Trouble the Waters: A Conversation with Louise Marburg
Louise Marburg discusses her new story collection, NO DIVING ALLOWED.
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Posts Tagged: unlikable characters
We Are Not Gods: Talking with Elizabeth Ellen
Elizabeth Ellen discusses her new story collection, HER LESSER WORK.
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The Ugly Side of Ambition: A Conversation with Joy Lanzendorfer
Joy Lanzendorfer discusses her debut novel, RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM.
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Making It Through: A Conversation with Kelly J. Baker
Kelly J. Baker discusses her new essay collection, FINAL GIRL.
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We’re All Difficult Women Now: Talking with Avni Doshi
Avni Doshi discusses her debut novel, BURNT SUGAR.
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Beauty in the Ugly of Living: Talking with Alex Poppe
Alex Poppe discusses her new novel, MOXIE.
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Not Here to Make Friends: Rough Magic by Lara Prior-Palmer
Consistent with the author’s headlong personality, the narrative of Rough Magic wastes little time.
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The Uncovered Story: A Conversation with Laura Lippman
Laura Lippman discusses her newest novel, LADY IN THE LAKE.
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No-Man’s Land: A Conversation with Angela Mitchell
Angela Mitchell discusses her debut collection, UNNATURAL HABITATS & OTHER STORIES.
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Thrown Off Balance: Talking with Malinda McCollum
Malinda McCollum discusses her debut story collection, THE SURPRISING PLACE.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Julie Buntin
Julie Buntin discusses her debut novel, Marlena, the writers and books that influenced it, tackling addiction with compassion, and the magic of teenage girls.
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The Rumpus Interview with Karolina Waclawiak
Karolina Waclawiak discusses her latest book, The Invaders, the dark side of human nature, and what it really means to be a “beach read”.
...moreA Fictionalized Betrayal
This was my first experience of being fictionalized. I still recall the yellow-white flash of queasiness, the mortification: a sense of powerlessness and an utter lack of recourse. What if a writer friend—or, worse, relative—of yours turned you into one of his characters, maybe in an unflattering way? Over at the Paris Review, Michelle Huneven […]
...moreFictional Characters Are Not Your Friends
Critics who fault a character’s unlikability cannot necessarily be faulted. They are merely expressing a wider cultural malaise with all things unpleasant, all things that dare to breach the norm of social acceptability. In a cheekily titled BuzzFeed Books essay, “Not Here to Make Friends,” our essays editor Roxane Gay talks about the knotty issue of […]
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