Two Month Review

WE’RE COMING TO THE END! Although you wouldn’t know it based on how much delay and deferral there is in this section of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne. Not even Corporal Trim can finish his story! But we do get to learn about the Widow Wadman and her eyes . . . and her desire to find out how severe Uncle Toby’s groin injury really is . . . Also: a summary of Viktor Shklovsky’s famous essay, “The Parody Novel,” from On the Theory of Prose, translated by Shushan Avagyan, which is all about Sterne’s delays, use...

On this week’s episode, Kaija reaches her breaking point, Brian has Stockholm syndrome, and Chad is in danger of an Anchylosis. They also talk about travel-writing, time in narrative, donkeys, Sancho Panza, pabulum, and how much Tristram hates France. It’s a strange volume in a strange book, but one that’s awash in funny bits—and a few moving ones!

This week’s music is “In France” by Frank Zappa.

Next week’s episode will cover Volume VIII of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne. If you want to follow along...

Harold Rogers (Tropicália) comes on to talk about his new novel, Humpty Dumpty, and Laurence Sterne’s influence on his writing. After that, the conversation turns to how best to handle marital disputes, the tragic nature of Volume VI of Tristram Shandy, the infamous line drawing and blank page, and Sterne’s sudden swerve.

This week’s music is “Literary World” by BODEGA.

Next week’s episode will cover Volume VII. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.

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Kicking off this week’s episode is a little game of which came first: a well-known invention, or Volumes I & II of Tristram Shandy. After that, Kaija, Brian, and Chad discuss Volume V, especially the mix of humor and sadness this section contains, and how Sterne’s style overpowers his plot points. They also guess what comes next in the novel, talk about Tristram’s accident, and get into Anatomy of Melancholy and the “Tristrapaedia.”

This week’s music is “The Circumcision Song” by Gifted but Twisted.

Next week’s episode will cover Volume VI. If you want to fol...

Brian’s off-grid, so Chad and Kaija take on Volume IV of Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by themselves. They start by bantering about the Nobel Prize for Literature before getting into “noses,” the metafictional games in this volume, the importance of names, whether you can get a baptismal do-over, and much more.

This week’s music is “Say My Name (Remix)” by Morgan Seatree x Florence + The Machine.

Next week’s episode will cover Volume V. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.

To s...

On this week’s episode, which covers Volume III of Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, Brian shares some weird stuff about geese from Rabelais along with an AI-created reading list on the “evolution of metafiction.” And all three co-hosts talk about how fun this book is to read, but also wonder what the book’s overall “joke” might be. They also discuss noses (or “noses”), “The Author’s Preface” and Macedonio Fernández, and some of the novel’s wordplay.

Next week’s episode will cover Volume IV. If you want to follow along, the complete...

Kaija’s jet-lagged but back, ready to digress and digest double entendres with Chad and Brian. Along with recapping this volume of Tristram Shandy—Toby and Trim’s plan, the collision between Obadiah and Dr. Slop, Yorick’s Sermon, Walter’s midwifery ideas—they talk about the initial reception of this book, the worst type of footnotes, the editorial inclination to favor the transmission of information over voice-driven joyful meanderings, and one of many reasons why Bret Stephens sucks.

This week’s music is “Planet Desperation” by Car Seat Headrest.

Next week’s episode will cover Volume III. If...

Kaija (“Medically Confirmed Sleepyhead,” her words) was asleep for the recording of this, so you only get Chad and Brian this week. They introduce Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by going over Volume I. There’s some biographical info at the start, then they talk about shaggy dog stories and digressions, “nominative determinism,” some interesting ideas from the 1700s about sperm and conception, the em-dash problem in the Penguin Classic edition, and how to handle all the footnotes without destroying the flow of reading.

They also discuss the other Substack currently reading Tris...

Instead of breaking down any books this episode, Kaija, Brian, and Chad talk about some of the books they read this past summer, including a few Nabokov titles, Big Bang by David Bowman (NOT the 2001 character), Helen of Nowhere by Makenna Goodman (longlisted for the Booker Prize!), and several more. Then, they lay out the next three seasons of TMR, explaining some of the connections between these various books . . .

This week’s music is “Summertime Clothes” by Animal Collective.

The next three seasons of TMR are announced in this episode, and the reading schedule for the fi...

This week, Kaija, Chad, and Brian talk about how well Morgner landed the plane, the ethics of recommending books to bar patrons, what the second and third volumes of this trilogy might be like, how the book works as parody, Viktor Shklovsky, and much more.

This week’s music is “Detachable Penis” by King Missle.

We’ll announce a new slate of TMR seasons in the upcoming weeks. Till then, stay tuned, and explore our extensive back catalog of more than 150 episodes.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever...

