Nerdette Book Club discusses ‘Beautyland’
Happy To Be Here
Greta Johnsen
4.6 • 924 Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2024
⏱️ 46 minutes
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Summary
Our April Book Club pick is Marie-Helene Bertino’s second novel 'Beautyland.' It tells the story of Adina, a girl born in Philadelphia in 1977, just as the Voyager I spacecraft launches from Earth in search of extraterrestrial life. As a child, Adina learns she herself is an alien, and her mission is to send her observations about humanity to her supervisors via fax machine (it is the ‘80s, after all). With that conceit, Bertino paints a gorgeous tapestry of what it means to be human, filled with poetic descriptions of the utterly mundane. This book is full of love, longing, and curiosity.
We are joined by two expert readers: Mira Jacob, the author of the novel ‘The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing’ and the graphic memoir ‘Good Talk,’ and Molly McGhee, whose novel ‘Jonathan Abernathy You are Kind’ was our January Book Club selection! We discuss the book in detail, including spoilers! So if you have not read the book yet, go back and listen to our spoiler-free chat with author Marie-Helene Bertino in the feed first.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still |
| 0:06.1 | watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you, |
| 0:12.7 | soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making, |
| 0:18.0 | Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago. |
| 0:25.7 | Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure. |
| 0:28.3 | Listen wherever you get your podcast. |
| 0:38.6 | From WB.EZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and this is The Nerdat Book Club. |
| 0:42.3 | It's just like a regular book club, except you don't have to share your snacks. |
| 0:51.2 | It is the month of April, and our selection is Marie-Huline Bertino's strange and fantastic novel Beauty Land, which is easily one of my favorite books this year. |
| 0:54.5 | It is about Adina, a girl born in Philadelphia in 1977, and when she is still a kid, she realizes she's actually an alien in a human body. |
| 0:59.7 | And her mission is to relay insights about Earth's inhabitants to her bosses via fax machine. |
| 1:05.9 | That is all I'm going to say for now, but this is going to be a spoilery conversation. |
| 1:09.5 | So if you have not read the book and you don't want to know what happens, go listen to our spoiler-free author interview, which is |
| 1:14.6 | already in the feed. Otherwise, we are so glad to have you, and I am very excited to introduce you to |
| 1:19.6 | our guests for this one. With us today is the author of the novel The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing |
| 1:24.7 | and the Graphic Memoir, Good Talk, Mira, Jacob. Mira, hello. |
| 1:28.3 | Hello. |
| 1:29.3 | Full disclosure, you are in fact friends with Marie Helene Bertino, correct? |
| 1:32.9 | I know. |
| 1:33.3 | I was going to say that. |
| 1:34.3 | I was going to have to tell you guys, I am, I am in fact good friends with Marie and we |
| 1:39.5 | are going out Saturday night. |
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