Opinions of reading The Stand 'The Complete & Uncut Version'

[snipenekkid]

In another thread Sparrow & JSWolf made mention of having read this novel. I am curious from those who read this or the original released version how you liked the 'Complete & Uncut' version of The Stand.

I never read the original released book but did enjoy the mini-series very much. I have had 'The Stand' on my to read list for a while but always with King books made into movies I found reading the books after to be a mixed bag. Sometimes the book has much more to offer and others it almost feels like the only reason the book was released was to leverage the King name and fans to generate extra cash because the book was the same as the movie or TV mini-series.

I will add I don't read a lot from King. Over the years maybe a half dozen or so novels. Exactly which ones I cannot recall, though Carrie obviously comes to mind as maybe the first King novel I might have read. The actual very first King story I ever read is one I will never forget as it left such a vivid impression. The short story was one he wrote for Playboy in the 70s. And all I can remember about the basic plot, a few specific bits here and there along with the fact that after reading the story, ponds made me feel creepy whenever I went swimming in them for about a year afterwards. (I will not even mention what reading Jaws when I was about 10 did and still does to me when swimming in the ocean.) There was this pond with a floating dock or platform in the middle where one could swim out then relax in the sun for a while before swimming back. In this pond was some sort of entity that resembled a big black blob of 'stuff' with a taste for people. To my 13yr old mind it was very captivating as well as, scary in the way any story that folds in enough real life putting the reader's own life experiences into the story does.

And YES, even at that age I did enjoy the articles in the stack of Playboys I had secreted away. The level of the writing was actually excellent back then and exposed me to writers whose works I sought ever since. The nekkid girls did not hurt at all either, I just eventually considered them a delivery system for the articles and short stories. Face it once you have seen one nekkid girl in a magazine you have seen them all, and they all look pretty good.

Anyway back to The Stand. It would be interesting to hear from those who read both versions or even just the longer 'Uncut' version. There is one rather scathing review on Amazon in which the writer seems to take King to task for actually rewriting the work not offering the original version. Based on that review it would seem to justify the existence of editors in the novel writing process. Problem was that reviewer wrote four reviews on the site all about King works and all negative. So it is hard to tell if it was the reader or King himself who was bored with King novels.

I ask simply because I have seen and loved the mini-series and if the original novel was essentially the same content there is really no point in reading the original. But this 'Uncut" version has me intrigued, especially as I never knew it existed until the comments about it in the 'Longest ebook you have read and liked' thread.

[Dragoro]

Uhh far as I can remember, not one book by king was released after there was a movie, so Id like to know how you figure he released a book just to leverage his name to raise extra cash.

[Moejoe]

I've read the original 'cut' version and there was a version out in the mid-80's, was it, that was touted as the 'uncut' or was it 'unabridged' version. Is there yet another version out that is actually more than the 'uncut' version, or is it basically the same but repackaged? Or has he rewritten and added parts?

Now I'm doubting my own memory

In any case I spent countless nights on the very first version I read and loved every minute of it. On a second reading (with what I'm now calling the Phantom edition) it was still good, but the ending sucked. Maybe that's because my tastes had changed more between the first and second readings. But on that second reading, I recall a massive sense of disappointment at the end. I only watched about half of the mini-series, which I wasn't too keen on, couldn't really compare to what I'd imagined.

If he has added more to this 'extended' edition I'd be very annoyed. Dean Koontz did a similar thing with Demon Seed awhile back, updated all the references and technology in the book. Ruined it as far as I'm concerned.

[Dragoro]

Yeah Moejoe, theres a newer version with a much longer ending, the book is about 400 pages longer now.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Dragoro

Yeah Moejoe, theres a newer version with a much longer ending, the book is about 400 pages longer now.

400 pages longer than the uncut edition that I read years ago, or is it the same one just re-branded? Goddamn, why don't they just leave them alone!

[Sparrow]

I enjoyed my read of the long version of 'The Stand', it's a very entertaining yarn.

I've read a few of King's works over the years, but I wouldn't say he's one of my favourite authors. 'The Stand' was one of the best of his that I've read.

[Dragoro]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

400 pages longer than the uncut edition that I read years ago, or is it the same one just re-branded? Goddamn, why don't they just leave them alone!

400 longer than the one you read years ago. This version came out in the mid 90s i believe.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Dragoro

400 longer than the one you read years ago. This version came out in the mid 90s i believe.

Thanks Dragoro Man, what else has he put in there? It was long enough back when I read the other editions. I don't know if I could manage to read it now

[desertgrandma]

The story you are thinking of is called "The Raft", and is included in the short story collection, "Skeleton Crew" First Published in 1982, in "Gallery" magazine.

The Complete and Uncut The Stand" is much better, than the orginal book, in my opinion.

King came out with it because when he first published "The Stand" they made him cut out so much.........when he was more established, he was able to re-insert the missing pages, and publish it the way he orignially intended.

