Helpful Score: 1
I read this book every five years or so. It never ceases to scare me. The movie of the same name follows the main storyline although one does not always understand the motiviation behind some of the decisions the characters make in the movie. I found the movie to be a good supplement to the novel since it allowed me to "see" places I otherwise did not have a "visual" of. The novel is based on an earlier short story written by Stephen King.
The story runs parallel to the plague epidemic of the Middle Ages or flu epidemic of the early 1900's but with a major twist. Like those epidemics, this one kills off most of humanity. The book, however, came out about the same time as the AIDS epidemic was made public in the United States. However, like AIDS, plague and flu, there are some who do not "catch" the disease despite repeated exposure. Although King explores, very creepily, what could happen to modern society in such a situation, he does provide additional characters with knowledge to bring back some of the modern technology in order to keep the story going. For example, it is a bit unbelievable to see only one or two people bring back electricity to a fairly large area - and keep it running - when it generally take several people to keep a plant running. There are other parts that are suspiciously unbelievable when viewed according to reality however, the main characters are believable and fairly well-rounded while many of the secondary charaters could be better fleshed out. But this is a work of fiction - could happen - but fiction just the same.
This is also a classic battle of good versus evil. As always, evil seems to have the upper hand although good struggles to prevail. In a way, this story is circular, having returned to the beginning when it reaches the end. Evil triumphs, then good, then evil and so on. What exactly Randall Flagg is remains a mystery but one is left with the impression that the battle between good and evil is not over.
The story runs parallel to the plague epidemic of the Middle Ages or flu epidemic of the early 1900's but with a major twist. Like those epidemics, this one kills off most of humanity. The book, however, came out about the same time as the AIDS epidemic was made public in the United States. However, like AIDS, plague and flu, there are some who do not "catch" the disease despite repeated exposure. Although King explores, very creepily, what could happen to modern society in such a situation, he does provide additional characters with knowledge to bring back some of the modern technology in order to keep the story going. For example, it is a bit unbelievable to see only one or two people bring back electricity to a fairly large area - and keep it running - when it generally take several people to keep a plant running. There are other parts that are suspiciously unbelievable when viewed according to reality however, the main characters are believable and fairly well-rounded while many of the secondary charaters could be better fleshed out. But this is a work of fiction - could happen - but fiction just the same.
This is also a classic battle of good versus evil. As always, evil seems to have the upper hand although good struggles to prevail. In a way, this story is circular, having returned to the beginning when it reaches the end. Evil triumphs, then good, then evil and so on. What exactly Randall Flagg is remains a mystery but one is left with the impression that the battle between good and evil is not over.
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