So, I have taken on the challenge of reading The Stand, under normal circumstances this would be no challenge, BUT this is the uncut extended version clocking in at around 1,125 pages. I've read books close to 1,000 pages before...well, just Swan Song, really. The longest Harry Potter book is around 800 and I did read about half of It and promised I would finish it....eventually.
I'm not saying this because I am intimidated by long books, just because of my short attention span with books. Most that I read are between 400 and 600 pages, with a few 250's thrown in. I don't get a lot of reading time, so if I'm taking a solid month to read one book, it has to be worth it. So far...eh.
The problem I have with King is he tends to ramble on and on and on and on with tons of back story. I don't need back story, character development does not require it. I am identifying with characters just fine by skimming through the back stories. Of course, when I picked the un-cut version I should have realized I was going to get more blah, blah, blah than people who read the original....about 400 more pages of blah.
Still, I am 51% done so far, and it isn't bad but I do believe Swan Song by Robert McCammon is a better post apocalyptic tale and keeps the reader way more interested. You learn the background of the main characters immediately instead of constantly going back and droning on.
Oh, and, surviving after a nuclear attack with everything destroyed and a seven year nuclear winter is a lot harder than living in a world ravaged by a super flu, so hats off to the characters in Swan Song for dealing with that.
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I thought The Stand was King's best (whatever that's worth) when I read it probably twenty years ago. I also then read the uncut version, about four years later.
ReplyDeleteI don't read his stuff any more. Think he's noticed?
You need to read the Shades of Grey series and instead of reading that strange ass shit written by that freak-assed Steven King! Do you know the differnce kinky and weird? Kinky is using a feather; weird is a live chicken!
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But would nuclear winter cancel out global warming so we'd wind up with maybe perpetual spring? Anyway, guess I'll have to hunt up Swan Song and give it a read.
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