Book Review: The Stand by Stephen King

I had stated before that I absolutely love horror. But every horror lover has their limits. For me that limit is apocalyptic horror, specifically of the disease-spreading variety. Books about any type of horrible disease spreading and either wiping out more than half the world's population or turning that population into the walking dead absolutely terrifies me. Why? Because it's something that could actually happen! ( Okay, I doubt an infected population would turn into flesh eating zombies, but still...). A story where people can be infected or bitten and morphed into something horrible is so unnerving for me, even Salem's Lot gave me a case of the heebie-jeebies when townspeople started disappearing and reappearing as blood sucking undead.

That being said, The Stand was the scariest King read thus far for this Constant Reader. This story was massive (1,153 pages if you've got the same uncut edition that I own.) with a large cast of complex characters and I was both engrossed and terrified.

The story begins June 16th, 1990. The military has created a secret super virus meant for warfare. When there's a security malfunction at a remote army base laboratory and patient zero escapes, the infection starts to spread rapidly, killing 99.4% of the world's population and leaving the survivors to fend for themselves in a new world.  As months go by, the survivors crave civilization, order, security, and most importantly a leader to bring them through the tough times. They are literally left with a choice between good and evil, (good taking form as Mother Abigail, a God fearing 108-year-old black woman who feels called to gather the lost and build a community, and evil taking form as Randall Flagg, "the Dark Man", the ultimate villain.). 

"Infection's the most dangerous there is...Infection was what made the superflu germ kill all the people. And infection is what made people want to make the germ in the first place. An infection of the mind."

This novel was actually broken into three parts. Book One laying out all the panic and chaos that ensues as the superflu spreads, Book Two showing us the aftershocks and aftermath of a broken world, and Book Three being somewhat of a spiritual journey and final showdown for a number of complicated characters. And there were so many great characters, too many to name them all. And most of these characters, be they great or small, good or evil, evolved in the most satisfying ways.

As for the content itself, there were so many truly horrifying scenes: the military shutting down all forms of media to keep secrets, people killing and looting in the name of fear and anarchy, hospitals too full to treat the sick. As I read through some of the darkest and most haunting parts of the book, I kept having the worst thoughts pop up in my mind ("Mankind did this to themselves."  "We are easily our own biggest fear" etc.). All these thoughts had me up for long hours of the night questioning everything. I will also add that this book had me paranoid and afraid of germs for many weeks. To make matters worse, my sister had come down with a virus, and her constant wheezing, sneezing and coughing was the background soundtrack to my daily reading of this book. I was a mess. Nevertheless, King's writing was effective, going into the macro and micro levels of how the super virus effected society and laying down some heavy religious themes. My only complaint would be that I wished he could have gone into the effects of the super virus in other parts of the world (this all takes place in the United States of course) and maybe go into some more diverse perspectives from minorities. Other than that, the book did its job. It was scary. Why? Because who is to say this isn't something that could happen? Mankind probably won't be ready for it if it does happen, and that should terrify you.

"Shall I tell you what sociology teaches the human race? I'll give it to you in a nutshell. Show me a man or woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of his opposite number, and is always trying to get back home."

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads when in actuality it deserves 5 stars, which is obvious seeing as this book is considered by many to be King's masterpiece. The petty 4 stars was given only in response to the emotional trauma I suffered at the hands of this book (Again, I really cannot do this genre of horror often). But I feel proud of myself for braving the storm and fighting through it. For me, this was King's scariest book not only because of my personal fears, but because it's filled with so much darkness, reality, and the ever present possibility that mankind will be their own undoing.

By all means, read it. Read it and be mindful. It needs to be read. If this book scares you, it should.

"The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet."

(4/5⭐)


                                                                                  xo Nina