Halfway through The Stand - or Standing on One Leg

Well, I have reached Boulder, CO - the halfway point of The Stand. My intention when I started reading this version was to see if I could notice the discrepancies between the two versions. I have noticed a few, but more than that, I feel like I have missed things, like maybe I was not paying attention when I was reading. But, I know that is not the case.

Instead, my focus has been to notice the similarities between The Stand and Lord of the Rings. I would not have thought about it if not for reading King's inspiration. LOTR is such an iconic work, such an epic, that it is difficult to not pay homage to it. Yes, you can argue that it is the Hero's Journey and Tolkein was not writing an original story - that's fine. Either way, I love the little ways, overt and covert, that LOTR shows up in this book.
Let's start with the simple fact that both novels are happening in a time when things have collapsed - in both books, people are walking through cities that were once bright and shining. In this 'time after' there comes the epic battle between good and evil. Who will prevail? Mother Abigal, 108 years old, blessed with forsight, is Gandalf, the wizard, ancient and seemingly blessed with forsight. The bad guy, Randall Flagg, uses a black stone with a red flaw that often looks like an eye (the palantir frim LOTR). Not to mention the fact that people feel Flagg as a red eye that sees them from afar. There are many more instances, and I think that I love each and everyone!

A couple of other things to share:

• There is one mention of swine flu. I would not have caught this before, but last year when H1N1 was quite the subject, there was some discussion of the swine flu scare in the 70s.
• Page 122 is the first mention of Oswald (as in Lee Harvey) in a King novel. Interesting, because his latest book (at this writing) is 11/22/63 in which Oswald is featured heavily.
• Larry wonders at how clear the air seems and what "they had been doing to the planet." Notable because in September of 2001, there was an increase in temperature difference between night and day, due to all planes being grounded. Amazing how nature bounces back, after just a couple of days.
• I have a lot of irritation for the mini series that was created, because in my mind, Stu Redman is Gary Sinese and Frannie Goldsmith is Molly Ringwald. I wish that was not so.