MashReads Podcast: 'Fever Dream' is a surrealist 'WTF!?' kind of novel

If you were to look back on the past, could you pinpoint the exact moment that shaped the course of your life?

It's this very challenging and quixotic task that propels Samanta Schweblin's surrealist novel Fever Dream.

The book follows Amanda, a mother who lies in her deathbed as she tells the story of the last days of her life to David, a child who may or may not have had his soul split and put into another body to survive being poisoned. David wants to uncover the mystery of Amanda's dying before time runs out, tasking Amanda with finding "the exact moment the worms came into being," which is to say the exact moment that illness overtook Amanda.

Sound trippy and confusing? Good. That's the point. In Fever Dream, Schweblin constructs a nightmare-like tale of family and motherhood that will leave you asking yourself what's real, what's fake and does the difference between the two even matter.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream. Join us as we talk about surrealist fiction and being lost in books.

Then, inspired by Fever Dream, we talk about books that make us go "WTF?!" including Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (and Rebecca Solnit's essay about reading Lolita, 'Men Explain Lolita To Me'), Devil In The White City by Erik Larson, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, It by Stephen King and Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

And, as always, we close the show with recommendations.

• Aliza recommends You Must Remember This by Karina Longworth, a podcast that covers the unknown secrets and lesser-known stories of Hollywood in the 20th century. "It's just amazing. Karina is amazing. Her research is great. Her voices when she does old-timey actresses is great. I highly, highly recommend."

• Peter recommends the newest Saga Vol 6. "Every time I read [Saga] I am so absorbed and very emotionally moved by those characters. It's the best comic series that I currently read." He also shouts out Margaret Atwood's New York Times Book Review cover story 'Margaret Atwood on What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Means in the Age of Trump.'

• MJ recommends 'Maxine Waters Is Back and She's Not Here To Play' by R. Eric Thomas. "It is an older post, but every time I read it, it makes me laugh. It is a masterclass in writing with voice and humor."

We hope you'll join us next week in reading and discussing our official MashReads Book club selection A Separation by Katie Kitamura.

And if you're looking for even more book news, don't forget to follow MashReads on Facebook and Twitter.