Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

The Stand by Stephen King - WITH spoilers but ONLY up to where I’m reading 🤣🤣

120 replies

Taq · 06/07/2023 13:47

I downloaded the book after recommendations here and I’ve got 8 hours left (out of 48!!!) to listen to.

It’s amazing but I can’t stand the emotional rollercoaster! I’ve just got to the part where that Julie girl recognises Tom Cullen in Vegas. If anything happens to Tom I might actually cry, I still can’t believe Nick and Mother Abigail died!
I am SO close to googling what happens to Tom but I wont.

Awful Harold and Nadine are on the way West, and so are the 4 from the committee (without Fran thank goodness).

I’m quite glad that there won’t be any committee meetings for a while, they were a bit too much like being at an actual committee meeting.

Anyway I just had to talk about it 🤣

OP posts:
DixonD · 07/07/2023 00:10

I love this book; I read it was I was 12. A bit young but I’d already watched the TV series with Rob Lowe.

massistar · 07/07/2023 08:00

Another who read this as a teen and a few times since. Amazing book. Think it might be time for another visit!

FrangipaniBlue · 07/07/2023 08:35

I'm a HUGE Stephen King fan..... I own paper copies of every one of his books and even have a tattoo sleeve covering my arm based on the books.

SK Bol threads get me WAY too excited!

The Stand is by far one of his best pieces of work, but strangely not one of the most famous outside of his fans!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Books
Farmageddon · 07/07/2023 11:08

wandawaves · 06/07/2023 23:36

I rarely enjoy a SK movie. They're never as good as the books, the way he writes is just so... intense, and complex... it's just so difficult to get that across in a movie.
The only exceptions IMO are the Shawshank Redemption (my favourite movie ever) and Stand By Me. And The Green Mile.

I agree - I think The Stand has so much richness of detail and complexity in the characters that just can't be captured by a movie or tv show.

One of the things I loved about the book was the inner monologues of some characters (like the trashcan man), and the disparity between what some characters say and what they're thinking, which we the reader get an insight into...but you could never recreate that on tv unless you had a voiceover or something, which would just be weird.

UpToonGirl · 07/07/2023 11:41

FrangipaniBlue · 07/07/2023 08:35

I'm a HUGE Stephen King fan..... I own paper copies of every one of his books and even have a tattoo sleeve covering my arm based on the books.

SK Bol threads get me WAY too excited!

The Stand is by far one of his best pieces of work, but strangely not one of the most famous outside of his fans!

Ooo, @FrangipaniBlue I would love to see your tattoo. Appreciate it might be outing though!

Original poster
Taq · 07/07/2023 15:31

A BOMB!? A bloody nuclear BOMB!? Why did they all have to die!? Trashcan man would have brought the bomb with or without them being there!

And Glen got shot! And Stu is back to sulky child Franny who is sulking.

Thank goodness Tom got back ok. But I just can’t believe that the others all got blown up!

Im not quite at the end yet. I hope Nick comes back but I don’t think he will.

I’ve got nothing done today 🤣

OP posts:
opalescent · 07/07/2023 15:42

Absolutely love this book, and agree that the 90s series was WAY better than the more recent one (with amber heard).

I always remember a really poignant bit, where the book talks about all the deaths that happened not directly because of the plague, but rather as an indirect result, such as the little boy who fell down a well and broke his leg 😭

Ugh, and the horrible guys who had taken Dayna and a few others as their prisoners 😩

Farmageddon · 07/07/2023 15:47

Taq · 07/07/2023 15:31

A BOMB!? A bloody nuclear BOMB!? Why did they all have to die!? Trashcan man would have brought the bomb with or without them being there!

And Glen got shot! And Stu is back to sulky child Franny who is sulking.

Thank goodness Tom got back ok. But I just can’t believe that the others all got blown up!

Im not quite at the end yet. I hope Nick comes back but I don’t think he will.

I’ve got nothing done today 🤣

I always figured it was that there had to be some sort of sacrifice made in order for it to end...that God would get rid of the Walkin' Dude (sort of), but only if there was a price paid - maybe they mention that in the book I can't remember.

Anyway, I hope you liked it - now you can read it all over again 😁

And yes, Fran is a very annoying character. She keeps bloody crying!

LMNT · 07/07/2023 15:50

It’s my favourite book of all time. The TV series was so good, really stuck to the story.

I cannot listen to “Don’t dream it’s over” by Crowded House without thinking about that series.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 07/07/2023 17:03

Farmageddon · 07/07/2023 15:47

I always figured it was that there had to be some sort of sacrifice made in order for it to end...that God would get rid of the Walkin' Dude (sort of), but only if there was a price paid - maybe they mention that in the book I can't remember.

Anyway, I hope you liked it - now you can read it all over again 😁

And yes, Fran is a very annoying character. She keeps bloody crying!

Show quote history

Yes I thimk this is it too, they are literally nailed to the cross to save mankind.

I also think they needed to be there to allow the hand of god access, RF's power starts to lessen as they get closer to him and with them all there he is missing lots of things and loosing his grip.

mooncloud1 · 07/07/2023 17:20

Oh my people! The Stand is incredible, I have read it and also listened on audiobook, so good.
I enjoyed the old series, I mean they changed bits and missed parts put, but still good.
Jealous of you for experiencing it for the first time!

