The Stand
Stephen King, 1978
★ 4.35 from 868.8k ratings on Goodreads
A flu escapes a lab and empties America; survivors choose between a saintly old woman and a smiling dark man. King's big, bleak, compulsive plague epic. A long, dread-soaked read that moves from creeping unease to a wide moral struggle, in King's plain, steady voice.
Feels like dread, unease and joy. About society, morality and death.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy big casts, survival stories, and clear good-versus-evil stakes. Be ready for a very long book with slow stretches and an explicitly religious turn that some readers resist.
Why read it
It gives you a broad, unsettling picture of society under pressure and a moral fable about faith and choice, told with King's storytelling drive.
A page from the book
The past is a draft you keep editing, whether you mean to or not.
You couldn’t get hold of the things you’d done and turn them right again. Such a power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to women and men, and that was probably a good thing. Had it been otherwise, people would probably die of old age still trying to rewrite their teens. What readers say
Readers say: the plague and survival sections are gripping and often frightening, with many praising the vast cast and good-versus-evil struggle. Others are frustrated by the length, slow pacing, and divisive ending, while some dislike the religious turn.
Stephen King.King cut more than 400 pages before the novel's 1978 publication; in 1990 he restored them, updated the timeline to the 1990s, and added new material.
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Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Stand for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy big casts, survival stories, and clear good-versus-evil stakes. Be ready for a very long book with slow stretches and an explicitly religious turn that some readers resist.
- What is The Stand like?
- A long, dread-soaked read that moves from creeping unease to a wide moral struggle, in King's plain, steady voice. Feels like dread, unease and joy. About society, morality and death.
- What should I read after The Stand?
- If you liked The Stand, try The Exorcist (William Peter Blatty), The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) and Dracula (Bram Stoker).
A taste of the feed
Some people are cold in a way no weather can fix.
The blaze of sun wrung pops of sweat from the old man’s brow, yet he cupped his hands around the glass of hot sweet tea as if to warm them.
The Exorcist · William Peter Blatty
The endearing details that make a monster seem human.
He was not a monster, to her. Probably he had some endearing trait: he whistled, off key, in the shower, he had a yen for truffles, he called his dog Liebchen and made it sit up for little pieces of raw steak. How easy it is to invent a humanity, for anyone at all.
The Handmaid's Tale · Margaret Atwood
When the world shrinks, the memory of a face can feel like an orbit.
The stars seem a lot closer now. Closer than the three hundred trillion miles that separate us. Close enough to touch, for me to touch them, for them to touch me. They’re as close to me as his breath had been.
The 5th wave (The 5th Wave #1) · Richard Yancey
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