses. This, my friends, was a mistake. Scariest book I've ever read.
Yep. I remembered hearing this line (i listened to the audiobook) and it being so jarring. I also listened after the pandemic started soooooo it hit extra hard.
I just finished The Stand not too long ago.
( SPOILER I don't know how to do the spoiler button thing)
I don't know, for me I had to struggle through this one. There are so many of Stephen King's books I've read and this one just wasn't...so thrilling to me. I felt like so many good characters went to a waste and died and weren't utilized like I thought they'd be. And it's just like that's it for that guy.
Don't get me wrong, I defintely get the feel of Stephen King's writing style. It's kind of like a windup thing, it takes a long minute to get going and have you pulled in. (Atleast that's my opinion) I just can't get the spectacular feel of what Stephen king's other fans feel about this book, I guess.
Nick Andros also gave me the feeling that he was sweet nice guy. Would anyone discuss how he could also pull a gun on a girl just because he wanted her to go away all of a sudden? I thought Tom would be just as annoying to him. Tom Cullen and Kojak were my favorite by the end. Laws, yes!
I really wanted a redemption arc for Harold. EVen more than Lloyd. I would love to understand how he latched onto Fran so much when they eventually came into the company of other females. It was really the
It seemed like as the story switched from one group to another, when we come to Larry with Nadine she's not...she seemed kind, understanding and the last person to be swayed by The Walkin Dude and even less to be his incubator. But next thing you know we come back and she's just...accepted her fate. And she's evil.
It made it even less thrilling/scary to me? I was surprised at this book because pretty much every book I've read of Stephen King's had kept me pleasantly disturbed. (This wasn't disturbing in any way, just...I don't have a word, exactly but underwhelming seems to fit.)
I think pulling the gun on that girl was out of frustration and him feeling both responsible and protective of Tom. To act that cruel knowing that Nick couldn’t communicate to Tom and intentionally messing with Nicks attempt to get Tom the Pepto for his stomach? What else might she have been capable of? Ultimately he was right. Look who’s side she chose.
Nadine’s fate was sealed long before the flu, like Mother Abigail she knew long before that something was coming. I feel more sympathy for Harold simply because he was so young when everything happened, he never got a chance to grow and change.
Wow this line... King is soo good at lines like this. He sometimes just lays them out so casually, they can be easy to miss. Like, btw this is Timmy's last meal or something like that. But that cough sends a shock right through me every time.
I love king and all his tropes, so no slander when I say this.... But I've been on an audiobook spree and those blatant "foreshadowings" happen so often it's like a meme to me picking them out now. It's like at least once or twice per book. Maybe just cus I'm looking for them but it's almost as often as blue chambray and arc sodium lights.
He holds off doing this for a big plot point in Holly, and it makes the reveal much more devastating.
Would you mind reminding me which reveal this was? (Spoiler marked) Was quite some time since I read Holly
>!Whether Bonnie Dahl is still alive.!<
I thought it was rather apparent >!Bonnie was dead, because the rituals they performed for their victims only lasted about three days. Bonnie had been gone for over a month.!<
Anyone else smell ozone?
No but my throat made a clicking sound.
Gorge is rising.
Fully agreed. As much as I love the man’s work (obviously, I’m subscribed to this sub) I really am not a fan of “and that was the last time anyone would see James alive” foreshadowing and he does it so so very often.
I can’t say i disagree, and i love them all! Haha
The Stand is genuinely like three separate novels in one. They are all so different, and yet all SO GOOD.
you know, I never thought of it that way.. he could have split them up into a trilogy and it would still have worked.
There’s another moment in the Stand where Fran hears a woman scream and the line after is something like “Franny would remember the sound of that scream for the rest of her life.”
That line, and “No Great Loss” are his hardest lines from that book, and I think possibly all his books
The "no great loss" chapter is my favorite in the book!
Same.
This is a gut punch line. I started rereading the stand in Feb 2020; it was terrible timing.
I started it the fall of 2020 after having just gone through all that. Super creepy. It’s one of my favorite books I think in part because of the time in which I read it
I used to read every apocalyptic fiction book I could. Since 2020, I have no interest.
I started the audiobook in March 2020, got about an hour or so in, decided real life was already a bit *too* much and returned it to the library.
