Red Pill
Clever
Unpredictable
Dry

Red Pill A Novel

Hari Kunzru2020
From the widely acclaimed author of White Tears, a bold new novel about searching for order in a world that frames madness as truth. After receiving a prestigious writing fellowship in Germany, the narrator of Red Pill arrives in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee and struggles to accomplish anything at all. Instead of working on the book he has proposed to write, he takes long walks and binge-watches Blue Lives--a violent cop show that becomes weirdly compelling in its bleak, Darwinian view of life--and soon begins to wonder if his writing has any value at all. Wannsee is a place full of ghosts: Across the lake, the narrator can see the villa where the Nazis planned the Final Solution, and in his walks he passes the grave of the Romantic writer Heinrich von Kleist, who killed himself after deciding that "no happiness was 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 involved in a cosmic battle, and that Anton is "red-pilling" his viewers--turning them toward an ugly, alt-rightish worldview--ultimately forcing the narrator to wonder if he is losing his mind.
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Photo of Luke Pearce
Luke Pearce@aldouslanark
3 stars
Jun 9, 2024
Dry
Edgy
Clever
Candid
Depressing
Long winded
Unpredictable
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amari@ama-rakki
2 stars
Mar 31, 2024
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Hellboy TCR@hellboytcr009
4 stars
Oct 18, 2022
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Katie Chua@kchua
4 stars
Aug 13, 2022
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B.H. Pitt@bhpitt
4 stars
Mar 3, 2022
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Brandon Eckroth@brandoneckroth
3 stars
Apr 1, 2023
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Nicholas Barnard@coldfruits
4 stars
Jan 7, 2024
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Tanlyn Roelofs@tanroe
3 stars
Apr 26, 2023
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Jacob Mishook@jmishook
5 stars
Oct 16, 2022
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Jonah Ollman@jonahollman
5 stars
Aug 16, 2022
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Neta Steingart@neta_shin
4 stars
Aug 12, 2022
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Audrey@audedge
3 stars
Jul 29, 2022
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Evan Huang@eh04
4 stars
May 11, 2022
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Nicholas Hanemann@nick_h
2 stars
Dec 20, 2021
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Rebekah Drapeau @msvance
4 stars
Nov 16, 2021
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K. Mike Merrill@kmikeym
3 stars
Sep 5, 2021
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Phil James@philjames
4 stars
Sep 3, 2021
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Aaron Cohen@aaroncohen
3 stars
Aug 9, 2021
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Lily Bradic@lily
3 stars
Aug 3, 2021