The Stand
by Stephen King · first published 1978
24% recommend66% neutral10% critical
Why HN recommends it
A post-apocalyptic epic told through long, character-driven storytelling. Its story is remembered fondly from teenage years and ranks among the best of King's work.
Common criticism: Some find the uncut version longer than it needs to be and the ending weaker.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
One man escapes from a biological weapon facility after an accident, carrying with him the deadly virus known as Captain Tripps, a rapidly mutating flu that - in the ensuing weeks - wipes out most of the world's population. In the aftermath, survivors choose between following an elderly black woman to Boulder or the dark man, Randall Flagg, who has set up his command post in Las Vegas. The two factions prepare for a confrontation between the forces of good and evil. ([source][1]) [1]: https://stephenking.com/library/novel/stand_the.html
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Elevation by Stephen King. I'd count King among my favorite authors. I regularly go back to reread classics like Salem's Lot and The Stand. But I've fallen out of the habit of reading him lately because his output is so prodigious, and his books have taken on a sameness that I find wearying. In that context, Elevation, which is sweet-natured…
on “Ask HN: Favorite Fiction Books of 2018?” ↗…inspiration and style as a writer. * The Road - Cormac McCarthy * Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy * No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy * On Writing - Stephen King * 11/22/63 - Stephen King * The Stand - Stephen King * Hell's Angels - Hunter S. Thompson * East of Eden - John Steinbeck * Slouching Towards Bethlehem - Joan Didion * In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗…even I could not get through this, was just boring, there is only so much you can write about a possessed car and the novel is undeservedly huge. I have no problem with his other giant novels like The Stand and IT, love them. Tried As I Lay Dying recently, maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace for it but I really couldn't make head nor tails of it. I was looking forward to reading Faulkner too, and…
on “Ask HN: What books have you not finished?” ↗> Fiction: “The Lord of the Rings” (J.R.R. Tolkien); “Game of Thrones” (George R.R. Martin); “Slaughterhouse Five” (Kurt Vonnegut); “Blood Meridian” (Cormac McCarthy); “The Stand” (Stephen King). > Nonfiction: “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” (Tom Wolfe); “Halsey’s Typhoon” (Tom Clavin); “Band of Brothers” (Stephen Ambrose); “Into the Wild” (Jon Krakauer); “Guns of August” (Barbara…
on “Know your NeRD: What submariners can expect from their new e-readers” ↗…our fantasy obsessed minds work. It enables people to keep engaging with their fantasies. In this case, the weirdly persistent apocalypse fantasy. When I was about 14-15, I loved Stephen King's "The Stand" and some of my friends liked it too. The youth fetish culture didn't really exist in that time and place, but the book and its post apocalypse world fascinated us. We talked out what we'd do and how.…
on “These Suburban Preppers Are Ready for Anything” ↗I had no idea what I was getting into when I read The Stand back in high school. I thought Stephen King was a "horror" author, and the only thing I knew about him was that he wrote IT. The Stand remains one of the best books I have ever read.
on “Learning to Read in Your 30s Profoundly Transforms the Brain” ↗…Stephen King - 'Salem's Lot * Stephen King (short story) - Jerusalem's Lot * Stephen King (short story) - The Night Flier * Stephen King (short story) - The Children of the Corn * Stephen King - The Stand (uncut version) * Stanisław Lem - The Cyberiad * John Whyndham - The Day of The Triffids * Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic * Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep Okay, so...…
on “Intellectual Loneliness” ↗…born storyteller, and every one of her non-fiction books is inspiring and highly readable. On Writing, by Stephen King - I am not a King fan. The only fiction piece he's written I come back to is The Stand. But the story of how he became a writer, and his life as a writer, gives me hope for my own writing. And his advice is valuable; even if I don't like his books, I can't argue with his success.
on “Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?” ↗+1 to this. I realized this the first time with reading the "uncut" version of Steven King's The Stand. The original published version was one of my favorites, so I figured that the extra-long version of the writer's original vision must be even better. Wrong. There were very good reasons why the book…
on “ You Should Self-Publish” ↗…and proceed from there, then it really doesn't matter whether they have depth or not, because it won't really impact the story. The entire point of a character with depth, like say Harold Lauder in The Stand, is that that depth gives a reader insight into why they do what they do during the story. It provides tension between what is obviously the correct/logical thing to do, and then trying to predict what…
on “Rational fiction” ↗Wow, not well done. Author glosses over Watchmen, Stranger in a Strange Land, Neuromancer, The Stand, Snowcrash, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Left Hand of Darkness, and several others that actually had some very interesting things to say on gender roles and treatment of minorities. Author also…
on “I read the 100 “best” fantasy or sci-fi novels--they were shockingly offensive” ↗…called it not a likely scenario), then we don’t see multiple pathogens going around the world because all developed countries’ top-security bio labs are – thankfully – quite secure. Stephen King’s The Stand and Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone have kept readers awake at night with fear for decades now, but the labs they describe have managed to keep their pathogens from escaping. Also, some horrible pandemics…
on “How Vulnerable Is the World?” ↗Fiction: 1. It (Stephen king) 2. The Stand (Stephen King) 3. Fire and Blood Non Fiction: 1. It looks impossible until its done 2. The Laws of Human nature 3. 48 Laws of Power 4. Brain always wins.
on “Ask HN: As the year is about to end, what books did you read?” ↗As Stephen King said, no adaptation replaces (or ruins, or improves) the original. No matter what they've done to The Stand (multiple times), the original is still there on the bookshelf.
on “W. H. Auden’s 1954 review of The Fellowship of the Ring” ↗…different place had the dice landed differently. Overall they are good but with a few weaknesses, which evil forces manipulate to pull them under. Another good example of such a character is Nick, in The Stand. If you replace “evil forces” above by “life’s circumstances”, I think this to be a good description of how real-life villains are made.
on “King vs. Kubrick: The Origins of Evil (2020)” ↗