Close Reads Podcast

It’s time to answer listener questions about Everything Sad Is Untrue and we have the great honor of doing that alongside the man himself, Daniel Nayeri. So press play and listen as we chat about Daniel’s mom, the way the story evolved, his journey in writing it, deckled edges from the author’s perspectives, and much more! Happy listening! Close Reads is a community-supported publication and we need your support to keep on producing the content you love. Please consider subscribing to Close Reads HQ to ensure the future and to received some great bonus content, too! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

And so we come to the end. Join David, Heidi, and Sean as they dig into Daniel Nayeri’s novel as a whole (but especially the final passages, of course), the way book pays homage to the narrator’s mother, the complexity of his father’s visit, and much more. Happy listening!Close Reads is a community-supported publication and we need your support to keep on producing the content you love. Please consider subscribing to Close Reads HQ to ensure the future and to received some great bonus content, too! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

This section of Daniel Nayeri’s novel included a lot of . . . well . . . poop. So on this week’s episode David, Heidi, and Sean discuss how Nayeri manages to make that topic funny and sad and profound all at once. Plus: the book’s great respect for the narrator’s mother. As always, happy listening! Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad is Untrue may be listed as a middle grade novel by its publisher, but it’s unlike almost any other novel in the category. So in this episode David, Heidi, and Sean discuss its unique stylistic approach and the way it conceives of stories as essential to culture, with a foray into some discussion about memory novels. Happy listening! Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to ensure that we can keep on producing episodes like this one. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Here we are at the end of our conversation on Hawthorne’s novel, which means it’s time to answer your questions. As always, you sent in lots of great ones and we did our best to answer as many as we could. Thanks for participating in the conversation—and thanks to Karen coming on the show these last six weeks!Be sure to check out her forthcoming book, which you can find here. Close Reads HQ is a community-supported endeavor. To receive bonus content please consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Sean and Heidi join David and get their say about the legacy of Cormac McCarthy—and what makes his work sublime. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

The great Cormac McCarthy died last week, leaving behind a canon of brilliant, challenging novels that will be long-remembered. So this week we’re sharing two episode remembering the man, discussing his work, and sharing what he means to us. In this first episode, David and Tim sit down to make a Mount Rushmore of McCarthy’s work and to discuss how his work will be remembered. Close Reads is a community-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

And so we come to the end of another novel! Join David, Heidi, and Karen as they dig into the ending of Hawthorne’s novel, with special attention paid to Pearl’s role. Plus: how does the genre play into the end of the book, what do we do with Dimmsdale’s demise, and how does Hawthorne want us to respond to their plot to escape? Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Heidi is in Greece this week (!), but David Kern and Karen Swallow Prior are back to continue this series on The Scarlet Letter. Topics of conversation include the way Hawthorne uses the setting to triangulate the characters, Hawthorne’s vision of the Good, Hester’s defense (as it were) of her affair with Dimmsdale, Hawthorne’s slippery tier of virtues, and comparing Hawthorne with Jane Austen. Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe

Does this book offer an alternative vision to the spiritual corruption that it criticizes? How would it be different if Hawthorne was lest on-the-nose with his metaphors and character names? Join David, Heidi, and Karen as they explore these (and other) questions from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel. Happy listening! Close Reads is a community-supported endeavor. Please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber to ensure ongoing production. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribe