The daughter of eccentric aristocrats marries a Wall Street tycoon of dubious ethics during the Roaring Twenties. That sounds like a plot that F. Scott Fitzgerald might have written, or Edith Wharton. But “Trust,” by the writer Hernan Diaz, is very much of our time. The novel is told by four people in four different formats, which offer conflicting accounts ... Show More
Nov 28
Ian McEwan on Imagining the World After Disaster
In his latest novel, Ian McEwan imagines a future world after a century’s worth of disasters. The good news in “What We Can Know” is that humanity still exists, which McEwan calls “nuanced optimism.” He and David Remnick discuss the tradition of the big-themed social novel, which ... Show More
29m 20s
Nov 21
Senator Chris Van Hollen on the Epstein Files, and the Leadership Crisis in Washington
<p>Both major parties are experiencing a crisis of leadership in Washington. President Trump’s flip-flopping on the Epstein files acknowledges that, on this issue, at least, he has lost control of MAGA. For the Democrats, the collapse of their consensus on the government shutdown ... Show More
27m 18s
May 2022
The illusion and power of money in Hernan Diaz's 'Trust'
Money is all things... or it can become all things, says Hernan Diaz, author of Trust. In his new book, readers are presented with narratives on wealth, reality, and a woman set on separating fact from fiction. In an interview on Weekend Edition Saturday, Diaz told Scott Simon th ... Show More
8m 6s
Mar 2024
The New Coming-of-Age Story
<p>For centuries, the bildungsroman, or novel of education, has offered a window into a formative period of life—and, by extension, into the historical moment in which it’s set. Vinson Cunningham sent the draft of “Great Expectations,” a book loosely based on his experience on Ba ... Show More
50m 1s
May 2021
A Desperate Writer Steals 'The Plot'
<p>Jake Bonner, the protagonist of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/10/books/the-plot-jean-hanff-korelitz-group-text.html" target="_blank">Jean Hanff Korelitz’s “The Plot,”</a> writes a novel based on someone else’s idea. The book becomes a big hit, but Jake has a hard ti ... Show More
1h 4m
Mar 2022
Sleep Stories: The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a classic 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald that is set in the roaring 20's on Long Island. The story follows the narrator, Nick Carraway, and his friendship and interactions with the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby as Gatsby tries to reunite with his love, ... Show More
4h 58m
Mar 2022
Author Tessa Hadley writes a juicy tale of the bourgeois in 'Free Love'
Author Tess Hadley's new novel opens with an affair, but that's not really what the book is about. Free Love is set in the 1960s just outside of London and it starts with a wealthy woman in her 40s, Phyllis, sharing a secret kiss with a much younger man who is not her husband (ga ... Show More
9m 8s