Review: Stephen King’s The Stand (Forty Years Old!)

“People who try hard to do the right thing always seem mad.”

It’s World Book Day today! In celebration, I’d like to take you back forty years ago. Stephen King released his first true epic: The Stand. I’ve only managed to read it twice, as the “The Complete And Uncut Edition” I have is 1162 pages! Yes, I’ve re-read King’s IT countless times and that’s about the same size as The Stand. But I came to The Stand a lot later in life than I did IT. IT has a certain nostalgia for me; The Stand has zero nostalgia. So I read it without bias, without a memory of a different time. I’ll approach it again this year, but as it stands, The Stand ranks as one of King’s best novels.

HAMMY’S TOP 10…POTENTIAL REMAKES OF STEPHEN KING FILM ADAPTATIONS

Stephen King’s IT is lighting up the jaded box office around the world as I’m typing this sentence. It’s hit the biggest opening weekend for a film released in September, for a horror film, and is the second biggest opening weekend for an R-rated film (just behind Deadpool). Right now, Hollywood executives must be trawling the back catalogue of Stephen King books to cash in on this gold mine. Of course, IT has a sequel to follow. On the negative side, The Dark Tower slumped (IT took more on one day than The Dark Tower did for its entire theatrical release).