in spite of this episode about the instructions by adam levin being our longest episode to date (by far!), it still feels woefully incomplete. how do you sum up more than 1,000 pages? it turns out… it’s very difficult! there are backroom deliberations about a second episode about the instructions, but for now…
we talk about our youngest protagonists so far, yet ones who speak and act and seem like adults. we look at the role the parents play in the novel, ways to read (or interpret) this novel, and the “almost literal magic” that bob finds in the text. we talk about the novel’s humor, violence, villainy, and sadness. we also wonder: is gurion the messiah? does the violence go too far? is this the best book of the 21st century?
reading list for season two
the bell jar by sylvia plath, 11/4
prep by curtis sittenfeld, 11/18
the art of fielding by chad harbach, 12/2
nickel boys by colson whitehead, 12/16
the virgins by pamela erens, 12/30
my education by susan choi, 1/13
giles goat-boy by john barth, 1/27
end zone by don delillo, 2/10
loner by teddy wayne, 2/24
the secret history by donna tartt, 3/10
sweet days of discipline by fleur jaeggy, 3/24
college novel by blake middleton, 4/7
real life by brandon taylor, 4/21
the instructions by adam levin, 5/5
the idiot by elif batuman, 5/19