“Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again.”
We are currently stuck in a COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of this pandemic, many people had claimed that Stephen King predicted the future with his 1978 post-apocalyptic novel about a Super Virus called The Stand. King had "predicted" the rise of Donald Trump with his 1979 novel The Dead Zone that contained as its main antagonist a man named Greg Stillson, an egocentric former salesman who becomes the President of the United States through political rallies, eccentric stunts, and anti-establishment rhetoric (sound familiar?). The book actually contained the line "The man is a clown. He goes charging around the speaking platform, like that at every rally [...] He's a clown, so what? [...] So people want a giggle or two. Even more, they want to thumb their noses at a political establishment that doesn't seem able to solve anything." Stillson's entire character was so shockingly similar to Trump's political history that people began to joke around that King could predict the future and when the pandemic began rolling around, people were beginning to point towards The Stand, wondering if we were all going to die. Thankfully, we didn't. But all things considered, it's worth taking a look at The Stand as a novel because I think it does a great job being very psychological and there's a certain character in this novel who does pop up in other King novels. The Stand is King's longest novels with the final edition being 1,152 pages, surpassing the 1,138 page IT. The Stand was originally released as an 823 page novel (King's editors wanted to have him cut it down) and it was later reprinted in 1990 as the "Complete and Uncut Edition", which is the version I read. And I do sort of get why they forced him to cut it down because I do think the novel drags in places (I personally think King's best works are often his shorter ones) and some sections aren't as interesting to get through.
The premise of the novel is fairly simple: a strain of the flu developed as a biological weapon in a US Department of Defence facility is accidentally released. The flu, which has an estimated 99.4% rate of fatality eventually spreads across the country and is dubbed the "superflu" or "Captain Trips". The US government then releases the virus in the Soviet Union, and soon enough the virus spreads and kills nearly everyone in the world; a good chunk of remaining survivors also die by suicide or by other means (ex. car accident, broken leg with no help, etc). The remaining survivors in the US are determined to rebuild civilization and split into two factions. The more "good" people begin to get dream-visions from a saintly old woman named Mother Abagail who encourages them to start a community in Boulder, Colorado while others (who are more "evil") are recruited by a sinister man with dark powers named Randall Flagg (more on him later) who calls them to Las Vegas. Boulder is eventually named the "Boulder Free Zone" and becomes a democratic state with Mother Abagail as their leader/advisor. Las Vegas has become a totalitarian society where Randall Flagg has total control and has chosen the worst of the worst as his enforcers. Flagg seems to have discovered a nuclear stockpile and plans to nuke Boulder, but is eventually stopped by a team of brave people from Colorado and Vegas is destroyed by a nuke.
The Stand, above all else, is a classic "good vs evil" story. Stephen King does believe in a God (although he hates organized religion) so it makes sense that his faith would come into play in this novel. Mother Abagail is the most "pure" character in the story; she represents nothing but total good and kindness who is accepting of everyone and she is a devout Christian who claims to get all of her goodness from God. On the other side of the spectrum is Randall Flagg, AKA The Dark Man, who's goal seems to be violence and chaos; Flagg is not "The Devil" (Mother Abagail claims "He ain't Satan, but he and Satan know of each other and have kept their councils together of old."), but as we learn, he is a very powerful evil sorcerer who uses fear and intimidation (along with shockingly fast industrialization) to keep control. While Abagail and Flagg never once meet, as the leaders of the respective communities, it is really the two of them who are fighting each other. Flagg represents evil and Satan and Mother Abagail represents good and God. The villains in King novels are often supernatural and Satan-esque in nature (his biggest villain The Crimson King in fact is considered to be The Devil, "Hell Incarnate), clearly influenced by King's faith.
Now let's talk about Randall Flagg. Well the first thing you should know is that his real name isn't Randall Flagg. He goes by many names often with the initials R.F. (Randall Flagg, Russell Faraday, Richard Fannin to name a few), but has also been known as Walter o'Dim, The Man in Black, Marten Broadcloak, The Walkin Dude, etc. His real name is I believe Walter Padick, but most know him simply as The Man in Black. Flagg has appeared in seven King novels and is considered by King (rightfully so) to be his best villain. Flagg's true nature is somewhat of a mystery but he seems to be a dark sorcerer of considerable power who serves the Crimson King (but mainly his personal interests for the most parts) and causes chaos and destruction wherever he goes. Walter actually appears twice in his Randall Flagg persona in The Dark Tower series (I do plan to review this series in a later review): The fourth book, Wizard and Glass, shows that there are many alternate worlds and the protagonists stumble into the world of The Stand and encounter Walter in his Randall Flagg persona. Walter appears as Flagg once again in the final Dark Tower novel, The Dark Tower.
