Chapter 69-END

[Vicky]

Woo hoo we made it! What did everyone think? Give your final thoughts on the book here :)

[Vicky]

Well I loved this! When I read it the first time I definitely read the edited down version, so I liked the extra stuff that this edition had. I loved the way it ended with Tom and Stu coming back to Denver, and seeing things move forward and such. The climax with the whole “hand of God” was good but also a little anticlimactic. I wanted more of a showdown there, but oh well. I was sad that Larry, Ralph and Glen died. But my guy Tom made it!! This is definitely still one of my favorite King novels for sure. I loved the characters, the story, and even though it wasn’t particularly scary to me it had some creepy moments for sure. I’m glad I finally got around to rereading it. I’ll have to tackle a reread of It in the future as well, since that one is a favorite too but also a long one! I hope all of you that made it this far have enjoyed the read :)

[Mike]

Loved it as well. Having just read this a few years ago, I wondered if this reread would lessen the impact of the book. Not a bit! I'm still floored by the epic scale of this book and how fantastic it is. Thinking back to the beginning of the book with Stu at the gas station, Larry and Rita, and Nick getting jumped and beat up...it seems so far away by the end of the book.

I agree, Vicky. The "hand of God" ending to Flagg and Vegas seemed a bit anti-climatic. It does make me smile though that Trash played a part in it.

Having just read Swan Song by Robert McCammon, I was curious how it would measure up to this rereading of The Stand, and it is really difficult to pick one over the other. Both of them are 5 star books.

[Mike]

Also, I really want to read the original release of this book again. In my brain, this is a 70's novel...probably because the first time I read it I was a teen in the 80's...so it always strikes me as weird when I find bits that King must have changed to make the story more relevant to the times when the uncut version was published. Things like the mention of the band Dokken, are jarring to me and takes me out of the story a bit so I want to revisit the original and see how that one reads.