The following podcast contains explicit language. Welcome to the Slate Audio Book Club's discussion of Arcadia, the novel by Lauren Grawth. I'm Dan Cois, editor of the Slate Book Review, and I am here in Slate's DC Recording Studio. Joining me is Hannah Rosen, Slate's Double X editor. Hi, Hannah. Hi. Hi. And in our New York studio is David Hagelin, Slate's browbeat editor. Hi, David. Hi, Dan. As in all of our audiobook clubs, we really recommend that you listen after you read the book since we will be discussing Arcadia's plot in depth. And a lot of stuff happens in this book. Arcadia explores the life and death and afterlife of a grand 1970s commune in upstate New York,

an experiment by free people to live peacefully in harmony with the earth and with each other.

Obviously, this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't work at all.

The novel moves from the hippie era to the present day and then, in fact, into the

future, where Arcadia once again serves as a safe haven from the dangers of the outside world.

I want to start our conversation today by talking a little bit about Ridley-Sorrell-Stone, Bit,

the novel's hero. As the novel opens, he's just five. He's tiny. He got his name because he's a little bit of a hippie.

By novels end, he's 50. He's an endearing child, I thought, an angry but loyal teenager, a devoted dad, an abandoned husband.

And in the end, he's kind of a caretaker for everyone and everything, his mom, his daughter, and the memory of Arcadia itself.

I found a very convincing character. That is to say, I could draw straight line from his bizarre childhood to his adult

neuroses, although I didn't need to necessarily because Lauren Groff very explicitly drew that

straight line for me. But I didn't always find him a really compelling character. What did you guys think of

Bit? Hon, I'll start with you. I only want to talk about the very young bit first, because I feel

differently about different bits of bit. So let's start with Child Bit. I was so profoundly

moved by Child Bit. I can almost explain why, I think. I love books and movies about these utopian communities.

Like there's a movie called Together, which is a Swedish movie, which is one of my favorite

movies ever. But I think a hard thing about writing about intentional communities or utopias is

it's very hard to do it without any irony or distance. Usually you can't help but make fun of them, which,

for example, this movie together does. And I think in this case, she really disciplines herself

not to, and the way that she does that is through the character of BIT. So you're experiencing

this community always through Bits. So you learn about everything, you know, the free store and the

kid herd and the bread truck and all the little elements and corners of this community through this

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