Two Month Review

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TMR Fresán Relisten Ep. 10: THE INVENTED PART [Pgs. 441-552] Apr 21, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to the Great Fresan Relisten of 2023! Over the next four weeks, we'll be reissuing an episode a day from the The Invented Part and The Dreamed Part seasons of TMR so that you can catch-up, refresh your memory, have a few laughs, etc., before the May 10th launch of Season 19 on The Remembered Part.

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

We did it! After two months, eleven episodes, and a half dozen different guests, Brian and Chad finished their discussion of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part! Joining them this week to wrap things up is Valerie Miles, translator, publisher, co-founder of Granta en Español, and editor of A Thousand Forests in One Acorn. She's also friends with Rodrigo and offers amazing insight into this wild, stuffed chapter in which we return to the beginning ("How to end. Or better: How to end?") while The Writer flies through the skies, revisiting all the rants he made at a recent conference, and the spectacular attack from his archnemesis IKEA. There's a lot more to this section though—especially how it relates to the structure of the overall book.

You can purchase each of the books in the trilogy separately (Invented, Dreamed, Remembered, OR, if you don't have them and are ready for the reading event of 2023, then get The Part Trilogy for $40—approximately 30% off.

You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel aaand you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc. And please rate us—wherever you get your podcasts!

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TMR Fresán Relisten Ep. 9: THE INVENTED PART [Pgs. 405-440] Apr 20, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

It's another 2MR review with just Chad and Brian! Similar to the previous guest-less episode, this one goes a bit off the rails . . . Although this time around it gets a lot darker, as they talk about Chekov, Girl, Night, Swimming Pool, Etc., a scream descending from the skies, John Cheever's writing prompt, and much much more.

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TMR Fresán Relisten Ep. 8: THE INVENTED PART [Pgs. 361-404] Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

On this week's Two Month Review, Tom Roberge from Riffraff and the Three Percent Podcast joins Chad and Brian talk about 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pink Floyd, potential errors and non-errors, cultural touchstones that serve to define friendships, the overall structure of this chapter of The Invented Part, and Tom's experience coming on the podcast having read only these forty pages of the novel. And, as per usual, Chad sneaks in a few Twin Peaks references.

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TMR Fresán Relisten Ep. 7: THE INVENTED PART [Pgs. 301-360] Apr 18, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

On this week's Two Month Review, Chad and Brian talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tender Is the Night, puzzles, how to properly introduce the show, the Modern Library list of top 100 novels of the twentieth century, Booth Tarkington, and much more more.

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Fresán Relisten Ep. 6: The Invented Part [Pgs. 231-300] Apr 17, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

This week, Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn, Chronic City) joins Chad and Brian to talk about The Writer's trip to a hospital, where he assumes something horrible is happening, which is countered by a gushing forth of new story ideas. Jonathan tells of his own experience coming up with one of his most famous books while recovering from an operation, tells of how he first met and bonded with Rodrigo Fresán, and talks about Believeniks!. This is a really meaty, fascinating episode about being a writer, mortality, Fresán's incredible talent, and much more.

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Fresán Relisten Ep. 5: The Invented Part [Pgs. 208-230] Apr 14, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

This week, Speculative Fiction in Translation founder and Best Translated Book Award judge Rachel Cordasco joins Chad and Brian to talk about the nature of time, deals with the devil, conflagrations, and writerly desires, or, in other words, the third part of "The Place Where the Sea Ends So the Forest Can Begin" in Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part. A very elegant section of the book following the wild, giant green cow bit that came before, the three hosts enthusiastically break down some of the plot clues included in this section, and what makes this book so damn good. (Stay till the very end to hear Rachel's enthusiasm take her over!)

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Fresán Relisten Ep. 4: The Invented Part [Pgs. 99-207] Apr 13, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

This week's episode is all about Penelope and her experiences with the Karmas. (And a Big Green Cow.) A lot of the Odyssey, Wuthering Heights, and William Burroughs are in this section, which is hilariously dissected by Brian, Chad, and their guest, Tom Flynn, the manager of Volumes Bookcafe in Chicago. One of the funniest--and most free-flowing, almost beat-like--sections of the book to date, this section explains a lot of the causes for Penelope's madness, while parodying an ultra-rich family of backstabbing, self-involved, frustratingly funny characters--many of whom make great material for a novel . . .

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Fresán Relisten Ep. 3: The Invented Part [Pgs. 46-98] Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

This week, author and journalist Mark Binelli joins Chad and Brian to discuss the first part of the second section of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part. In "The Place Where the Seas Ends So the Forest Can Begin," we meet The Young Man and The Young Woman, who are making a movie about The Writer after his disappearance/death/whatever. From discussion of "irreal realism" to writing classes to the idea of a sitcom about writers, this week's discussion delights in The Writer's ideas about writing and reading, and the hints this chapter contains about the rest of the book.

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Fresán Relisten Ep. 2: The Invented Part [Pgs. 1-45] Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

This week, Jeremy Garber from Powells Books joins Chad and Brian to discuss the first section of Rodrigo Fresán's The Invented Part. This section, entitled "The Real Character," introduces us to the main character of the book--known here as The Boy, and later as The Writer--as well as some of the major themes of the novel. Wide-ranging and very fun, the discussion touches on The Boy's epic list of thoughts and ideas (such as "It Jell-O animal, vegetal, mineral, or interplanetary?"), on the two versions of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night, Gerald and Sara Murphy, the idea of "the invented part," turning off our cell phones, and much more.

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Fresán Relisten Ep. 1: The Invented Part [Introduction] Apr 11, 2023

Show notes

This was our first actual TMR episode (not counting the one that introduced the concept), and wow man wow we've come a long way!

Here are the show notes from the original airing:

Translator Will Vanderhyden joins Chad and Brian to provide an overview of Rodrigo Fresán's work--especially The Invented Part. They discuss some of his earlier works (including Kensington Gardens, which is available in an English translation), different pop culture touchstones running throughout his oeuvre, related authors, and ways to approach The Invented Part.

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