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SLOW READ: The Stand (Chapters 26 - 34)
Description
Welcome to SLOW READ, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle.
Hosted by Sarah Stewart Holland and Laura Tremaine
We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King (unabridged version)
You can find our full Reading Schedule here
Join the SLOW READ community on Substack for bonus episodes, book club meetings, and Side Quests with Sarah & Laura
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If you prefer to read instead of listen, below is a cleaned up transcript of the episodes as well as links to all the books and Substacks we mentioned in this episode…and several fun bonus links and videos!
Mentioned in this episode:
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Monsters A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
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Sarah: Hello, I am Sarah Stewart-Holland.
Laura: And I’m Laura Tremaine. Welcome to Slow Read, where we tackle the books you’ve always wanted to read at a pace you can handle. We are currently reading The Stand by Stephen King, and today we’re going to talk about Chapters 26 through 34.
Sarah: Things are getting real gruesome as society fully collapses. We’re going to talk about that and the maggots and the swelling and the “bonbons” of bodies. And hopefully get to all that before we go “tharn.” Did I say that right?
Laura: I think you did say that right. Can I just say, first of all, this section has probably one of the worst scenes in the whole book. It’s short, but it’s awful. And as I was reading this section, all I could think was: I’m really worried that I told all the readers that this book isn’t very scary.
Sarah: Well, it’s not scary. It’s just gross.
Laura: I really thought, damn, we should have given people a warning last week. I don’t want to say this section is inconsequential, but by the time we get to the end of the book, this won’t be what stands out. This is like a bridge section from all the setup.
Chapter 26: The Media and the Military
Sarah: Chapter 26 is quite a doozy. It really is like... let’s go around the country and show you the collapse of American society. First shout out to the great state of Kentucky, my home state. There is, in fact, no “University of Kentucky Louisville.” That’s just the University of Louisville. But I was excited eith