To confront radical change, 'Slate' writer Scaachi Koul wrote a new book of essays

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Three years ago, Scaachi Koul went through a divorce, a process that she says was "disorienting." But divorce, the Slate writer says, also offered a framework for rethinking everything: her relationship with men, family, conflict, and herself. Her new book of essays Sucker Punch works through this personal evolution. In today's episode, Koul speaks with NPR's Leila Fadel about one of the primary relationships in these essays: the writer's relationship with her mother. They also discuss Koul's shifting perspective on fights, her interest in speaking with the man who sexually assaulted her, and her loose interpretation of Hindu fables.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, it's Empire's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. There's been a number of divorce
0:07.1	memoirs in recent years. I'm thinking of Splinters by Lizzie Jameson or the American ex-wife by Liz
0:12.8	Lenz. Sachi Kuhl's new book, Sucker Punch, is sort of a divorce memoir in that it's about
0:18.1	her divorce, but the central relationship being considered in this book
0:22.4	is the one she has with her mom. Cool talks at NPR's Lila Faddle about why her own divorce
0:28.3	felt like it was something she was doing for both her and her mom. That's coming up.
0:34.4	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:39.2	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
0:43.7	On our new show, Sources and Methods, NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people
0:49.0	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
0:53.0	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or
0:55.8	wherever you get your podcasts. In her new book of essays, Sucker Punch, Slate writer Sachi
1:02.6	Cole is going through a lot. Her marriage is falling apart. She's grappling with her self-worth,
1:08.3	family pressures, and a rape she never really dealt with.
1:12.2	Through it all, her instinct since childhood was always to fight, even to show love, until now.
1:18.1	I'm like angrier than ever, and I have a capacity for conflict that is the highest it's ever been, but I fight the least that I ever have.
1:26.7	Now, Cole says she's far from Zen, but she doesn't
1:29.7	want conflict all the time anymore. I do think I have at least learned a couple of things that I just
1:36.4	won't do anymore. And I don't think I will any longer fight in relationships where I feel like
1:42.5	I'm not being witnessed.
1:45.7	Well, how long have you been divorced now?
1:46.5	Three years.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.