Reading the Chunksters discussion
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The Stand
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The Stand 05: Chapters 26-28
It sure doesn't feel like we're already one quarter through. I had forgotten how easy this novel reads.. faster than a bullet.. faster than captain trips travelling through the land? :D
I agree Nath! This is a great choice for a book club because it really keeps people interested. Everyone is doing great with discussion participation and sharing thoughts. It's not always easy to pick selections for a group.
This time it was spot on! I'll start today with this weeks intake. But I'm looking forward to reading other chunksters together, this is a really productive system to keep you going.
@ Andrea: And thanks for the friend add.. The pleasure is all mine!
Nath, I think we have a great group of people and that is really helping the discussion as well. We seem to mesh well as a group and communicate well, not to mention being respectful of each others different opinions.PS...the pleasure is mine! :)~
I really enjoy the time I spend with you guys!
Andrea wrote: "Nath, I think we have a great group of people and that is really helping the discussion as well. We seem to mesh well as a group and communicate well, not to mention being respectful of each others..."I totally agree! This is a blast! :)
Agreed as well. I love the fact that it all comes so natural. Also, this group being relatively small compared to the others, does it good as well. :) Keeps us closer together. Crowds tend to scare me a bit.
Small is definitely good! :)
I like the smaller group as well. I joined one of the larger groups and I had to get out after a couple of weeks. I spent so much time just trying to catch up on posts that I wasn't getting to really participate and it was taking a huge chunk of reading time away!
I am now officially caught up (and actually passed where we should be)...are we allowed to discuss yet or have to wait until the end of the week? I don't want to break protocol here. :)
I will jump in with some comments about this weeks chapters :-) I am surprised that it has taken so long for information to come leaking out and we can see the break down of social order. In this day and age, I wonder if the government would have been able to keep something like this epidemic a secret for so long? With internet, texting, twitter-ing, independent radio and everything else....I wonder if it would have been benificial to have the technology? Would it help to protect people or would it only lead to social chaos faster?? Hmmmm......
Andrea wrote: "I like the smaller group as well. I joined one of the larger groups and I had to get out after a couple of weeks. I spent so much time just trying to catch up on posts that I wasn't getting to real..."I had the same experience. In those groups, there isn't much talking, as there is stating opinions going on. Just too much.
@ gwyneth: Thx for the friend add. :) On this part of our reading adventure..
I haven't read it all yet.
I loved the chapter where you saw Captain Trips go from being inside everyone's mind to their mouths and the goverments failing attempts to keep the lid on it. I remember from the tv-series that Kathy Bates played a little part as the radio announcer who got killed.
At the moment enwrapped in the further Larry story. More to come.
Feel free to discuss the book up to chapter 29 here. People who have not read this weeks chapters yet should know better then to lurk here, right?Everyone who sent me a friend request - Thanks! I'm excited to have some new book friends, you guys are great! :)
Hey All! After getting sidetracked and forgetting to read for a couple of weeks, I have finally caught up and let me just say I'm absolutely loving this story. I love the horror that encompasses me when I read sentences like...And then she sneezed. I guess I kind of expect it now but it still gives me the creeps.
I thought the scene where they are executing white soldiers to be very disturbing and I was excited when that section ended. But I understand the necessity of showing the horrors of fear. (Although did they REALLY need to be in loin cloths?!)
I haven't read much King (The Body, The Shining and now The Stand) and what i've come to realize is what makes King stand above the others, is rarely the supernatural event, but rather the way he portrays humanities response to fear and panic. That's what brings the reality and makes it all the more uncomfortable to read.
King's famous formula is simply put.. create a disasterous event and then go and find out how people react to it. He's close to his characters, and so we are close on their skin also. I loved getting to know more about Larry and Frannie. Also the introduction of a character I don't like. I'm not going to tell spoilers, but Harold ain't no friend of mine.
Larry's story I found a bit weird. He lost his mother and he's roaming the streets of NY, not sure whether to stay or to go, and encountered someone else. It's stated several times that's she's suffering from nervous ticks and she doesn't come off quite sane in her going on's either. On the surface she seems well-adjusted, but there is a gut feeling I have that Larry might have been better dining with the monster screamer.