Interestingly enough, although the President of the United States is not named in The Stand, The Dark Tower confirms that the President is Ronald Reagan and a news article claims that neither Reagan, George HW Bush, or key Cabinet members have been seen, suggesting that in an alternate world, both Reagan and Bush died from the superflu.
Walter Padick/Walter o'Dim/Randall Flagg/Russell Faraday/The Dark Man/The Man in Black... whatever his name is, Randall Flagg is no doubt my favourite Stephen King villain. There is something creepy and yet delightfully manic in a way that Flagg carries out horrific acts (such as crucifixion as punishment) while keeping a sense of humour. Flagg is so damn charismatic in this book that you can't help but like him. And the fact that Flagg doesn't really seem to have a sense of purpose apart from screwing things up just or the fun of it also makes him an enjoyable and unpredictable villain.
Now, I will be talking a little bit about the actual book and my enjoyment of it. While I did like the novel, I wouldn't say it's my favourite Stephen King novel (mainly cause I haven't read most of his works yet). I may be in the majority here but I think King's idea book length should be about 300-500 pages. Anything written by King's that's 600 pages and over I find to drag in certain places and delve in to character backstories that often don't matter. To be clear, King's longer works are still absolute masterpieces. But I just think he shines better in his shorter ones.
I personally found that the best part of the story is mainly the first half or so of the story, at the very least up to the point where the settlements are established. The spreading of the virus was the part that really struck me because King was introducing us to all of these diverse characters and killing them in the same paragraph. He wrote multiple pages using this exact format and it really helped outline in a chilling way how serious and widespread the pandemic was and it's very effective at striking fear into you. The reaction of the people to the pandemic was what I found to be the most interesting; throughout the story we are introduced to multiple characters and we are even able to see how they react to the fact that all of their loved ones are dead and their thought process. This part of King's story is heavily psychological as King establishes these "perfect" characters only to kill them up in very gruesome and heartbreaking ways.
The rest of the story after the settlements are established I found to be less appealing mainly because the best part of the story up to that point was the constant fast-pace of the remaining survivors travelling to Boulder to establish a settlement there, and it was at those times you really got to know these character very well. While there is a lot of character development still happening at this time, there is a little less of it because the situations are not life or death, and a lot of it just circles back to romance and love. That being said, the meetings where they discuss their conflict with Randall Flagg are really interesting and shows a very political side that I enjoyed.
That being said, The Stand has a lot of interesting characters who I think really represents different real-life people very well. For example, Harold Lauder has a very much "white knight" complex where he sort of needs to be the hero every time and has a massive crush/obsession on this girl who would never like him back, and even thought he's a horrible person, you get the feeling he's a tragic character whose darker side only emerges because of his situation. There's also Tom Cullen, a mentally challenged man who is the living embodiment of pureness and friendship; he's such a simple character that he's very fun to read about because he is always very positive. I was also very glad to see that Stephen King didn't kill the dog Kojak and let him die of old age.
My favourite character is Nick Andros. He is a deaf-mute who is also blind in one-eye who is a really great person overall. He becomes best friends with Tom Cullen and frankly their friendship is great. Both of them are people shunned by society because of their "defects", but somehow they manage to have a really great relationship where they end up relying on each other. Tom doesn't see what's wrong with Nick (because of his simple-mind he has very pure way to thinking) and Nick can sympathize with Tom's outcast status. Despite his inability to communicate verbally, Nick manages to become one of the leaders through his general intelligence and ability to communicate (as in he's good at making relationships more than anything).
An important thing you need to take away from this book is that not everyone gets a happy ending (in fact, nearly all of the characters in this book really don't). On top of losing their loved ones in the pandemic, they also lose the friends they make along the way, and the book does get really depressing by the end because you kind of begin to give up in a weird way of hoping to find a happy ending (although you do get some sense of a happy ending anyways).
Overall, The Stand is a good book. I don't think it's Stephen King's best personally, but it is a worthwhile read if you've got the time. The Stand is filled with some incredible diverse characters who go through really fantastic development. Furthermore, it also has Randall Flagg, my favourite Stephen King villain. If you want to be introduced to King, I would suggest you start with something shorter like Misery or The Shining: The Stand is not safe for Stephen King beginners because its sheer length just might throw most people off (I did actually consider giving up at some point). So I do recommend you read The Stand, but only after you've gotten fairly familiar with Stephen King first.
For my next review post, I will be doing a Doctor Who review. I will be going back to Classic Who and reviewing the First Doctor Who, portrayed by William Hartnell. As always, thank you for reading my blog, and I always will enjoy hearing from all of you, so if you have any comments, feedbacks, opinions, suggestions, etc., please feel free to comment, and I WILL respond to ALL comments!
