Season 11 of the Two Month Review: “The Dreamed Part” by Rodrigo Fresán
After a slightly longer hiatus than expected, the Two Month Review is coming back! In fact, we're coming back TOMORROW, Thursday, March 5th at 1:30pm. We'll be recording an introductory episode in which Chad and Brian combine their weakened, time-ravaged memories to recap The Invented Part, the first volume in Rodrigo ...
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TMR 10.14: “We Made it to the End” [DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT]
We did it! Chad and Brian reflect on the somewhat surprising ending to Ducks, Newburyport and reflect on all 1,000+ of its glorious pages in the season finale to this Two Month Review. They debate whether the book is hopeful or pessimistic, the way in which its solipsism infects the reader's way of seeing the world, and they ...
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TMR 10.13: “Dogs” [DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT]
Elizabeth DeMeo (assistant book editor at Tin House) joins Chad and Brian in the penultimate episode of this season of the Two Month Review. They talk family therapy. They talk about the Jim's encounter with the lioness. They make predictions about how the book will end. They debate whether it's better to read the book in a ...
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TMR 10.12: “Gone Missing” [DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT]
Chad and Brian go it alone on pages 777-862, talking about Galley Beggar's "go fund me" campaign, hardcovers vs. paperbacks, Stacy, what makes something Kafkaesque, the narrator's stasis, and much more. This week's music is "The Surprise Knock" by The New Pornographers. If you'd prefer to watch the conversation, you can ...
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TMR 10.11: “Establish Justice” [DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT]
This week, Chad is joined by Rebecca Hussey (BookRiot) and Josh Cook (Porter Square Books, An Exaggerated Murder) to talk about pages 700-776 of Ducks, Newburyport. They make comparisons to any number of modernist authors (Proust, Woolf, Joyce), discuss mother-daughter relationships, "mom shaming," Stace's general sense of ...
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TMR 10.10: “A List of Definites” [DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT]
Jeremy Kitchen (Chicago Public Library, Eye 94) joins Chad and Brian to talk about "a list of definites" about the future, the (pretty silly) controversy surrounding Lucy Ellmann's recent Guardian interview, the way the themes of Duck, Newburyport make it difficult for some people to read, the ways in which this novel is ...
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TMR 10.9: “Pattern Recognition” [DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT]
Chad and Brian deliver a true Thanksgiving treat in this episode, digging in deep to the narrative patterns in the book, the way Ellmann constructs the narrator's subjectivity, how the novel is a radical call to action, how some facts aren't really facts, terrible new slang terms, save the turtles, and much much more. This ...
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