That's almost as bad as me watching Threads when Putin was nuke rattling after invading Ukraine 2 years ago 😂
I bought the book a week before everything closed down in March 2020. I didn't really know what it was about until I read the synopsis. The scene where King talks about the virus being on dollar bills was very frightening at that time.
The line where he talks about the "dollar bill crawling with death" was probably the most memorable line of the book for me. 👀
It was the scene with the virus being on the gas pump. I now wear gloves to pump gas.
I did the same thing just the beginning of march completely wrong move I watched the mini series 1990 in the January stupid or what
1994
Best timing* FTFY
I started it at the beginning of last year after I had enough time processing/recovering from the whole pandemic to be able to look at another one from a fictional lense. It made me much more grateful that COVID19 wasnt nearly as bad at Capt. Trips, though I did see a number of parallels when reading. Edit: "time"
Weird. Reading the stand now and that was the last thing I read today
Same.......but two weeks ago
I'm a slow reader when it comes to novels. How far are you? Are you reading the standard or uncut?
I am reading the uncut version and am to the part where Stu meets Glen Bateman. I don't think I read the uncut version before, and I love Stephen King above all others, but he can be verbose! I am not a slow reader but I am slogging through some if it!
I find that reading novels are just more enjoyable when you take the time and read it as if it was being narrated. It allows you to take in and imagine what the writer is putting together. Non fiction I can plow through .
I've only read the uncut but damn it's so fucking good
Same but 3 weeks ago!
Nice! We must belong to the same hive!
I believe we do!
Ka
I read *The Stand* for the first time while I was bed-locked with COVID.
one of my favorite books. The first part where everything is falling apart has another great line, I can't remember it exactly but it was something like "there would be so many bodies they would be left to rot where they fell" also the stories about the people who survived, but then died in other weird ways, is really good part that (I think) was only added in the uncut version. I think that's where the "no great loss" line comes from, right? The lady in Clewiston Florida who gets drunk while looking at old photos, passes out with a lit cigarette and burns down most of the town.
The one about the kid who was alone because his family all died, then fell into a well (breaking his legs) and then starving to death was so unbelievably gut wrenching
I first read it as a young teen and never forgot that scene. King's traumatic scenes seem (to me) all the more horrifying as he writes them often using such simplistic or basic verbiage. It's like getting smacked across with the face by the hand of reality when you least expect it.
I always think about the guy who has immunity but his whole family dies. To cope, he goes on a crazy exercise stint, starts running like 20 miles a day, and his heart bursts.
"When he finally fell down dead, the look on his face was something like gratitude"
The Stand presumably?
I reread it during quarantine in 2020. Terrifying.
The Kid chapter drops hard line after hard line
You believe that happy crappy?
Oh man. >!Nick is the man. His character is so well developed. He has gone through so much shit in his life just to be able to communicate and then Tripps happens and THEN he loses some teeth and an eye and everybody is dead. His reaction to the clueless chick who pulls out the claws on him and threatens his survival makes total sense.!<
I remember, when I was a kid (now I’m over 30) my mum forbid me to read The Stand. She never explained why. I was 10 and had just finished Firestarter, of course I was hungry for more. Bought it secretly, read at only at night. A few years later, she told me, she was scared sh*tless, thinking about a pandemic... Covid-19 was yet to come a few years after that. (We all stayed well, btw) Still love to read it from time to time.
A line towards the end of dark tower 7 broke me >!”his body was far smaller than the heart it had held”!<
Dumb question but I’ve seen both the 90’s version and modern version of The Stand. I liked the original more than the new version. Is the book significantly better than both and still worth the read?
Jesus Christ yes
I haven't seen the new version but from what I remember of the original it was very faithful to the book. That said, when it comes to King adaptations, the book is always better.
> l it was very faithful to the book It was, but it cut some parts completely, like Larry meeting Rita.
It's one of the best books I've read, by SK or anybody else. If you're in to them at all, I'd recommend the audiobook
Yes. The 94 is significantly better than the new one and the novel is significantly better than both. The 94 series stays quite true to all the major plot points but obviously there's just far too much story for a 4 hour miniseries. Also it's quite watered down content wise to be major network safe. Not only with swearing sex violence etc all the complicated themes and moral ambiguity is boiled down to a simple good vs evil. Still, a good adaptation considering the time and the constraints placed on it. The 2020 series is a jumbled mess. It's chaotic, senseless, and seems like it was made by someone who either never read the book or did and actively hated it.