The Frannie chapter made me compassionate about her again. She lost her father and can't understand, she lost almost the whole world population with it. She's alone, faced with decision we shouldn't be bothered with normally. Trying to give her father a proper burial, another Ogunquit survivor enters the scene. Frannie described him rather subjective and I can't but share her opinion. I don't like Harold. He's got something sneaky about him.
And for the record.. I'm LOVING it that all of you see that the King of horror isn't that scary after all. :)
I can understand the treshold. I never felt it myself, I just wanted to grow up quickly and began reading his novels as early as 11, so I might not always understand why some are intimidated by him.
I'm so happy you guys are reformed now. ;) He'll be buying himself a third house in no time! lol.
Is it just me or does anyone else dislike Larry? I just can't care for him and I think that's the point, that the people who aren't killed are a kind of random splattering (although they all seem to be white no?) anyways, I kind of dread larry's storyline.
@ Teal: I, too, tend to find the Larry chapters a tad dull.And I've also wondered about the racial composition of the survivors--the group so far is entirely Caucasian, I think. I've definitely been bothered by that.
Finished this week's chapters. Harold Lauder is hilarious. I love the pretentious way he speaks--a 16 year old geek, hated by the world, trying to make himself feel that he's better than it all. I hope we see more of him.
@ Teal: Larry's just a example of how not everyone is purely selfless and he is a tad ego-centric, but keep on reading, you'll be surprised what a pandemic can do! :) @ Loretta: It doesn't stay that way. Trust me. Of course you'll have to take into fact that this is written in the 80's and we are still on our way to ban racism out of the streets. I think King just wanted a big audience and that's why most of his books then were mostly white inside and out.
@ Nath: I'd actually just assumed that, because he's a White author, most of his characters are as well, since that's what he "knows." I wouldn't have much of a problem with it if it were in any other situation but the last people left on Earth. Like, the family in The Shining is White, and that's fine, because it's just the insular little story of one family, and he's writing the kind of characters that he knows/understands. But if all the survivors left on Earth are White... that's another story entirely. I'll wait and see if he includes other races in the group of survivors, though I'll be a bit disappointed if none of them are as important as our main cast of 4 (or is it 5?).
I don't want to give out big spoilers, but I don't think you'll be disappointed :)
@Nath, I know that's what King is doing, but it doesn't make me want to read Larry's chapters. Although maybe it will pick up.
I know someone disliking Harold, but I agree with Loretta in that I find him hilarious and has the potential for some endearing qualities.
Larry is a classic example of coming of age, IMO. :)
I haven't read all of the posts here since I am not finished with this section yet. I am only partway through Chapter 27, but I had to say....1. I like smaller groups, too. I know what you mean about larger groups spending too much time catching up on posts.
2. It's about time someone started fighting back against the government in this book.
I also have a question. The original book was published in 1978 according to my copy, but the expanded edition was published in 1991. It appears that King did more than just add back stuff that had been taken out since there are dates listed in the 1980s, which would be after the original publishing date. Am I right, or did I miss something?
In the uncut edition he changed dates, even though it's a bit confusing sometimes. Somehow I wish I had the cut version as well, that's the one I read when I was a kid, can you imagine the nostalgia? :)
@ Nath: I think the biggest place where you can notice it is in technological advances that were in place in 1990 that weren't around in 1978.I think I remember noticing King referring to Larry's records, when by 1990 people were mostly listening to either tapes or CDs.
Mostly, I think he did a good job updating though. I just remember thinking "What? No one listened to records in 1990!"
I think I forgot to post my thoughts on this group of chapters! I got a little ahead and I didn't want to post any spoilers by accident.I'm most shocked about what is going on with the media trying to get the right news out and the government doing everything that they can to hide the truth. I almost have to laugh at these parts because really how can they hide it anymore and is there a point in trying to hide anything because most people are just going to die anyhow.
I feel so bad about Frannie's dad. However, it would have been to predictable and let him live just because King knew he was crafting a stand-up-kind-of-a-guy character that would be well liked and respected by readers.
