The Stand

I saw the TV series, saw that people were mad that it wasn't like the book, so decided to check out the book. I read a review that referred to this book as "bloated and racist" and yep, that covers it. This has been a thoroughly unenjoyable experience, but I keep saying "it has to get better, right?! it has to get better." Cue the trash can man and The Kid's scene in the hotel room! I'm done. Im not even willing to finish this anymore. This book has aged poorly. I know it was written in 1978, but in 1978, it had to still have been offensive right? How many times is the N word in this book? I get that people consider this to be a classic, and while I do respect that, I implore you to ask yourself why you enjoy this book as much as you do if you're a super fan.

I like Kings stuff. But this? Waaaaay too long. The story idea is great. But far too much character development. And it's hard to find a really likeable character. Even the so called good guys? Are jerky characters! The lead character Franny, has to be the whineyest, selfish character in the book! A hard to stomach character. About 3/4 the way through the book? The story just got so painful, I was hoping that the whole bunch would die in one big nuclear boom! But no, the pain went on and on.

Amazing storytelling. The narrator has range and I cant stress how important that is when narrating an audiobook. This version has been updated to include original text that was removed and King has added additional text that adds extra context to elements of the story. Great story if you are new to Kings world and the added text makes coming back to it worth another listen or read through.