Episodes
Monday Aug 01, 2022
Episode 38 -- Eloghosa Osunde’s VAGABONDS!: We Are the Majority!
Monday Aug 01, 2022
Monday Aug 01, 2022
In this episode, the Spoilers can't stop gushing about Eloghosa Osunde's new novel, VAGABONDS! Structured like a spiritual text that challenges the orthodoxy and self-righteousness of those who would deny freedom and life to those on the margins of Nigerian society, this novel expertly constructs a narrative of self-salvation, told from the perspective of the vagabonds of Lagos. In reading this novel the Spoilers realized an important truth: the marginalized are the majority, and when the revolution comes, when the end times arrive -- in is the vagabonds who are gonna party together in love! Check out our emotional show on this unforgettable novel.
Monday Jul 04, 2022
Monday Jul 04, 2022
In another quiet episode, the Spoilers dig deep into issues of borders and migration both in Poddar's novel and in their own lives. It quickly becomes clear that while migration is a more immediate issue for some, it really impacts us all in significant ways. Whether you're venturing around the world or around the corner, we all have to reckon with the impact of moving and crossing boundaries in our lives. Check out this pretty personal episode to see what the Spoilers have to share about their own experiences.
Sunday May 22, 2022
Episode 36 -- Ghostly Reverberations: Louise Erdrich’s THE SENTENCE
Sunday May 22, 2022
Sunday May 22, 2022
In a bit of a quiet episode, the Spoilers revisit 2020 with Tookie, the protagonist of Erdrich's beautiful novel. The novel takes them back to the beginning of the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and the tumultuous summer that followed. But while Erdrich's book is about the haunting reverberations of the past, it is also about efforts toward individual and collective healing. It is about how we move through and respond to injustice and trauma, and how we can try to become whole again. It's about language and books and absolution and love. It's about the sentences we all carry and the ones we speak to each other when it seems like there is nothing that can be said. Damn it, Louise Erdrich! This book is too much!
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
Wednesday Mar 30, 2022
In this episode the Spoilers engage in a crescendoing conversation about Harris' NYT best selling debut novel. Uneasy with their reading of the book, anxious about their commentary, and unsure if they are on steady ground, the Spoilers carefully inch forward, refusing any relaxing balm, eventually careening toward inevitable exasperation. You're going to love this sometimes quiet, sometimes rollicking examination of a definitely provocative but sometimes maddening novel. What's our final verdict? We plead the fifth!
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Episode 34 -- Seams of Subjection: Afia Atakora’s CONJURE WOMEN
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
The Spoilers are back after a long hiatus, anxious to take on this compelling novel by Afia Atakora. Right from the git go they have a lot of questions to answer, but Crystal, Anita, and Todd eventually arrive at an acceptable understanding of this rich novel of slavery and the ties that bind together the enslaved and the enslavers on this plantation: when do they break and when do they hold fast?
Friday Jun 18, 2021
Friday Jun 18, 2021
The Spoilers are back with an intense conversation about Deesha Philyaw's award-winning story collection. We have a lot to say about it and all of it is good. Known for sidestepping the sexy stuff, the Spoilers bravely tackle the intimate elements of this often steamy text -- and just for good measure, Adriana says the d-word at least once. It's definitely worth a listen. You're welcome America!
Sunday May 09, 2021
Episode 32 --A Sister Souljah Seminar, or The Coldest Episode Ever
Sunday May 09, 2021
Sunday May 09, 2021
in this episode the Spoilers get nasty with Sister Souljah's classic tale of the ice-cold Winter Santiaga, one of the great characters of Black street lit. The crew is serious, funny, and informative as they employ their own impeccable skills to break down SIster Souljah's masterpiece -- and luckily no one gets cut in the process.
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
Episode 31 -- Chaste Heat and Sweet Potato Pie: Beverly Jenkins' JOSEPHINE
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
Wednesday Mar 31, 2021
For this, our first foray into the romance novel genre, we went in craving a bodice ripper, but ended up with teenage dress mending -- only a little less hot. However, we must admit that the results of our reading of the great Beverly Jenkins' YA novel, Josephine, were more than satisfying! In this episode we discuss antebellum Michigan and the small town of Whittaker, where all the men have left to fight in the Civil War and the women have been left to fend for themselves. When a group of injured soldiers arrives to convalesce at the town's boarding house, I think we all know what comes next: intense courting! Respectable socializing! Thoughts of kissing! Heteronormativity! And choices, choices . . . As you might expect, this turns out to be a delightfully raucous episode with lots of puns, nervous laughter, and an overdose of food metaphors. Check it out!
Saturday Mar 13, 2021
Episode 30 -- There is a Balm: Robert Jones Jr.'s THE PROPHETS
Saturday Mar 13, 2021
Saturday Mar 13, 2021
In this rather intellectually searching episode, the Spoilers wrestle with Robert Jones' beautiful and challenging debut novel. We try to figure everything out at first, but ultimately settle upon a rather comfortable acceptance of un-knowing and dwelling in the wonder of ambiguity. Arriving at the conclusion that there has not really ever been a novel like this one (EVER!) doesn't take us too awful long -- and once we do get there -- look out. What could have been an hour of complaining becomes a literary love fest. This episode is all epiphanic bliss and profound discovery in real time, folks (perhaps hyperbole, but it felt good).
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Episode 29 -- Black and White and Misread All Over: Nella Larsen's PASSING
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Monday Jan 25, 2021
The Spoilers welcome in the new year with a rollicking discussion of Nella Larsen's Harlem Renaissance classic, Passing in this episode -- and let me tell you they have some strong feelings about the characters in this book. As she does in the novel, the radiant Clare Kendry garners much of the attention, but we have plenty to say about Irene and her very complicated mind as well. We bravely tackle all things race and of course explore the intricacies of passing as well. Mostly we just do our best to answer Anita's questions (which are fantastic as usual). We laugh, we cry and no one dies in this entertaining episode -- perhaps there's some misadventure, but only the good kind (disclaimer: no one even comes close to crying).