Lit Society: Books and Drama – Details, episodes & analysis

Last week, we saw young Dodo captured and tied to a bed in a sanitorium. He faces imminent danger constantly and can confide in only one friend, a young boy with cerebral palsy who shares the bed next to him. Will his family be able to rescue Dodo, or will he spend his final days in the hands of men with evil aims? Meanwhile, as Chona wastes away in a hospital bed due to a series of seizures, will the truth about her attack come to light? Let's find the answers in this week's review of the conclusion to The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

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The last community of Black Americans and Jewish immigrants in a tiny Pennsylvania town must risk their lives and livelihoods to save a deaf child from institutionalization and torture. Will they succeed against a system that squishes them all under society's boot? Or will an innocent boy be forced into a nightmarish existence?

The book The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

Let's get LIT!

- View the video podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@litsocietypod

Find Alexis and Kari online: 

Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod

Twitter — www.twitter.com/litsocietypod

Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod

Our website — www.LitSocietyPod.com. 

Subscribe to emails and get free stuff: http://eepurl.com/gDtWCr 

This episode was first published on April 14, 2022, and it's still one of our favorites.  We return next week with a new episode covering No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. Enjoy!

America's Most Wanted was a television show launched by a man who knew what it meant to lose a child forever, in the blink of an eye, to the hands of a monster. He took his pain and helped others find their missing children before it was too late. Today, we discuss how that man, Jon Walsh, lost his son and what we all can do to be a little safer in these streets. Then, on to our book...

On the tenth anniversary of her youngest daughter's disappearance, one woman must choose to let go of her pain and reopen herself to life and love. After meeting a charming writer, who reminds her of her ex-husband, she begins a path that takes her somewhere she never imagined — to the truth about her daughter's disappearance a decade earlier.

The woman's name? Laurel Mack.

The book? Then She Was Gone: A Novel by Lisa Jewell

LET'S GET LIT!

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

This week we're taking it back to our very first episode, featuring a book that's drowning in controversy.

As a kid, did you ever fantasize about running away from home? Ever dream about escaping to a place where no one could tell you what to do? Imagine for a moment that your fantasy came true but in reverse. Your parents ran away from home, leaving you to your own devices before you could even count to 30 — before you literally knew what number came after 29. It’s an age where you reasonably expect no one will ever leave you without food, guidance, and protection, and yet there you are, without the natural affection afforded to even the feral animals around your feet. Sobering, no?

Owens writes the world of Kay, our protagonist, with striking vividness. Through economical prose and an unpretentious vocabulary, she brings to life the colors and sounds experienced by a six-year-old girl, abandoned by her own in the marsh of North Carolina in the 1950s. While reading this book, the air around you will smell of buzzing micro-ecosystems and land wet with forgotten waters from the Pacific Ocean. More than anything, you’ll feel the numbing pain of Kay’s loneliness as if it’s your own.

Before we dive into Where the Crawdads Sing, we’ll get real about loneliness and depression: What battles have we had with both, and how does one cope?

Welcome to the first episode of Lit Society. Let’s get LIT

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

In the quiet village of St. Mary Mead, in the peaceful English countryside, the unthinkable happens — a murder. What is more, this is not just any murder. The dead man is found in the local's clergyman's office, blood on the desk and a note in his atrophying hand. Did the clergyman bring an end to the life of a man he envied? Or was it one of the many country folks who openly hated the deceased? One observant spinster aims to get to the bottom of the mystery before the wrong man is hanged.

The observant old maid? Miss Marple.

The book: The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

LET'S GET LIT!

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

This week we're talking jewelry heists. Which notorious thieves were caught by police, and which got away? Alexis has the answers. Then, it's on to our book.

Orphaned in high school, Ray Carney worked his way through college and now owns his own furniture store in 1960s Harlem. He's a family man living the American dream, but some dreams are no different than nightmares. Fighting both familial and internal influences, Carney must outlast three separate heists to secure the lives of those he loves most. Will he survive? Or will this man lose himself trying to find his dream?

The book is Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead.

Let's get LIT!

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

It is the first week of June, and you know what that means. We're back with another WILD CARD episode. Instead of dissecting a book, we're discussing Kenneth Branagh's Death On the Nile, a film released in cinemas and streaming this year. We saw this film in theaters and at home, and we've got a LOT to say. Watch the flick before listening to see if our thoughts coincide with yours, and let us know if we finally pronounced Hercule Poirot correctly. (Spoiler: We didn't!)

Let's get LIT! 

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

Convenience Store Woman is the deadpan tale of one woman's happy life in a simple occupation before conformity-obsessed friends, family members, and strangers pressure her into confusion and despair. Will she find her way back, or will she end up like a sandcastle, washed away by the current of conventionality? As Beyoncé said, "This is for the 30-somethings that didn't turn out exactly how mom and dad wanted you to be."

Before diving into this dry humor, we discuss if anyone can indeed find happiness and fulfillment from their job. 

This is LIT Society. Let's Get LIT! 

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

America's first Black-American established towns are our theme this week, inspired by the author's hometown in the state of Florida. How did these towns form, and what's the story behind them? Alexis has the details. Then, it's on to our book...

This Harlem Renaissance classic is the story of a woman too beautiful to be trusted and too innocent to be cautious. She battles nearly debilitating loneliness, floating through life unseen, despite marrying twice. At a time she least expected, she finds love and that love takes her on a journey of self-discovery to inner, untouchable liberation.

 The book is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

 Let's Get LIT!

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

No matter who you are, you're sure to relate to this week's theme: How Our Ancestors Effect Who Are Today. In a real, measurable way, the family members who came before us affect who we are and how we live. We'll chat about how this has proven true in our own lives. Then, on to our book...

Following the story of two sisters and the generations they birthed, this week's book covers each woman's journey from the tribe of their childhood to their children's lives and their children's children in America. Each new generation has new struggles, romances, passions, and pain. In the end, the sisters' families are united, brought home to the land and the water that bore them.

The book is Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

Let's Get LIT!

Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.