Two Month Review

For this season of the Two Month Review, we’re leaving the sunny, paranoid skies of Pynchon’s California behind in favor of William Frederick Kohler’s study, where, instead of writing an introduction to his recently completed book, Guilt and Innocence in Hitler’s Germany , Kohler starts writing about his life and things that annoy him, about annoyances and disappointments, and about the awful aspe...

Peter Coviello ( Vineland Reread ) joins Kaija, Brian, and Chad to talk about the ending of Vineland , how it compares to One Battle After Another , what the Thanatoids are, the sheer joy of reading Thomas Pynchon, and more. A very lively way to end the season filled with laughs and Coviello’s wonderful insights. Up next, for Season 29 is . . . you’ll have to wait and see. Announcement coming soon...

For the penultimate episode of this season, Andrew Merritt of the Life on Books podcast joined Chad and Kaija to talk about the original arrangment between Vond, Frenesi, and Zoyd, about how, once again, this book is too prophetic in delineating our current situation, about misoneism, about postpartum depression, untested forms of therapy, etc. But the highlight is probably “Pynchon Character or B...

Chad, Brian, and Kaija try to start out on a light note—goofing on the Phoenix children’s names—but things get deadly serious (pun intended) when they get into talking about Weed Atman’s murder on a college campus and how it’s brought into being thanks to our Big Bad, Brock Vond, and the government’s strategy of shutting down leftest hippies. They talk about forms of revolution, what works and doe...

A bit of a digressive episode in which Brian, Kaija, and Chad discuss expectations and excitement, why Vineland is considered a “lesser” book of Pynchon’s, the inversion of cause and effect in Pynchon’s narratives, Thanatoids, Karmic grifting, DL’s adventures, the goofy sit-com logic and setups behind much of this book, and more. This week’s music is “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker, Jr. Next week we’...

On this week’s episode, Chad, Kaija, and Brian discuss chapters 6–8 of Pynchon’s Vineland , three very episodic chapters featuring Frenesi and her family history, an Italian wedding in which Deleuze & Guatari get name-checked, and a visit to the Sisterhood of Kunoichi Attentives. Lots of fun and hijinks, some anti-binary, anti-computer sentiments, more fetishization of weapons, and some random (?)...

Our six-week discussion of Pynchon’s Vineland kicks off with a bang as Brian, Chad, and Kaija are joined by Rodrigo Fresán (author of Melvill , Mantra , The Part Trilogy, and who’s had four books featured on TMR) to breakdown the first five chapters of the book, although most of the time is spent introducing Pynchon’s world, illustrating how relevant this book is today (an ICE raid on an airplane,...

Daisy Rockwell joins the gang this week to talk about her translation, the challenges and joys of translating Tomb of Sand , its structure, what “dhwani” means, and more. She also previews the as yet unpublished—in any language, any country—new book by Geetanjali Shree. A wide-ranging conversation about translation, South Asian literature, and more! In addition, there is a bonus interview with Pia...

At long last we learn of Ma’s connection to Pakistan and Rosie, and the stories behind the Buddha featured in Part II and the chironji seeds. Chad, Kaija, and Brian break this down, reflect on how the information alters their understanding of all that came before, and how the shape of the novel is finally snapping into place. They also make predictions about what’s to come and try and figure out h...

With Brian still settling in to his new digs, Chad and Kaija are left to take on the most unsettling section of Tomb of Sand so far—the death of Rosie and the discourse surrounding it. They do their best though, as the book gets very emotional, setting up Ma’s journey to Pakistan. And stay tuned after their conversation to hear a conversation with translator and professor Jason Grunebaum about SAL...

Chad and Kaija go it alone this week, so there are a few more inside jokes than usual. (And a nod to the brilliant Knowledge Fight podcast.) But they also talk about this section of the book, which they both loved, breaking down each character, and what it’s like becoming like your parents and struggling with their aging. It’s a section buoyed by Rosie/Raza, and ends with what seems to be a turnin...

After a blissful, quiet time in which Ma and Rosie Bua turn junk into Etsy projects, the chaos descends on Beti’s house—and the missing Buddha is found. And then Ma falls. Brian, Chad, and Kaija talk about these plot points, the lists and verbal trills that denote Shree’s style, the sections that they struggled with, and the pleasures of letting a wild, unpredictable novel of this sort just take o...

