Day: October 18, 2022

The Stand – Stephen King
I mentioned in my last entry I was working through a very big book. Nearly 30 years after reading the original version, I decided to read the “completed and uncut edition” of The Stand. Released in 1990, this version included over 400 pages cut from the original 1979 manuscript, and checks in at over 1100 pages.

I read the original version in the summer of 1993, my first-ever experience with a King novel. I was inspired to take on the expanded edition thanks to a sportswriter I follow who recently read it and gave it his highest recommendation. While the basics of The Stand are still stamped in my brain, the details had all faded, and October seemed like a good time to jump back in.

As you would expect, a lot of it felt unfamiliar. I was constantly thinking, “Do I not remember these parts because they were ones that were cut from the original, or because it’s been almost 30 years since I read this?” It was clearly more B than A, because I remembered way less than I thought I would. There were also moments that he obviously updated pop cultural references in the re-editing process that kind of threw me.

I also realized that I think I’ve mixed up a lot of other King works with The Stand in my memory. Certainly parts of The Dark Tower series, which has some overlap. I really thought more of The Stand took place in Kansas, but realized after that I was thinking of parts of The Dark Tower.[1] And, let’s face it: a lot of King books revolve around cross-country quests, so it makes sense that I would get them a bit jumbled in my mind.

Anyway, I enjoyed the re-read, even if it took up nearly two whole weeks of my free time. In addition to the dated pop culture references, the way King wrote about relationships and sex has changed a lot. His perspective has always been from the political left, but some of his words in The Stand still struck my modern ear as very retrograde. It was also a little disconcerting to read it in the age of Covid, especially since the Super Flu of the book nearly wipes out the world’s population.

As I said above, The Stand was my introduction to King’s work. At least in terms of reading it. I had been familiar with King for a long, long time before that, though. My mom was a massive Stephen King fan. One of the few indulgences she allowed herself in the years when she was struggling to keep us afloat financially was buying each new King novel the moment it hit her Book of the Month club. There was a big section of his books on our shelves. I would occasionally take them out and look at the covers. This was during the time when his books were more pure horror, and those images spooked me. I don’t remember if my mom told me specifically not to read them, or rather that they were best saved for when I got older, but I built up an aversion to them. I was never terribly interested in horror to begin with, and assumed all of King’s books fell into that world. So even as I got older, I didn’t have much interest in them.

One of my college roommates bought the paperback of the updated edition of The Stand in the spring of 1993. I read the back cover blurbs, talked to him about it, and became interested when I realized it was more of an apocalyptic/quest novel than one about spirits and gory death or whatever. When I got home for the summer, I found my mom’s copy of the original and spent a week or so getting through it. And I loved it.

Soon I was racing the clock before I went back to school to read as many of King’s books as I could. I specifically remember reading The Shining. My mom had long told the story of how when she read it, she stayed up all night to finish it because it was so compelling. I know I saved it for a weekend night when I didn’t have to worry about getting up the next morning, but couldn’t quite last long enough to polish it off in one sitting. But I did read it in less than 24 hours.

Born in that summer was a love for Stephen King that continues to this day; I just read Billy Summers back in March. I recently counted how many of his books I’ve read (at least 30; a few I’m fuzzy on), and while it is a lot, it is no where near everything he’s written. I’ve “retired” from reading his stuff a couple times.[2] I once again feel like I probably don’t need to read any more of his books. But I also know it will only take one good review or recommendation from a friend for me to pick it up should be publish something new and compelling. I was also thinking about re-reading The Dark Tower series. Some of those books I’ve read 2–3 times, but the later ones I’ve only read once. That feels like a project that would occupy my time for several weeks. While I would love to revisit Roland Deschain and his compatriots, there are a lot of other books I want/need to read, not to mention things to watch on TV. I think it was enough to pause my reading for two weeks to get through The Stand a second time. At least for now…