"M-O-O-N spells..."
The Stand (complete and uncut edition)
Written by Stephen King
My last Christmas was spent reading all 1,152 pages of The Stand, the longest book Stephen King wrote and the longest book I've read. This was the kick-off to a season of fictional armageddon and stockpiling cans out of paranoia as I spent the Spring reading one apocalyptic novel after the other. Each doomsday book presented itself as a game of clue since each had a different narrative for "the end", answering the three questions, "Whodunnit? Where? and With What Weapon?". The combinations rolled in: "the government in America with vampires", "The military in America and Russia with nuclear war", "Unknown cosmic events in California with Earth's rotation slowing down". King provided a good opener with "The government in America with good ol' Captain Tripps.
Captain Tripps in The Stand is a colloquial name for a fast acting disease that spread across the nation, and then the world. In fact, the entire first part of the book devotes itself to this spreading crisis as 99.9% of the population succumbs to a swift and nasty bout of Captain Tripps. The disease begins in a lab, and through a breach in security, the virus is released. The highly contagious virus moves the story along as you bear witness to countless deaths that begin with a single cough and progress to a strangling, fatal, flu. Trust me, you don’t want to read part one with a cough.
Entire chapters are devoted to deaths and containment efforts, but within those terrifying sagas, the main characters appear: Stuart Redman, Frances Goldsmith, Nick Andros, Tom Cullen, Larry Underwood, and those who I don't care to mention. There are many characters to keep track of, not quite as many as the Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, but it still required a bit of a memory jog each time the perspective switched. Luckily, King makes sure to remind you at the beginning of each chapter when a new character takes the reins. Each character has certain “tells” that identify them. Stuart being a simple, quiet guy. Fran being a girl and pregnant. Nick being deaf and mute. And, Larry with that one hit wonder "Baby, Can You Dig Your Man" and not being a nice guy. As the wheel of characters turns on, the virus stretches until it impacts each individual story. And when the death count plateaued, it was time for the rest of the book.
By this point in the book most readers should have their favorite characters chosen, but even though the virus is completed its humanity wash cycle, the death hasn't stopped. If the survivors can't find a way to live in a world without society and convention Darwinism will come for them. But The Stand isn't dominated by Darwinism, it's ruled by the dreams that plague every survivor. This is where things get a touch supernatural when people either dream of an old woman in Boulder, Colorado or they dream of a devilish man in Las Vegas. These dreams sort the living into these two travel destinations and everyone begins to coalesce with either Mother Abigail, a 107-year-old woman, or Randall Flag the Dark man. Good and evil. Polar opposites that will war until one side is left to decide the future of humanity, but that's part three.
Part 2 of this book is like season 6 game of thrones when everyone crosses paths and travels very long distances, and part 3 is like season 7 where you know that a war is coming even though it might not be what you expect. Overall, The Stand is a giant saga of death, destruction (aka Trashcan man), and grey. That's correct, grey, because even though the book is set up to be a giant showdown between "good and evil", neither side is wholly good or evil. There's good and bad in Nevada and in Colorado regardless of leadership. Heck, Las Vegas has a school system already in place while Colorado’s still cleaning up bodies. The characters also have their flaws and virtues, except for Tom Cullen who has no flaws because M-O-O-N spells precious and also Stuart Redman cause he's just too much of a "simple" man.
This book cleverly used the apocalypse to showcase flaws in society, religion, and morals while demonstrating that these imperfections will always exist despite whatever reckoning humanity will face. Colorado’s startup democratic government, mother Abigail’s relationship with god, and controversial characters like Larry Underwood are just a few examples of clever dualism existing in King’s apocalypse. There is so much to discuss within The Stand, and which makes sense due to the page count. Give it a chance and the pages will flip by quickly as you read the doom and rebirth of the American population and the spaces inbetween.
