Episode 385 — Matt Bell

Otherppl with Brad Listi

Brad Listi

Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.8 • 554 Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2015

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matt Bell is the guest. His new novel, Scrapper, is now available from Soho Press. It is the official October selection of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. This is Matt's second time on the show. Last we spoke, he was living up in northern Michigan, in Marquette. Since then he's moved to Tempe, Arizona. A big change in all sorts of ways. We start off talking about that, and then we get into Detroit, the setting of Scrapper, and try to wrap our heads around what's happened there and why and what might happen in the future. Detroit, like post-Katrina New Orleans, is something that from a distance can be hard to believe. Not until you're on the ground and looking at it with your own eyes does the scale of it even begin to come into focus. So Matt, with his good brain, has done us all a service by writing this book and imagining this world in such richness and depth. Seems hard to believe, as I've known (or "internet known") him for a long time, but this was the first time Matt and I have ever met in person (our previous interview was conducted over the phone). He was passing through Los Angeles on book tour and was kind enough to stop by to do the show. In today's monologue I talk about going out to dinner and my failure to do the kinds of cultural things that I should probably be doing. And I talk about Starbucks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Premier League is exciting.
0:04.0	It's exhilarating.
0:07.0	And sometimes it's...
0:11.0	So when you need something to help you ride the highest and loads of all that action,
0:17.0	grab a coat to keep you in the game.
0:20.0	Time to refresh. Time for a Coke. Coca-Cola,
0:25.0	official partner of the Premier League. Hey folks, before we get going, just a quick reminder about
0:32.3	the Other People app. It's free. It's available now wherever apps are available. Go get the
0:36.8	official Other People app. It's free. Once you do that, you'll have in your possession the best way to listen to this podcast. New episodes automatically upload to the app. You don't have to do anything. It just happens. You can download episodes to listen to while you're offline. You can favorite your favorite episodes. It's very user-friendly. So here's how it works.
0:54.8	The most recent 50 episodes of the program available to you for free right when you get the app.
1:00.3	The most recent 50 will be there waiting for you free of charge.
1:03.4	And then if you want to stream everything, if you want access to all of the episodes, almost 400 episodes and counting, you just sign up for a premium subscription right there within the app. It's very cheap. It's as cheap as 75 cents a month. Great way to support the program. You can hear my conversations with hundreds of great writers, including Blake Butler, Ron Curry, Jr., Steve Allman, Megan Boyle, Eden LaPucky, Dana Spiata, Roxanne Gay, Ben Marcus, Lauren
1:28.1	Groff, Cheryl St. St. John Mandel, the list goes on. The Other People app, go get it.
1:35.4	It's free. Sign up for premium. That's not free, but it's a great deal and a great way to support
1:41.3	the show. All right, let's get started.
1:47.2	You are not alone.
1:50.1	You have found other people.
1:53.4	You and I have a friend in common.
1:56.3	Every stupid thing that a writer could do I've done.
1:57.7	I think it's really beautiful.
2:00.3	Jeez, stated what I struggle, you know?
2:01.6	It was incredible. You know, it was like your head exploded, seeing what was really beautiful. Jesus. State it was a struggle, you know? It was incredible.
	...

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