I like this picture. Photo credit: http://www.freakingnews.com/Stephen-King-Books-Pictures--69-2.asp
Grover and Me:
I just finished the last tape of The Stand. Yes, I listened to it. It was read by Grover Gardner, and was fantastic. At first Gardner seemed stiff, even dry, I found that I really liked him as the book progressed. We became fast friends!
Gardner reads with a certain reserved energy. Though he does not overpower the story, he is very engaged in what he is reading. As one blogger commented, Gardner doesn't get in the way of the book!
He doesn't try to outperform the story.
His voice is crisp, every word pronounced correctly, and well paced. His inflections are always appropriate, but again, not distracting. I think Gardner is quickly becoming one of my favorite readers!
Pacing The Conclusion:
The Stand ends with a bang. . . and then it keeps going. I really like the way King ended the Stand. He didn't simply tie things up with the bad guys demise -- he spent time (considerable time) letting us see the world after Flagg. The conclusion (a good hundred pages, I think) includes Stu and Tom meeting back up, and Tom's nursing Stu back to health. It is touching, and again, not rushed. Even in the chopped version I was reading, King gives this section room to breath. He doesn't feel in a hurry to end the book -- and the reader isn't anxious for it to end, either.
The long journey home for Tom and Stu is the highlight of the last chapters of The Stand. But there is more even after they reach the Free Zone. Will Stu and Fran stay? What about Larry's child? On that note, what about Fran's? Will the super-flu knock out the next generation? These are things King deals with nicely in the last pages of The Stand.
I have read many reviews of The Stand, and no one ever mentions how much space King gives his characters at the end of the novel. Usually King spends considerable time building characters at the beginning of a book; but here he lets us live with them a little bit longer. Further, I have heard many people say they do not like the way King ends his books. Try the Stand! I think it is brilliant. Though the "plot" has been carried out, King still sees more story ahead. And the reader can imagine a million stories that could come out of The Stand. It is surprising no one has thought to do a TV series based on the world of The Stand.
Nukes And Our Children
Stu and Fran discuss the issue of bringing children into this new world. But it's not really a "new" world! In fact, the "toys" (kings word) are left behind -- nukes. Two things need to be destroyed: The nukes, and the plant that created the super-flu.
Now it's interesting that nukes are seen as the problem, since the essentially saved the Free Zone's hide. There is a hint of anti-war sentiment that flows throughout The Stand. Not that good should roll over and refuse to fight, but simply a fear that by over-building our military complex, we might be forcing our children's hands.
God:
God turned out to be a pretty important character in The Stand. When The Bomb actually goes off, it is unclear for a moment if God did it, or Flagg did it! Flag was playing with a blue ball of fire when Trashy showed up with his toy. It is that same ball of fire that strikes the bomb. But later dialogue makes it clear that it was the work of God.
What kind of God do we encounter in The Stand? At the mid point, Fran paints the picture of an evil God who would destroy so much of His creation. But as the Stand progresses, we begin to see a purpose unfolding.
God's will is a major theme of The Stand. God is portrayed as Sovereign; beyond our understanding, and able to tell the future. God is shown as active in the affairs of men (he is not far off, unconcerned with us). Now here's an interesting theological note: In the Stand, God is willing and ready to act. He is completely capable of stopping evil. He is not threatened by Flagg. But before he will act, he requires that men also take their Stand. He desires to use humans as much as possible in order to carry out His will. Glen Bateman puts it together for us, saying "If there's a God, and I now believe these must be -- that's his will. We're going to die and somehow all of this will end as a result of our dying."
God is not only presented as all powerful, but as Just. Tom Cullen puts it pretty succinctly when he says, "It was the bad man killed Nick. Tom knows. But God fixed that bad man. I saw it. The hand of God came down out of the sky." Now why did God kill the "bad man"? Tom tells us! "Fixed him for what he did to Nick and to the poor judge. Laws yes."
Nods in other King works:
- Freemantle: Mother Abigail's last name is Freemantle. In Duma Key the main character is named Edgar Freemantle.
- Hemmingford Home is also the setting for 1922. It is the hometown of Ben from IT. Hemmingford Home is also seen in The Last Rung Of The Ladder.
- In Wizard and Glass, Blane The Mono stops in the world of The Stand.
- Night Surf sort of serves as a prologue to The Stand.
- The evil character Flagg appears in The Eyes of the Dragon and The Dark Tower. If he is the Devil himself, then he is also in Needful Things.
- Wikipedia notes something really cool: "In the denouement, Stu and Tom happen upon an abandoned Plymouth Fury with the initials 'A.C.' engraved on the keychain. Arnie Cunningham was the owner of the 1958 Plymouth Fury in Christine. The car is found empty with no apparent driver."
- Wikipedia points out that radio signals from Arnette, Texas, are also heard in The Tommyknockers.
- And. . . "Charles Decker's teacher in Rage, Mrs. Jean Underwood, is said to be a relative of Larry Underwood."
- Finally, Wikipedia says that "Stuart Redman has a dream of a corn field with a creature with red eyes staring at him, this is a reference to "Children of the Corn".
