In all honesty, three books by Stephen King in one year was a bit much. Previously I always thought that he was the only writer who has a gift to keep me intrigued from the very first page, but this novel - which is supposed to be his masterpiece - proved me wrong. Out of curiosity I sailed trough "Carrie" and "Salem's lot" but my God, "The Stand" was truly a never ending task where I actually had to put darn book aside several times and come back to it few months later, always feeling guilty for leaving it unfinished and for not enjoying it.
Sure I understand that sometimes its simply not the right moment and outside factors distract our attention but I don't think this was the case - its plain and simple sprawling and overlong novel (even in a first 1978 edition from which 400 pages were cut out and added back here) with way too many characters. I had to constantly check Wikipedia for help to remember who is who and than as I would put book aside, usually I would forget everything again. I plowed and plowed patiently trough this epic saga - which is apocalyptic fantasy more than horror - without really ever getting into it and was feeling frustrated about myself for not being able to feel King's alleged genius. And now I have finished it finally & thanks God & thanks to me and all my patience, it would be awhile before I put my hand on another Stephen King novel.
What's it all about, Alfie?
"The Stand" starts as virus escapes army base and destroys everybody on its path. This new day Plague not only erases society and politics but creates groups of survivors who are all drawn to two destinations, which prove to be kind of good and evil sides. Good side is led by 108 year old woman who had a prophetic gift and bad side is centered around Las Vegas and Randall Flagg who might be immortal evil demon with unnatural powers. Contrary to my usual expectations I did not feel magnetic power right from the very first page, in fact I did not feel this at all - I suffered trough the 1204 pages with hardly ever remembering who is who, characters were by far too many, I had to constantly look at the list, this was all pain in the ass. And it seems that every time King does not know what to do, he either simply kills off the characters or brings on some kind of explosion that would nicely do the job. I understand that this was supposed to be his own version of Tolkien and its all fine by me, obviously he has his own fantasy thing going on, however I did not feel excitement here but actual relief when novel was finally finished and hallelujah - Tom Cullen is the only character I will miss.
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