Red Pill – A Novel, Audiobook Online By: Hari Kunzru
One of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2020. One of NPR’s Best Books of 2020.
One of the A.V. Club of 15 favorite books of 2020.
From the acclaimed author of White Tears comes a daring new novel about finding order in a world that sees madness as fact.
After receiving a prestigious writing scholarship in Germany, the Red Pill narrator arrives in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee and struggles to achieve anything. Instead of working on the book he was supposed to write, he went for a long walk and binge-watched Blue Lives – a violent police show that becomes strangely compelling in light of his bleak life’s perspective. Darwin – and soon began to wonder if his writing was of any value at all.
Wannsee is a place full of ghosts: Across the lake, the narrator can see the mansion where the Nazis planned the Final Solution, and while walking he passes the grave of writer Lang Heinrich von Kleist, who committed suicide after deciding that “unhappiness is possible here on earth”.
When some friends drag him to a party, where he meets Anton, the creator of Blue Lives, the narrator begins to believe that the two of them are engaged in a cosmic battle and that Anton is “making red”. face” of his viewers – directing them towards an ugly, far-right worldview – ultimately forcing the narrator to wonder if he is losing his mind.
The protagonist is deeply disturbed by a nagging vision of an encroaching global psychosis. Is he delusional? Maybe not. No hook. However, be patient. The story resonates with the familiar anxiety prevalent in recent years in America. This reading made me question my own state of mind. The red pill is a worthy experience.
I respect this author and want to read everything he has ever written. Just an incredible and extremely timely book. Can’t recommend enough. Also, I usually hate when authors read their own work, but Hari is a great reader.
