The Stand

This is the first Stephen King novel I read. It is quite an enormous book with very good character development and loads of suspense. I liked all the travels that the characters had to make, that was enjoyable and the first half of the book was excellent. That's about it and if all of King's novels are like that it is probably going to be my last. As soon as the book took a sharp turn into parapsychology, hypnosis and telepathy I stopped enjoying it and I was only reading it to know what will happen to the protagonists. I don't have anything to add to what others here have said in regards to the racist parts in the book, problems in the female characters and the two-dimensional and comical representation of evil characters.

This was another re-read of mine. My third time reading it, actually. My first time was the original edition from the late 70s, and then the uncut version when it was first released. This was the uncut one again.

The Stand is a book in 3 parts, and to this day I feel Book 1 is by far the strongest. The descriptions of how life falls apart under the reign of Captain Trips is captivating and truly horrifying. It could happen, you know. It surely could.

The middle stretch is a bit on the dull side, and the end is a bit too open-ended for me.

Nevertheless, this is my favorite Stephen King, with compelling characters and a story with a vast scope. A King classic, would read again and likely will.