Problems with the ending

[thymeoperator]

i just wondered...what exactly happened? i want to make sure i didn't miss something. i read it some months back and i've read so many other books after that, i'm forgetting the names, but so the 2 'goodies' are about to be drawn and quartered. (that was terrifying, btw, i was expecting a graphic description of them being pulled apart, i was relieved it didn't come!) trashcan man appears creepily falling to bits from radiation sickness. flagg is shouting at him no what are you doing, get rid of it you fool, etc.

then flag just disappears? the bomb goes off, they all explode - and stan is left saying for the sake of good prevailing, you always need a sacrifice? i was confused. is this all that happened? it's just that...well i'm really sorry because i know it's near-blasphemy to say this! but i was so deeply disappointed with the ending. i LOVED the book up to that point. but then it felt like it was 2 mammoth stories shoved into one and how do you conclude them both satisfactorily? because then it's just stan and the other guy wandering across the deserts for something like 100 pages, which felt like a huge detour from the dramatic events that just occurred. i don't know...i just felt like there was no real conclusion to the story, and i'd invested so many pages of reading into it for no valid ending.

am i misreading this? please do correct me if i am because i'd love to see it differently. everyone said they loved this book so much, i was expecting it to be the best thing i'd ever read, and then it wasn't.

[adrianmarley]

I've always had a problem with the ending of The Stand. The whole hand of God thing bothered me. It just seemed like SK had written himself into a corner and didn't know how to get out of it. Having said that, I've only read the "cut" version of The Stand so I don't know if the ending in the uncut version is any different. I do love this book, but the ending always made it a 4-star book for me as opposed to a 5-star book.

Adrian.

[sam peebles]

I loved the ending. I didn't feel the hand of God was a cop out, due to the fact that a lot of the story was God oriented. I think it takes some guts, and skill, to write a scene like that, and Trashcan Man fit perfectly into the downfall of Flagg.

No, they didn't hablo espanol.

[sknut70]

I loved the ending.... all the bad folks went up in flames due to trashy. and The world can move on


but of course flag cant die

[Cynkris]

I never read the cut version, only the restored so I don't know the ending differences BUT if you have never read the restored book I urge you with my whole heart to do so! I felt the ending was perfect! The Stand is my favorite book of all time. My heart broke for The Trashcan Man and I felt that in his own way he was redeemed. I agree with an above post...the entire book was God centered...the ultimate Good VS. Evil. I loved Stu and Toms journey home.

[thymeoperator]

i guess i didn't miss anything and it's just a matter of you like it or you don't, then. that's a shame - i was really hoping i'd just overlooked some vital feature. i know the story was god-oriented, but i still felt it was a cop-out. i think it's probably also because it was barely reflected on, and then it was 100-150 pages of stuff that was totally unrelated, as if what just happened never happened at all. probably if it had been structured differently it wouldn't have bothered me so much i guess. i don't know.

[michal]

I believe you mean <b>Stu</b> Redman, he's the one who travels back through the desert with Tom Cullen, not Stan (I don't think there is a Stan in the story...) and I liked that traveling, the uncertainty regarding Fran's well being. Although, I admit, that bomb seemed a bit like: I've grown tired of this tale, how can I wrap it up real quickly. I also didn't see much point to keeling the important characters with the bomb. I mean -what was the point of them going to Vegas anyway? Just to laugh at Flag? Wouldn't they be laughing harder if they would have survived?

But hey, it's still an epic tale and one of my favorites.

[sknut70]

I believe you mean <b>Stu</b> Redman, he's the one who travels back through the desert with Tom Cullen, not Stan (I don't think there is a Stan in the story...) and I liked that traveling, the uncertainty regarding Fran's well being. Although, I admit, that bomb seemed a bit like: I've grown tired of this tale, how can I wrap it up real quickly. I also didn't see much point to keeling the important characters with the bomb. I mean -what was the point of them going to Vegas anyway? Just to laugh at Flag? Wouldn't they be laughing harder if they would have survived?

But hey, it's still an epic tale and one of my favorites.

They had to be sacrifices. that is what Mother Abigal was trying to tell them on her death bed. They must head into the dessert with nothing. it went on the whole faith based thing. walk hundreds of miles with nothing, show up in the pit of danger, and have faith that it is the right thing to do. If they never went west, when Trashy showed up with the nuke, there wouldnt have been the big crowd.

I did not think it a cop out all. I liked it! Trashy getting the nuke was a result of Flaggs ultimate screw up. He liked Trashy, thought he was going to be good for his possy and it turns out that Maybe trashy was a tool of god instead.

[thymeoperator]

yes sorry, i meant stu! as i said, i've read so many all in a row, i'm mixing up all the names now. i must have had 'it' in my head when i wrote 'stan'.

yeah you just reminded me of the other reason why it bugged me - because i didn't see the point to them traveling so far just to be killed almost on arrival. it just seemed so sudden and out of nowhere. i reckon, again, i'd have even liked them going back across the desert more if it hadn't followed the bomb thing. i just didn't like that way of wrapping things up.

[thymeoperator]

ahhh...okay i like the idea that they had to be out there in order to gather the crowd together so they could all be destroyed, yes that makes sense.