Lionel Shriver

Kilifi Creek | Lionel Shriver | Literary Roadhouse Ep 97

Discussion Notes: Kilifi Creek

Find this week’s story here: Kilifi Creek by Lionel Shriver.

Next week’s story: Man From the South by Roald Dahl.

Rated: Clean

The week Maya couldn’t join us, but Gerald, Rammy, and Anais tackle Kilifi Creek by Lionel Shriver, the winner of the BBC National Short Story Award.While Gerald struggled to see the point of the story, Rammy and Anais enjoyed the nuggets of truth and commentary about Western youths traveling abroad in developing nations, and the frank portrayal of youthful self-absorption. Still, all three hosts agreed that the story’s exploration of the suddenness and randomness of death could have gone a little deeper. Poor Rammy, he wanted a happy ending.

Stay tuned after the discussion for an audio version of Animal Face-off: Lion v. Elephant!

This podcast also features the most divisive game of 20 questions you’ve ever heard. Don’t worry, we’re all still friends.

Did we miss a crucial piece of this story? Tell us below!

Also, don’t forget to rate the story! For the history of our goofy system, see Anais’ post “Read Short Stories or Ray Bradbury Cries.” On a scale of 1-6 Bradberries, how do you rate this story? Tell us in the comments below or via voicemail.

Lastly, your reviews on iTunes help us grow. Please search Literary Roadhouse in iTunes and leave reviews for all of our shows.

Prepositions | Lionel Shriver | Literary Roadhouse Ep 48

Prepositions

Next week’s story is The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Rated Explicit

Whoa, Gerald courted controversy with this story of two widows. The story’s narrator recounts the difference between her widowhood. Her her husband died on 9-11, while her friend’s  husband died in 9-11. That little change in preposition had made all the difference in these two women’s lives. After a few pauses and some gallows humor, we dove deep into this story of sympathy and privilege. Prepositions sparked the first tension between Maya and Rammy over whether a story that is sympathetic to envy is a good or bad position for a story to take. It’s no surprise the story caused tension among our hosts, as the story deals with thorny issues of morality and class. We soon discovered that how the reader interprets the story depends largely on their own experiences with loss and class.

How do you feel about the narrator’s plight? Let us know.

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