Parul Sehgal

Novelist Sheila Heti and critic Parul Sehgal discuss Heti's experimental book 'Alphabetical Diaries' where she alphabetizes sentences from her own diaries. They explore the balance between experiment and narrative, patterns in relationships, and the inclination towards formal experimentation in novels.

Dan Kois, Jason Zinoman, and Parul Sehgal discuss Martin Amis' debut novel 'The Rachel Papers', diving into the protagonist's complexities, graphic portrayals of sexuality, and themes of ambition, identity, and literary influences. They explore Charles Highway's paradoxical character, strained relationships, and societal perceptions, offering intriguing insights into Amis' early career and provocative writing style.

Deepti Kapoor describes New Delhi, the setting of her novel “Age of Vice” as “extremely beautiful, but also violent. . . . It’s a place where you think you’re gonna get cheated and robbed until someone does something incredibly kind and breaks your heart.” The highly anticipated book, published simultaneously in twenty countries this month, is part crime thriller, part family saga centered on a reckless playboy who wants to break away from his mob family; a young man working as a servant to him; and a naïve young journalist. Kapoor, who spent a decade as a journalist herself, tells Parul Sehgal that she wrote the book while living abroad—needing the distance from her country in order to see it more clearly.