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Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders

From #BookTok to Goodreads, Novelist Brandon Taylor on Why Literary Criticism Is Broken

Into It: A Vulture Podcast with Sam Sanders

Vulture & New York Magazine

Entertainment News, Tv & Film, News, Society & Culture

4.72.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2023

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For our first Into It Book Club pick, Sam talks to Brandon Taylor about his latest novel The Late Americans. Set in Iowa City, the book follows a group of lovers and friends who are navigating the world of art, love, sex... and graduate school. We also ask about the broader discourse around books today: In the age of #BookTok and Goodreads, what should readers expect from writers? And —for Brandon, in particular — what's the line between reviewing an author's published work and the author himself? ICYMI, Sam is guest hosting on Vox’s daily news show Today, Explained this week. Listen at https://bit.ly/texwsam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, you're listening to Intuit from Vulture in New York magazine.

0:03.8

I'm your host Sam Sanders.

0:05.6

And this week, we are talking books.

0:10.3

And we're having the inaugural meeting of the Intuit Book Club.

0:15.4

So Brandon Taylor is one of my favorite authors.

0:17.8

I like him so much.

0:19.2

I invited all y'all this summer to join me in a book club to read his latest book.

0:24.6

It's called The Late Americans.

0:26.6

I'm going to talk about that book with Brandon Taylor this episode.

0:30.3

And take some of your questions to him.

0:33.1

But also, I wanted to get a little meta about the discourse around books.

0:39.5

And how right now that discourse feels kind of off.

0:42.7

Social media has changed what readers and critics expect from writers.

0:47.0

You go over to Goodreads.

0:48.5

It is a wild, wild west.

0:50.7

Elizabeth Gilbert, the eat, pray, love, Elizabeth Gilbert,

0:54.5

she actually canceled the release of a forthcoming book.

0:58.3

Because of all the one star reviews it was getting on Goodreads.

1:01.8

But here's the thing, these one star reviews were coming in

1:05.6

for a book that no one could actually read yet because it hadn't been released.

1:10.4

I wanted to talk to Brandon about all of this.

1:13.1

Because in just a few years, he has become one of the most interesting voices out there on books.

...

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