Original poster
Taq · 07/07/2023 17:28

I also think they needed to be there to allow the hand of god access, RF's power starts to lessen as they get closer to him and with them all there he is missing lots of things and loosing his grip.

ahhhhh yes this makes sense!

OP posts:
UpToonGirl · 07/07/2023 17:57

One major thing the was different in the series to the book was the Vegas community was very depraved in the series but in the book I remember Larry marvelling at how they'd got their systems up and running and even a schooling system. Flagg ran a tight ship at first, until as pp's have pointed out he started losing his grip and making mistakes.

Including the massive one with trashcan man's 'projects'.

Rubyupbeat · 07/07/2023 18:03

This is my bible, very basically the fight between good and evil, I have read it many times and remember so many things in it. I love Mother Abigal and Tom Coffey. Such an inspirational book.

Rubyupbeat · 07/07/2023 18:05

Oh and the film was the first time I heard 'don't fear the reaper' blue oyster cult. It's one of my funeral songs.

Rubyupbeat · 07/07/2023 18:09

Ooh
..and I met Stephen King many moons ago, I went to a type of interview with him, at South bank, royal festival hall. He also read some chapters from his 'new' and yet unpublished book 'Dolores Claibourne' I was picked from the audience along with 9 others to meet him after the show, coffee and chat. He really was the loveliest guy.

memoriesofamiga · 07/07/2023 18:17

I adore this book so much and have done since I was a teen. Loved the 90s series (I had it first on VHS and now on DVD) and I'd like to see the new series but it only seems to be on Lionsgate in the UK. Which is a shame, I hate all these different streaming services.

skyeisthelimit · 07/07/2023 18:45

You can watch it on You Tube, all 6 hours of it. I have the DVD but watch it via YT.

The book is fantastic, it is one of my favourites, and you should definitely read the uncut book before watching the mini-series. I absolutely love the mini-series too, the actors are great, and although it does vary in several places from the book, it is still very watchable.

skyeisthelimit · 07/07/2023 18:45

*The 1994 mini series I mean

user1471453601 · 07/07/2023 19:01

I'm so glad @Taq that you've reached this point. I was eager to share the following, but didn't want to spoil it for You.

I lent a colleague my copy of the stand. On day he walked into the office, all wide eyes and aghast "Stu is dead"he said. That was a reasonable deduction to make, as when the others leave Stu with a broken leg, the chapter ends with the words "and they never saw Stu again". Well, no they didnt, but not for the reason my colleague thought.

I had to avoid that colleague until he's finished the book, as I was sure I was going to give the ending (well, the beginning of the ending) away.

one of the most enthralling books I've ever read. So many characters, but each one so very well defined and with their own motivations.

finding this thread felt like coming across a group discussing, kindly, mutual friends. The kind of conversations that usually include phrases like "Do you remember when ..."

tonyhawks23 · 07/07/2023 19:29

You can get the lionsgate series for free by subscribing then binge watching them unsubscribing.its worth it even if not epic like the first,it's a nice comparative excersise,how they balance the casting better and I love what they do with hemingford home.its far too short and doesn't make alot of sense unless you know the story as skips so fast,it's like just important scenes or something.the Nadine part of the ending I liked but Nadine all along was nothing like original Nadine whose descent was brilliant in the original show imo.i also felt like they goodies were the aggressors in the new series which was weird and I assume not meant but just due to skipping.like it would be a shame if the series was someone's first intro to the stand but I do like that they've tried to update it for a modern audience,I hope they keep on forever with new ones as everything stand is awesome!

I can't even imagine meeting Steven king that would be amazing!

WhoWants2Know · 07/07/2023 19:58

Although it hurt to have the "heroes" die, I think Glen Bateman actually struck the fatal blow to Randall Flagg by seeing through him and laughing at him.

It's like most of Flagg's power wasn't real, but built from what he could make others believe and fear about him. But as soon as one person laughed, he completely lost his control and messed up the grand gesture he was planning.

LivingDeadGirlUK · 07/07/2023 20:08

UpToonGirl · 07/07/2023 17:57

One major thing the was different in the series to the book was the Vegas community was very depraved in the series but in the book I remember Larry marvelling at how they'd got their systems up and running and even a schooling system. Flagg ran a tight ship at first, until as pp's have pointed out he started losing his grip and making mistakes.

Including the massive one with trashcan man's 'projects'.

I've not seen the series yet but I always wondered in the book why there was the split of more techy people going to Vegas than Boulder. I'm sure that was discussed in the committee meeting that they had a lot less skilled people on average than expected. Maybe it's because I'm an Engineer myself, but I don't like the implications :P

LividHot · 07/07/2023 20:18

I met Joe Hill once and he was similarly lovely.

The absolute spit of him.

ANiceBigCupOfTea · 07/07/2023 20:19

I love The Stand!
Slow starter but brilliant once it gets going.
Agreed, I'm still not emotionally over Nick dying!

Swipe left for the next trending thread