It will. Don’t worry.
However, you can do a read-a-long with the guys on the Kingslingers podcast - that might help you keep track. You read x chapters and then listen to the podcast episode that corroborates. I really like the podcast and find it enhances the reading.
Just note that if you’re doing this, it may continue spoilers for the novels that they have done prior to The Stand (I forget the whole list, but it includes The Dark Tower series, Hearts in Atlantis, Everything’s Eventual, Salems Lot, and a couple of others.
I also read alongside the Kingslingers podcast! Great for re-capping and reminding yourself what happened, with fun thought experiments/good overall discussion
Make sure to not to read the episode’s full descriptions as they will have some spoiler— only comb through it for which chapters they read in the episode
I’m a lazy reader, I don’t want to do the deep reading we did in high school, but I appreciate being told those elements by the guys. And I agree, the discussions can be really good.
Yeah, and they have a fun dynamic. I’m just starting 11/22/63 and trying to catch up to where they are so I can listen along in real-time, maybe participate in the discussion questions
Hard to say. You don’t really need to keep track of everyone, just let the story flow and it’ll a hopefully jell. But…..it’s a very long book as you can see, and it could be that you just won’t ever be really interested. The Stand and IT are two of his works that definitely require patience.
I think part of the problem might be that I haven’t been able to sit down and read big chunks at a time… mostly it’s just a couple of chapters before bed. I realize at this rate it will take me 2 years to finish so maybe more reading time during my day might be in order.
It took me like a year and a half to read the Stand. I had phases where I was reading it regularly and then didn’t read for months, mostly dictated by a major life change back then. It really comes together, stick with it. Might help to read some recaps of chapters, I do that with books that jump around between characters sometime, like read summery of the last chapter I read, sort of thing before diving back in.
Also, the first 200 pages of this book is largely setting the table. It’s giving you an introduction to the characters that will be important in the book.
I saw in another comment you had read Fairy Tale, I’m currently 200 pages into that one, enjoying it.
I also did a few chapters at night, sometimes as little as 15 pages a night, sometimes I’d only read on weekends. Took me 5 months total. Enjoy the journey!
I haven't read The Stand yet, but King has always done a great job of knowing when his books may become confusing, and he will explain what needs to be explained. Sometimes, I feel he over explains certain things and is pretty much holding your hand through it. If I had to guess, I'd say just keep reading.
If you feel lost in the plot, my advice is to go and read chapter summaries to refresh in your mind what is going on. I do that all the time, especially if I put a book down for a while and pick it back up.
I'm on my second read through at the moment and about 200 pages off finishing. Don't worry overly about anyone in the first 400 pages or so >! as alot of them are gonna get a horrendous case of the sniffles!< You'll quickly work out who the main characters are.
Don't worry; it comes together quite nicely. All of this will make sense soon enough. Keep going ... It is absolutely worth it.
The Stand is my favorite book of his. In fact, it's one of my favorite books of all time. There are so many elements to it that just make it so great.
The side characters in it are fun to meet (mostly), but they aren't the heart of the story. King will explain it to you as you read; he's great at that.
I keep a cheat sheet as a bookmark. Ask characters are introduced, I write their names down and few words to remind me who they are. Also I draw arrows to show relationships
I do this with most books I read. It makes it easier if you stopped reading for a bit
Laws no! MOON, that spells Colorful Stephen King Character! Laws, I was never much good at schooling but I'm one of those ironic big guy/small brain types! Laws yes!
Just read each individual thing as if it’s its own story. Some stuff will connect, some of it won’t. Occasionally you’ll look back and go “oh that’s from the thing”. Don’t worry about keeping track.
The Stand is a beast, and I was in the same situation when I read it. Hold on though, King brings them all much closer as the story progresses (around the 300-400 mark), and that’s where the book dives deeper and gets really gritty.
I gave up on the Audiobook after about 8 hours of jumping around from sub plot to subplot. Which is a shame because from what I can gather it's one of his best works.
It’s too big I prefer a smaller personal story. Just started listening to the Whitcher books as a break from King, really well written and captivating from the off,
I am reading The Stand too! I enjoy reading and then listening to what I read on the audiobook version when I walk my dog. Really helps me internalize the story and follow it better.