I'm just about to finish this weeks chapters so I don't want to mix up notes....hahah
Finished this part and am now on to week 5. I am hoping to be caught up by the end of this week. I agree that King couldn't let Frannie's Dad live, but it would have been nice. He seemed such a great guy. I agree Andrea, with your comment about the military trying to hide the truth and the media trying to put it out there. Who is there to hide the truth from anymore? It almost seems like a case of old habits die hard.
This book is so interesting, I am really enjoying it. Can't wait to finish another section.
@ Lyn and Andrea: I had the same reaction at first as well, but then part of me began to wonder what would happen if the entire world knew that an unstoppable contagion was spreading everywhere? Wouldn't there have been a lot more violence? For example, if you thought that hiding away someplace remote might save you life, might you not attempt to forcibly remove the people who are already there from that location?In the end, I don't think the government should have covered this up, but I wonder how much more chaos there might have been if people knew that the sickness was spreading.
I mean, the world's population was going to die anyway, but more of the natural survivors might have been killed in the frenzy.
Of course, now I feel weird that I just argued in favor of a government cover-up. :-P
Hahaha Loretta, I think your insight is also very true and something to think about. I think the rate at which people are dying kept me from thinking about people hurting other people to be saved. Lynn, I'm still mourning the loss of Frannie's dad, such a sweet and honest man! I can't wait to read more!
Frannie's dad was a really sad moment for me. I think it really just goes to show you that good or bad.....the virus chooses randomly.....it's just what those that survive choose to with this 2nd chance at life.
Good insight Kathy, I guess it wouldn't be good writing if the characters that "stay" become predictable. I thought since he was becoming rather developed we had a shot at keeping him...hahah King is just keeping us on our toes.....
I think our getting to know him made us feel his death more. We were more invested in his character, we lost one of our friends.
Well said Kathy. What I do find odd, is that some characters that have been mentioned, King doesn't let on how they died.
For instance Jessy.. You know he didn't survive, but I wouldn't have mind a 411 on how it went for him.. I hope he suffered! :)
I think he was just kinda on the sideline of Franny's story. I also don't think he was a bad kid...he has alot of growing up to do, sure.....but I don't think he deserved to suffer in anyway. If anything, he was willing to do whatever she needed and be there for her. It was Frannie that just realized she had outgrown him sorta.
Still.. he could have done more. Even with her having decided she didn't want to be with him, he didn't act out of chivalry. But I'm just sensitive towards fathers dodging there responsibilities, even when it's not their initial response.
I forgot about Jessy! hahahah
@ Andrea: Yeah, when Nath first mentioned Jessy above, I had a moment where I stopped and just thought, "Jessy? Jessy who? Ohhhhhhhhhh, yeah."That's interesting too, because it seems to indicate that he's not on Frannie's mind either. The people she really loved and cared about (her dad, her friends from the town, even her mother) were running around her head, but Jessy didn't even enter the picture.
Weird Loretta! I guess King knew that readers would be bothered by how she got pregnant so he fed us a few scraps of that story. I also think that it was a good way to go because it a unsuspecting way to that real story!
Probably because I read it 3 times, that side-charachters stick longer in my head. :)
I'm always catching side things I missed or had forgotten! :)
Ooh! The plot thickens...We are seeing more of a rebellion from both civilians and the military! I remember Ray Flowers being played by Kathie Bates in the mini-series, very well done!
Amy, you are catching right up hunny!
Yeah, I'm trying, really should be doing school work though...
Amy wrote: "Ooh! The plot thickens...We are seeing more of a rebellion from both civilians and the military! I remember Ray Flowers being played by Kathie Bates in the mini-series, very well done!"
Seems Kathy Bates is on our minds a lot when it comes to SK adaptations :)
Amy, Amy, Amy....from one student to another it is almost not even thinkable that you would rather do school work then study. Should I feel guilty for skimming my text while I reread section of the Stand?...lol Aren't you so glad we sucked you in like a Hoover? :))
LOL Andrea! If only reading The Stand would help me pass my finals!
If it helps you, I read the stand and aced all my finals!...lol I need it as a break to refresh my head now and then.
Please post your thought for this weeks chapters and happy reading fellow Stand members!!