This week, Chad, Brian, and Kaija discuss their various reactions to the end of Part I and opening of Part II. They also revisit the idea of “meeting a book where it is”—via a discussion of the new Superman —along with the struggle to get a holistic picture of the book’s form and intent. They also get into the tonal differences between the parts, namely the chaos of Part I and the “sunny,” more si...

A lot of this week’s discussion is about “meeting a book where it is” and looking at the literary strategies Geetanjali Shree & Daisy Rockwell use in this book. This includes ideas of editing for different audiences, and different ways to view the first part of this long novel. There are also some jokes, a lengthy bit about audiobook narration, and more! This week’s music is “ Possession ” by Ty S...

Chad, Kaija, and Brian start of the new season featuring Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree and translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell by looking at the number of titles from Hindi (and all Indian languages) that have made their way into America and stereotypes about Indian literature the average American reader might have about Hindi fiction, before turning to discuss the fun, playful nature o...

Kaija, Brian, and Chad reach “The Golden Notebook” inside of The Golden Notebook , and discuss the ways in which this novel push back against various interpretations, ways in which the world can break you, men and their microaggressions, men and their egotism and their I I I I, the ways in which this is and isn’t a feminist text, and more. The next season starts on July 3rd and will feature Tomb o...

On this, the penultimate episode of the season, Kaija and Chad talk about Anna’s dissociation and dissolution, Saul Green and who he really is, narrative and societal traps, a room of one's own, and if Marion peacing out on her family makes her the most free woman in the book. They also realize mid-podcast the connection between the asterisked numbers the yellow and blue notebooks. This week’s mus...

In this episode, Kaija, Chad, and Brian talk about the really awful men in this book, along with fragmentation, fractals, and postmodernism talk as they struggle to remember which character is which (“is that Anna or Ella?”) and how to get a grasp on the whole of the novel. They also discuss placing things into firm categories, Jungian psychotherapy, grand narratives, and wonder: Will this novel e...

In this section, Chad, Brian, and Kaija go over "Free Women: 3," asking if anyone is truly free, along with the next excerpt from the "Black Notebook," which includes a significant number of dead pigeons. They talk about the overall fragmentation of this novel, its specific non-linear approach, what's "real" and what's a literary game, the humor found in the book, and who exactly is James? As Kaij...

In this new episode covering up to page 352 of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook , Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about the difficulty in keeping the various characters in the various notebooks straight—especially as the novel gets more recursive and hall of mirrors-like—the play with dates in the “Blue Notebook,” existential dread, fragmentation, and the breakdown of systems, how publishing works,...

Is The Golden Notebook just novels all the way down? Brian, Kaija, and Chad talk about the idea that the “Free Women” sections of the book are just another novel, that Anna Wulf is disgusted by everything and parodies it in her notebooks, about generational distrust, colors, musicals, and more. They don’t talk about how the ending of “Free Women: 2” is a perfect TV cliffhanger, leading directly in...

Chad, Kaija, and Brian finish off the first "part" of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook by looking at the Yellow Notebook (a novel called "The Shadow of the Third") and the Blue one (dreams, psychoanalysis, and newspaper clippings). They talk about the names, the constant doubling, the assumptions of what is "real" and what is "fiction," how men are awful, and more. This week’s music is “Nationa...

Brian returns this podcast to talk about his initial thoughts, especially as they relate to postmodernism and fragmentation. In the rest of the episode Chad, Kaija, and Brian discuss Anna’s first entry in her “Black Notebook,” which focuses on the time she spent in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) with her socialist friends, which is the material she remixed into her novel, Frontiers of War. Also: Go Timbe...

This new season kicks off with a bit of an overview of Doris Lessing’s career and some of her fun quotes. Then, after getting into her 1971 introduction to The Golden Notebook (one of the best intros ever), Chad and Kaija dive into the first 80 pages, in which we’re introduced to Anna, Molly, Richard, and Tommy, along with the “Black Notebook.” This week’s music is “Communist Daughter” by Neutral...

Chad—the world’s biggest Kathy Acker stan?—Brian, and Kaija finish up their discussion of Kathy Acker’s Empire of the Senseless looking for possibly pathways to a better life, such as, becoming a pirate or joining a motorcycle game. They talk about Acker’s work as a map, they discuss the three-part structure, and, finally, Huckleberry Finn appears, tying this book back into James . . . They also a...