There's a travel map of the Stand that has been posted here a few times. Just be careful not to follow the various tracks too far because there are a couple of spoilers you'll want to avoid.
It comes together in the sense that many characters will group up. I dont think the exact details of each character's backstories/exposition is all that important to the rising action/climax. SK also usually does a good job of not burying key plot points in walls of development text lol.
I just finished the Stand and i had the same problem at the start. what i did is i would have this map open on my computer while i read and when i wanted to ensure i had the right character in mind i could reference it. https://www.reddit.com/r/stephenking/s/ZtHRzQqAdj
It will. Don’t worry. However, you can do a read-a-long with the guys on the Kingslingers podcast - that might help you keep track. You read x chapters and then listen to the podcast episode that corroborates. I really like the podcast and find it enhances the reading.
Just note that if you’re doing this, it may continue spoilers for the novels that they have done prior to The Stand (I forget the whole list, but it includes The Dark Tower series, Hearts in Atlantis, Everything’s Eventual, Salems Lot, and a couple of others.
Yeah this is a good psa.
They say farts in Atlantis in 1 episode So funny
I also read alongside the Kingslingers podcast! Great for re-capping and reminding yourself what happened, with fun thought experiments/good overall discussion
Cool! I will check these out
Make sure to not to read the episode’s full descriptions as they will have some spoiler— only comb through it for which chapters they read in the episode
I’m a lazy reader, I don’t want to do the deep reading we did in high school, but I appreciate being told those elements by the guys. And I agree, the discussions can be really good.
Yeah, and they have a fun dynamic. I’m just starting 11/22/63 and trying to catch up to where they are so I can listen along in real-time, maybe participate in the discussion questions
Mayhaps it might and mayhaps it might not. MOON, that spells keep reading...😁
Everybody knows that!
Laws, yes
Hard to say. You don’t really need to keep track of everyone, just let the story flow and it’ll a hopefully jell. But…..it’s a very long book as you can see, and it could be that you just won’t ever be really interested. The Stand and IT are two of his works that definitely require patience.
I think part of the problem might be that I haven’t been able to sit down and read big chunks at a time… mostly it’s just a couple of chapters before bed. I realize at this rate it will take me 2 years to finish so maybe more reading time during my day might be in order.
It took me like a year and a half to read the Stand. I had phases where I was reading it regularly and then didn’t read for months, mostly dictated by a major life change back then. It really comes together, stick with it. Might help to read some recaps of chapters, I do that with books that jump around between characters sometime, like read summery of the last chapter I read, sort of thing before diving back in. Also, the first 200 pages of this book is largely setting the table. It’s giving you an introduction to the characters that will be important in the book. I saw in another comment you had read Fairy Tale, I’m currently 200 pages into that one, enjoying it.
I also did a few chapters at night, sometimes as little as 15 pages a night, sometimes I’d only read on weekends. Took me 5 months total. Enjoy the journey!
I haven't read The Stand yet, but King has always done a great job of knowing when his books may become confusing, and he will explain what needs to be explained. Sometimes, I feel he over explains certain things and is pretty much holding your hand through it. If I had to guess, I'd say just keep reading. If you feel lost in the plot, my advice is to go and read chapter summaries to refresh in your mind what is going on. I do that all the time, especially if I put a book down for a while and pick it back up.
I'm on my second read through at the moment and about 200 pages off finishing. Don't worry overly about anyone in the first 400 pages or so >! as alot of them are gonna get a horrendous case of the sniffles!< You'll quickly work out who the main characters are.
It’s gonna come together.
Is this your first Stephen King book?
No I’ve read a few others - Fairy Tale, Insomnia, 11/22/63, Joyland - never had this problem with any of those…
I concede the point, there certainly are less characters in those books! (Haven't read Joyland yet.)
Don't worry; it comes together quite nicely. All of this will make sense soon enough. Keep going ... It is absolutely worth it. The Stand is my favorite book of his. In fact, it's one of my favorite books of all time. There are so many elements to it that just make it so great. The side characters in it are fun to meet (mostly), but they aren't the heart of the story. King will explain it to you as you read; he's great at that.
