LOST Book Club discussion
the stand discussion thread
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Yes Val! Thanks for starting this thread!Can't write to much right now. But, I do have tons of comments!!
I've got a lot of time on my hands and can't think of a better way to spend it than reading like a loon, so, here are more connections from chapter 6 through 24, don't read it if you're not there yet, I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. I paired it with the page number so you can find it in your book:pg. 49 the Larry character is described by his mother, "there was good in Larry, great good. It was there, but this late on it would take nothing short of a catastrophe to bring it out." -- this reminds me most of Jack's role in the series
pg. 106 the Stu character has a dream... "A cloud came over the sun. He began to be afraid. He began to feel that there was something terrible, something worse than plague, fire, or earthquake. Something was in the corn and it was watching him. Something dark was in the corn." -- I thought this was similar to the smoke monster
pg. 155 the Franny character is preggers and trying to decide what she wants to do with the baby as we just start to hear of this quickly spreading catastrophe -- very similar to the Claire character
pg 162 "the list, Franny, what the hell is this list, all of a sudden" -- I got really excited about this one, but nothing really has materialized with it yet in the story
pg 166 "we've salvaged what we can. It's enough. I'm convinced it's enough." Starkey, I have no idea what his character has been doing besides watching the monitors, has decided that he's done all he can do. Then, he gives the order to release the virus all over the world! That sucks! -- I have no idea what the connection is to lost, but it still feels like a theme we've seen before in the show
I plan on reading all day, so sorry everyone, you'll probably see more from me shortly! Please let me know if you'd like me to hold off on my posts or post in a different way.
Hey Everyone!So this is my review from chapters 1-23. So if you haven't read these, don't read any further.
So just a few things that stood out for me. I noticed that most of the main characters have had an injury that draws blood.
Frannie's bloody tongue, Larry's cut from the spatula. Nick's beating, specifically his knocked out teeth. So far these injuries seem to make our protagonist immune.
Stu doesn't seem to have been cut but is still immune.
Val, talked about the dream that Stu had in the cornfield with something watching him. *shivers*
I love how King is setting this story up. Very Lost like. Or should I say, Lost is very Stand like. Setting up the characters and the players of what is to come. I liked the pathetic fallacy King uses, with the storm coming in when Frannie and Larry's life's are being affected by, "Captain Trip" A.K.A Project blue. At the same time this disease is running rampant and picking up speed. This is the inciting incident, for the these two characters.
I haven't read a King novel since "The Shawshank Redemption" and I have forgotten how good an author he is. So far I love it and have a hard time putting it down.
I just finished chapter 23 where we are introduced to Randell Flagg, "The Dark Man". What a creepy introduction indeed!
A lone dark figure walking in the night on the highway sensing something coming. A "Cookout from God"
*the doomed music plays....duhn duhn duuuhhhhnnn*
I'm going to continue to put page numbers, although I realized we probably will all have different editions... also, there are SPOILERS below, don't go past what you've read!anyway, these are insights from chapters 25 through 46 (except for the first one)
pg 7 Charlie (the guy that spreads the flu) crashes into an "island" at a gas station... I've been thinking about this one for the entire book, so ironic :)
pg 184 Lloyd's lawyer is talking to him about the slim chances he has to be found innocent... something about this whole situation seemed important to the novel and reminded me of themes we've seen on lost before
pg 199 dying Jane Baker speaks to the power of love to the reluctant future-leader, Nick... love seems to conquer all on lost too
pg 207 some dying nutcase holds a sign that says "the time of the disappearance is here".. lots of people (and planes) go missing in lost too
pg 214 "things fall apart. The center does not hold"... this was said somewhere else in the novel, cool, but not sure how it relates
pg 251 Stu reads Watership Down and holds "going tharn" in his memory, which is when one is paralized with fear... the Watership Down reference is a cool parallel, but can't think of any lost characters that have gone "tharn"
pg 256 the word lost is in italics and is the only word in the sentence... neat :)
pg 295 Rita (talking with Larry) talks about the lawlessness that has resulted and likens it to a "jungle"... lost takes place in a hot, tropical, jungle-like setting
pg 326 a dog character is introduced and seems to be the only dog around... like Vincent
pg 362 there's a shack in the middle of a field... like Jacob's shack in the middle of the woods
pg 375 Larry meets Glenn, a sociologist, whom has some sobering insight "society will reappear. Notice I didn't use the word 'reform.'" and later, "show me a man or woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society.' Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in sever years they'll reinvent warfare."
pg 435 Larry, another of our reluctant heroes, feels a change inside of himself, a change for the better after meeting up with Nadine and the little boy, Joe... not sure if he's more like Locke or Jack, but he's important nonetheless
pg 439 don't know why I didn't think of this before, but Larry is a rock n' roll star and has his guitar with him... like Charlie in lost
pg 445 Larry and Nadine have a conversation about chance and destiny and Larry says "if we don't have each other, we go crazy with loneliness. When we do, we go crazy with togetherness. when we get together we build miles of summer cottages and kill each other in the bars on Saturday night."... lots of talk about blind chance v. destiny on lost
okay, everyone, sorry for my excessive talking!
