TMR 9.06: Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold (pgs 226-274)

Caitlin Baker from Island Books joins Chad and Brian this week to talk about “The Herring Factory” from Kjersti Skomsvold’s Monsterhuman. After a strong pitch for nominating Brian for “Best Local Author” in City Paper’s annual Best of Rochester voting, they get into the book itself, talking about the meta-textual moment of Kjersti writing in the third-person and acknowledging it doesn’t quite work, about the relationship with mentors, about whether or not the character is happy, about the sly humor found throughout this book, about her Harold Pinter dream, getting old, and much, much more.

This week’s music is “Comeback Kid” by Sharon Van Etten.

Next episode will cover pages 226-274 and will be livestreamed on YouTube next Wednesday. (All of our past episodes are available on our YouTube channel in case you want to catch up on anything.) You can find the complete reading schedule here.

Season 10 will be the first English-language title to be included, Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann, which was just named to the Booker Longlist.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. Also, follow Caitlin on Twitter, and buy some books from Island Books!

And be sure to preorder Brian’s book, Joytime Killbox, which is coming out this fall from BOA Editions.

You can find all the Two Month Review posts by clicking here. And be sure to leave us a review on iTunes. It really helps people to discover the podcast.