Next weeks story is The Piano Tuner by Peter Meinke.

Rated Explicit

This episode had major sound quality problems. Ah, the perils of live recording. In the end, Anais decided a distorted computer sounding 4th host was better than a band saw.

Today we introduced our new fourth host Rammy! He’s well traveled, educated and lends a more conservative ear to the podcast. Rammy is a great addition and we are happy to have him. Learn more about him on the front page of literaryroadhouse.com

Usually a fourth host means at least one person will hate the story. While we’ve had science fiction in the past and we read an experimental story before, we’ve never read anything that truly felt this new. The author took many risks in both formatting the story as a series of tweets and finding a voice that works with the format. With the 2nd person point of view and exploited women in danger… I knew Gerald would be a shoe in. But alas, we all enjoyed this story. There was just something about this story that could be read so many different ways. Where Gerald found an good spy story with bombs and speedboats, Anais saw a feminist screen and commentary on narcissism. Rammy and I… well we pulled out communism and what living for the greater good can look like. Then Rammy asked the ten thousand dollar question that made us all squirm. I highly recommend the youtube video for fun “who do you picture as the terrorist” liberal discomfort.

Don’t forget, to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” If you want to design a Bradberry, we’d love to see it. On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate “Black Box”? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail, and we will give the final tally on the next episode.

Listener’s last week gave Not From Here by Angela Mitchell 5 Bradberries.

Next weeks story is The Piano Tuner by Peter Meinke.

2 comments on Black Box – Jennifer Egan – Literary Roadhouse Ep 34

  1. Richard says:

    I liked this story, and enjoyed the podcast. Nice job of editing, by the way. I watched part of it on YouTube, and the noise was really annoying. But on the podcast I downloaded, the it was hardly noticeable.

    One aspect that intrigued me was the voice of the tweets. They sounded to me like they were coming from a third party (her handler?) giving her guidance in real time as if he (or she) could see what the agent was seeing. That would dehumanize the woman even more, making her a beauty robot, rather than a daring super agent. James Bond never had anyone telling him what to do real time. He wouldn’t listen even if they tried.

    Another difference with James Bond: when he has sex with a bad woman (see, e.g., Thunderball), it is something presented as sexy and adventurous. In this story, it was presented as rape.

    I’m not sure what to do with these observations, and maybe Egan’s point is to show us the logical limits of the spy thriller, especially when it crosses the gender line.

    I give the story a 5.

    1. Thanks for the sound editing comment! Made my day. 🙂

      Another difference with James Bond: when he has sex with a bad woman (see, e.g., Thunderball), it is something presented as sexy and adventurous. In this story, it was presented as rape.

      I’m not sure what to do with these observations, and maybe Egan’s point is to show us the logical limits of the spy thriller, especially when it crosses the gender line.

      Excellent observation, and I’m inclined to agree with your reading of it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.