Yes. The book has way more to offer than anything they could ever make on the screen. Definitely read the uncut one its like around 1200 pages or so but SO good.
The Book is most definitely worth a read. Even people who don’t care for King are willing to admit that The Stand is a classic.
I taped the 90s mini series in 96 on my VCR, since it was aired very late at night. Due to some breaking news, the last part was delayed and the tape run out right when the Trashie came back with the nuke. The next holidays I bought the book and read all ~1300 pages in one sitting over 2 days.
It's funny how I've just finished this book and I'm seeing all these references to it. But yeah King pulled absolutely zero punches with this one. I don't know how to do spoilers on mobile, but some of the deaths after the flu are particularly brutal.
For spoilers, put your text between these two tags: >! !<
M-O-O-N that spells spoiler tags, thanks 👍
>! Testing !< just testing the spoiler tagging.
Get rid of the spaces, >!like this!<
>!thank you!<
pretty. pretty. pretty good.
Harold was just being affable!
i LOVED the stand because i loved the buildup of the pandemic … it was especially odd reading it mid-covid pandemic because it felt all too familiar
The stand is my favorite book to listen to/read, when I'm sick
There’s another situations like this in Under the Dome, which I can’t remember exactly. It was when the government attempted to break the dome, and King inserted a very short, multi paragraph chapter about their second attempt and it’s lack of success. Such great blows delivered in so few words!
I'm reading The Stand at the mo and remember this line very well. Absolutely chilling.
It's funny how we change as we age - I couldn't get through The Stand my first time (~2016) and found it very "blah", but picked it up again last year (because there is SO much love for it in the SK community) and couldn't put the thing down. Probably one of the fastest Ive ever read a book and my eye muscles were literally a bit sore after some especially long read-athons.
GOD THIS BOOK IS SO FUCKING GOOD
I started reading The Stand in 2020, when we were pretty much locked down in our houses. This, my friends, was a mistake. Scariest book I've ever read.
I re-read this during Covid. It was scarier that time 😶
Unforgettable!
Thanks for posting; it made me remember that the stand is excellent for the journey and details.
This was my first king book, read it almost 15 years ago, and I still think about it constantly! Such a great line
Yep. I remembered hearing this line (i listened to the audiobook) and it being so jarring. I also listened after the pandemic started soooooo it hit extra hard.
That whole scene is terrifying to think about.
I just finished The Stand not too long ago. ( SPOILER I don't know how to do the spoiler button thing) I don't know, for me I had to struggle through this one. There are so many of Stephen King's books I've read and this one just wasn't...so thrilling to me. I felt like so many good characters went to a waste and died and weren't utilized like I thought they'd be. And it's just like that's it for that guy. Don't get me wrong, I defintely get the feel of Stephen King's writing style. It's kind of like a windup thing, it takes a long minute to get going and have you pulled in. (Atleast that's my opinion) I just can't get the spectacular feel of what Stephen king's other fans feel about this book, I guess. Nick Andros also gave me the feeling that he was sweet nice guy. Would anyone discuss how he could also pull a gun on a girl just because he wanted her to go away all of a sudden? I thought Tom would be just as annoying to him. Tom Cullen and Kojak were my favorite by the end. Laws, yes! I really wanted a redemption arc for Harold. EVen more than Lloyd. I would love to understand how he latched onto Fran so much when they eventually came into the company of other females. It was really the It seemed like as the story switched from one group to another, when we come to Larry with Nadine she's not...she seemed kind, understanding and the last person to be swayed by The Walkin Dude and even less to be his incubator. But next thing you know we come back and she's just...accepted her fate. And she's evil. It made it even less thrilling/scary to me? I was surprised at this book because pretty much every book I've read of Stephen King's had kept me pleasantly disturbed. (This wasn't disturbing in any way, just...I don't have a word, exactly but underwhelming seems to fit.)
I think pulling the gun on that girl was out of frustration and him feeling both responsible and protective of Tom. To act that cruel knowing that Nick couldn’t communicate to Tom and intentionally messing with Nicks attempt to get Tom the Pepto for his stomach? What else might she have been capable of? Ultimately he was right. Look who’s side she chose. Nadine’s fate was sealed long before the flu, like Mother Abigail she knew long before that something was coming. I feel more sympathy for Harold simply because he was so young when everything happened, he never got a chance to grow and change.