Hey all (anyone besides Patrick reading this?), I'm back to blab and cannot wait to tell you about chapters 44 through 47!SPOILERS BELOW!
pg 457 Mother Abigale might be like the Jacob character when we first "met" him in the cabin in the woods... jacob seemed old, frail, and important too!
pg 465 Larry had a woman, Nadine, with him when he leaves New York whom passes away. She keeps haunting his dreams... like Jack's deceased father Christian
pg 488 Another neat parallel with Mother Abigale's shack is "where the tar stopped and the road went to dirt"... the shack in the woods had an ash line around it and things got spooky when it was crossed
pg 502 I've never read the novel "the shining," but I love the movie. In the movie the "shining" is like ESP. "The shining" and "the stand" were written in succession and--cool, so cool--Steven King talks about "the shining" or "the shine" in this book... I like to think that the characters on lost are going to have to deal with the fact that it may be more fate--more "shine"--than chance or coincidence. Take that Jack! You big doubter!
pg 512 Even though Harrold seems like a weirdo, there is a love triangle forming between him, Stu, and Frannie... ahhh, reminds me of my boyfriend Sawyer trying to win Kate's heart as she gaa-gaas over Jack
pg 514 Franny has a dream that the "dark man" is after her baby... Claire also has nightmares that the others are after her baby
pg 515 Ugh, Steven King's chauvinism is showing (I don't hold it TOO much against him because this novel was written in the 70s. Also, since I'm dealing the sexism card, I'll throw the racism card too. Sorry, Steven.... but, thank god for the strong, independent female characters and various ethnic and religious backgrounds in lost!
pg 528 A swollen appendix in need of medical care... hmm, Jack had an appendectomy too
pg 530 What good is your real world education when the real world crumbles around you?... love the theme of self-sufficiency and living off of the land that is the basis of a show on a deserted island
pg 535 "if there are any Jesuit survivors of the superflu, they must be going absolutely bananas"... literally laughed out loud with this quote because it reminds me of that series "left behind" (on the lost booklist)
pg 537 "Staunton's deduction was that people know which planes and trains are going to crash... that they are unconsciously predicting the future"... so cool! see?! how could it be chance, jack?
Wow, you are both very thorough with your comparisons! Thanks for sharing. You've both brought up points I never even considered when I was reading it.
I am reading it too, Val, but I am behind you. I'm only at Chapter 11. I am looking forward to joining in the conversation once I get a little further into the book!
Hey guys! Finally jumping in on this conversation. I'm just about to finish chapter 18, so I'm a little behind. Luckily I have a long commute every day to catch up ;)The similarities I've found have been more through character archetypes than content. I'm rewatching season 3 of Lost right now so I'm hoping that'll jog my memory as I keep reading the Stand. So far we have the un-wed pregnant character (Frannie/Claire) and the druggie successful musician (Larry/Charlie), however Stu and Nick's characters share some similarities with other characters on Lost too. Like Nick, Sawyer had a rough childhood and lost his parents early on though Sawyer grew up more in foster homes. Stu's interment in the military hospital makes him show the same characteristics like Jack does when he's in the underwater holding tank in season 3.
The paranoia around sickness is also in both mediums. Though in Lost that paranoia of sickness fades in season 4, it's very present in the first three seasons. Desmond has an intense fear of entering the outside world because he's been conditioned to think there's a sickness outside. Juliette is brought aboard to help solve the pregnancy sickness that affects every mother on the Island. These aren't the "flu" like in King's novel but there are similar characteristics about how they are handled.
Other than that, I'm really enjoying it!
Man... there's so much. There's so much that I hadn't thought about, and I thought about a lot.
I liked the comparison of Mother Abigail's shack to Jacob's.
Is anyone still reading the books? I've been battling to find people who are interested in reading all the books with me - so far I've read 24 of the 89.Join me, here's what I've managed to get through so far:
http://www.iwantadodo.com/?page_id=592
Great website Tamarin! I'll read with you! What are you planning on reading next?
charlie is the name of the guy that spread the flu -- lost has a charlie who's dead too
the clock goes from green to red and stop at 06:13:90:02:37:16 similar to 04:08:15:16:23:42 (which would be April 8, 1915/2015, 23 minutes and 42 seconds past 4 PM) -- does that mean anything?
red holds significance when talking about Stuart Redman--whom appears to be immune--and Fran's bleeding tongue (we'll probably find out she's immune later) -- can't think of any connection here
there's a man sitting in a control lab looking at various monitors and the people on the monitors are wearing coveralls -- the others fit nicely into this mold
but, this dauntingly enourmous book is WAY more interesting than what I had originally thought! I look forward to the insights you all have to offer :)