Episode Details

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

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!

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Sarah: We are currently reading Stephen King’s The Stand. Today, we’re diving into Chapters 43 and 44. Society has fully collapsed, new groups are forming, and it’s time to answer the age-old question: What is more dangerous—a tornado or a woman scorned?

Laura: I really relished the tornado scene because it happened in Oklahoma—my home state! My tiny little hometown, Ardmore, actually gets a mention when King is rattling off empty towns. Though, to be fair, he says it burned to the ground.

Sarah: Before we get to the weather, a quick reminder: our third book club meeting is next week, March 18th. We are at the halfway point! If you want the full experience—the Zooms, my Spotify playlist of every song mentioned in the book, and our rewatch of the 1994 film Outbreak.

Chapter 43: Nick, Tom, and the Oklahoma Sky

Sarah: We start with Nick Andros meeting Tom Cullen on the Oklahoma-Kansas border. We think we’re encountering a dead body, but it’s just a very, very drunk Tom passed out in the road.

Laura: I wonder how King decides whose backstory you get. With Lucy Swan, he says her pandemic story is like everybody else’s—awful. But we meet Tom right when Nick does. King has said in On Writing that he’s often meeting the characters as we are.

Sarah: There’s an urgency now. I underlined this: “Dreams were only dreams, but he did feel an inner urge to hurry... a subconscious command.” Everyone is feeling it. They’re dreaming of Mother Abagail in Nebraska or the Dark Man in the corn.

Sarah: I’m struck by how quickly society regresses to a total fear of infection. You cannot have an accident. There’s no one to save you. It’s a vulnerability we don’t usually deal with.

Laura: How did you feel about Tom Cullen? In 2026, the repeated use of the “R-w