Watching the mini series and reading the books are not comparable

Reading the books lets you know somuch more about what the characters are thinking, and why they do what they do.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

The story you are thinking of is called "The Raft", and is included in the short story collection, "Skeleton Crew" First Published in 1982, in "Gallery" magazine.

YEAH, that was it...loved that story! I would have bet money it was a Playboy story though. Shows how much the rest of the mag mattered to to me that I always remembered it as from Playboy not Gallery. THANKS for passing on the origin. I will try and find a copy of that short story collection for sure.

The Complete and Uncut The Stand" is much better, than the orginal book, in my opinion.

King came out with it because when he first published "The Stand" they made him cut out so much.........when he was more established, he was able to re-insert the missing pages, and publish it the way he orignially intended.

Watching the mini series and reading the books are not comparable

Reading the books lets you know somuch more about what the characters are thinking, and why they do what they do.

Glad to read it was better. I as I mention I am not a King evangelist so I read his works infrequently. But The Stand was really nicely done as the mini-series I always thought about reading the novel, something I never like doing with any author after the fact or even the other way 'round. That was likely the only real reason I never bought a copy of the novel, I had watched the mini-series and liked it as is. To me reading the novel after can polarize me as a reader to not allow the story as written happen as the author intended. Given my choice I will always read the novel and fore-go the movie. I, Robot was actually a nice exception as it was a totally different story yet Starship Troopers was a dismal adaptation of a wonderful novel where the movie vastly missed the point of the novel. Still SsT was a fun movie as a DVD rental, just not what I had been anticipating by a fair margin.

[carld]

I downloaded the "Complete and Uncut" PDF from Clevnet just to check, and it exactly matches the content and page count of my 1990 hardback copy, as far as I can tell. And yes, the uncut version is superior to the earlier one; it's certainly my favorite King novel.

btw: He apparently hates to hear that this is someone's favorite book, as it means he did his best work over 30 years ago.

Edit: 30 not 20, opps.

[carld]

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

To me reading the novel after can polarize me as a reader to not allow the story as written happen as the author intended. Given my choice I will always read the novel and fore-go the movie. I, Robot was actually a nice exception as it was a totally different story yet Starship Troopers was a dismal adaptation of a wonderful novel where the movie vastly missed the point of the novel. Still SsT was a fun movie as a DVD rental, just not what I had been anticipating by a fair margin.

It's odd, I've found that reading the book first will almost always ruin the movie, but not the other way around. I suppose it's because the book is usually a much deeper and richer (not to mention longer) experience.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by carld

btw: He apparently hates to hear that this is someone's favorite book, as it means he did his best work over 20 years ago.

hahahaha, don't we all dread hearing our best work was 30yrs ago! Such is life I suppose. I just finished watching an interesting movie called Proof which addresses that topic in a way that is similar to A Beautiful Mind. If you are at all appreciative of either academia or the politics of mathematics it's worth a rental and 90 mins or so of your life.

[snipenekkid]

Originally Posted by carld

It's odd, I've found that reading the book first will almost always ruin the movie, but not the other way around. I suppose it's because the book is usually a much deeper and richer (not to mention longer) experience.

On one level I do have to agree even though for the most part the movie will make reading the novel either too trivial (if the movie parrots the novel too closely) or difficult to get into the spirt. In fact I can recall one, no actually two, specific instances where the book was vastly better than the movies. That was Day of the Dolphin and Jaws (there is that freaky book AGAIN!) Jaws the movie was nowhere near as chilling to me as the novel. And the movie made from Day of the Dolphin was just plain embarrassing to Robert Merle.

I think in most cases it's the Ludlum and Clancy type novels which the movie sort of ruins the reading for me personally. Even Ian Flemming is far better as a novel but once I watched the movie I just did not read the novel after the first couple.

I will say I had such a difficult time getting into the whole Tolkien Hobbit series that I enjoyed the movies far more. I might not have had the literary maturity to read The Hobbit way back when, as I was just starting to expand beyond the ray-guns and rocketships mode for my SciFi reading. These days I have promised myself I WILL read the series from the beginning with The Hobbit. In other words it is a case where the movie did inspire me to read the novels. And if I read The Hobbit before the movie comes out in 2012 it might be fun for me.

Harry Potter books are another good example of my enjoyment of the book being diminished by the movie if I do not read the novel first. I have also decided that once I have read the novel, I wait for the DVD or even audiobook. One has to just love Jim Dale's reading of the novels. But I alos like Steven Fry's reading too. coin toss I suppose. Just wish we could buy them on Audible. Though given Amazon's recent shennagians I am not sure I will be supporting Audible anymore either.

[Over]

This was my first and only King's book I've read and I've enjoyed it very much. I could imagine a better ending, but the most important is the ride, right?