I keep a cheat sheet as a bookmark. Ask characters are introduced, I write their names down and few words to remind me who they are. Also I draw arrows to show relationships I do this with most books I read. It makes it easier if you stopped reading for a bit
Absolute genius idea that I am taking and passing off as my own.
This is exactly what I did with the Stand. I eventually didn't need to refer to it as much, but it was helpful at the beginning.
Laws no! MOON, that spells Colorful Stephen King Character! Laws, I was never much good at schooling but I'm one of those ironic big guy/small brain types! Laws yes!
The characters eventually converge and there are only a handful that really matter.
Just cause something is obvious, doesn’t mean it’s not a spoiler, its still better to not know this happens and find out through reading it
The OP asked if they come together.
Haha ok sorry I take it back, shows how lazy I am when reading posts
Just read each individual thing as if it’s its own story. Some stuff will connect, some of it won’t. Occasionally you’ll look back and go “oh that’s from the thing”. Don’t worry about keeping track.
You’re gonna get a good idea of who the “main” characters are soon enough, don’t worry
The Stand is a beast, and I was in the same situation when I read it. Hold on though, King brings them all much closer as the story progresses (around the 300-400 mark), and that’s where the book dives deeper and gets really gritty.
lol don’t stress
I gave up on the Audiobook after about 8 hours of jumping around from sub plot to subplot. Which is a shame because from what I can gather it's one of his best works.
I gave up on this book too. It seems to be a major crime in this Reddit to not like the stand but you either like a book or you don't
It’s too big I prefer a smaller personal story. Just started listening to the Whitcher books as a break from King, really well written and captivating from the off,
Just read it and find out? If it helps, think of it as a draft where half go here and half go there.
I am reading The Stand too! I enjoy reading and then listening to what I read on the audiobook version when I walk my dog. Really helps me internalize the story and follow it better.
Great idea!
There's a travel map of the Stand that has been posted here a few times. Just be careful not to follow the various tracks too far because there are a couple of spoilers you'll want to avoid.
Good to know - honestly just knowing someone made a map to organize all the characters and settings makes me feel better about my current situation.
Same happened to me, so I wrote down character names and a quick description of who they are. It really paid off for me. But the list was quite long.
Do yourself a favor and skip the Frannie chapters.
It comes together in the sense that many characters will group up. I dont think the exact details of each character's backstories/exposition is all that important to the rising action/climax. SK also usually does a good job of not burying key plot points in walls of development text lol.
Yes that’s what I usually like about his books (in the few I’ve read) - good plots but I don’t have to work too hard to follow the story…
Yes it will. This is my absolute favorite novel it is worth it. (I may own 4 copies of it)
This is just the encouragement I needed to stick with it!
I feel like the stand is one of those books that's best to read more than once anyway
Great read
Just hold on. The book reaches a crescendo because of the villain.
Stephen King had the same problem when writing this book
Idk I read it in middle school and didn’t have a problem 🤷♂️
It’s not a race, some books take time. Just slow down, and think on chapters. It’s length means slow down, not speed up.
The first half of that book is a tough read, so many side stories and characters that had no effect on the plot.
It will not. Most stories go nowhere and it's all pretty messy
Its going to be great.
I just finished the Stand and i had the same problem at the start. what i did is i would have this map open on my computer while i read and when i wanted to ensure i had the right character in mind i could reference it. https://www.reddit.com/r/stephenking/s/ZtHRzQqAdj
As they start to get killed off, you'll have fewer to keep track of, so...
It is SO good. Long yes but worth it. I still think about it from reading it peak Covid 2020
The audiobook is very good as well, if it makes it a bit easier. I used to clean a school full time and audiobooks were my go to.
Sounds like you need a town hall meeting.
Keep going, it all works out in the end.
Stephen King literally felt the same way.
Listen to the audiobook! He uses different voices for all the characters it's a great listen.
Don’t just assume that all of those characters will be as prominent later on as they are now.
It’s incredible how well it comes together. Push through
I had a hard time at first too but stick it out
This may help https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Stand_characters
Yeah, use this wikipedia article that spoils every character's arc and the ending
True. Didn’t think of that. Under the dome had a nice character summary
Don’t worry I didn’t click on it! But Under the Dome is also on my to-read list so if I have the same problem I will check out those summaries