This week, Brian, Kaija, and Chad talk about the unknown world of references Morgner is playing with, picaresque novels, the joys of writing tedious prose, the American healthcare system, and Beatrice’s fate.

This week’s music is “Out of This Place” by Car Seat Headrest.

Next week: We finish this!

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Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t...

This week’s episode opens with some World Cup talk, before diving into the “Sixth Intermezzo” and first half of “Book Eleven.” According to Brian, “family” is the best way to sum up Fast & Furious this week’s reading, which revolves around Laura’s marriage to Benno, and the return of Beatrice from her unicorn hunt. There’s also a speech justifying the “law on the termination of pregnancy” and a terrible poem by Paul Wiens. (Chad: “Who?”)

This week’s music is “Connect the Dots (Song of Secretariat)” by Car Seat Headrest.

Next week’s episode will cover the rest of “Bo...

Covering two sections of the novel—the “Fifth Intermezzo” and “Book Ten”—this episode of TMR starts by discussing how life didn’t turn out how Oskar Pakulat had hoped, and then meanders through Beatrice’s search for the unicorn Anaximander, along with Benno’s all too honest conversation with Laura, before wrapping with an anti-AI reading of the golem/robot section. There’s more talk about how Imtraud Morgner is disrupting patriarchal literary forms, incorporating a dazzling array of literary structures, and having a great time writing this book. Also: Chad discovers the “Glossary” and learns about Paul Wiens for the second tim...

This week, Kaija, Brian, and Chad talk about the various levels of narration to this book and the interplay between the “books” and the “intermezzos.” They also end up comparing and connecting The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice to a number of books and authors, including Mulligan Stew, Samuel Beckett, The Golden Notebook, I the Supreme, and Flann O’Brien. Finally, they focus in on the idea of a “montage novel” and how this upends male-dominated patterns of fiction.

This week’s music is “Not Today” by Kim Gordon.

Next week’s episode will cover up through page...

In an episode as scattered as the book itself, Brian, Chad, and Kaija spend this week wrestling with the wild fragmentation of Morgner’s novel. They talk about co-opting stories, about brains like waffles vs. those like plates of spaghetti, and about what they think might lie ahead. Also: ton of jokes in this one. And some terrible music references.

This week’s music is “Pony” by Ginuwine. (Blame Brian.)

Next week’s episode will cover up through page 242. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.

You can subscr...

On this episode, Chad admits to Brian and Kaija that he’s been wrong about something for decades . . . or has he? After that, they discuss the story of Jonah and the whale and Melusine, the poetry generator, Morgner’s general subversions, and more!

This week’s music is “Der blaue Planet” by the GDR band Karat.

Next week’s episode will cover through page 179. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The new season kicks off by talking about what compelled Kaija to select The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice as Chronicled by her Minstrel Laura, which didn’t get much attention when it came out from the University of Nebraska Press in 2000, but has developed a bit of a cult following. (Maybe the scene will be primed for a reprint by the time this season ends.) Myths, Melusine, Genshin Impact, the “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries, Hopscotch and Tristram Shandy are all discussed, before Kaija gets to share the real reason she picked this book (spoiler: it’s a bunch...

On the final episode of this season of the Two Month Review, librarian, book reviewer, passionate reader, and Open Letter intern, Joseph Alcala joins Chad, Brian, and Kaija to talk about the last chunk of Augusto Roa Bastos’s I the Supreme. They discuss what did and didn’t keep them interested in the book, how it compares to other dictator novels, who the audience for this book might be, and just how fire the ending is.

This week’s music is “A House on Fire” by TRAAMS.

Next season’s title is The Life and Adventur...

Chad is still battling post-COVID brain fog, but he and Kaija make a solid go of it, talking about the brilliance of Roa Bastos’s voice, and reflecting on just how flimsy the monument of words and justifications he’s building really is. Then Kaija brings up this week’s primary topic: How to contribute to a group read when you’re just not feeling the book.

This week’s music is “Seven” by Holy Fuck.

Next week’s episode will cover the last section of the book, pages 382-435. The reading schedule for next season’s title—T...

Chad has Covid, giving this episode a feverish quality—and making it even more entertaining than usual? Regardless, he’s joined by Kaija and Brian and they talk about their struggles with the book, what’s pulling them through (or not), the philosophies and big ideas of it all, and failure.

This week’s music is “Mata Zyklek” by Angine de Poitrine.

Next week’s episode will cover through page 381. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever yo...

Carlos Labbé (Navidad & Matanza, The Murmuration) joins Chad and Kaija to talk about his experience reading Yo el Supremo in college, influences on this period of “el Boom,” Latin American history, and much more. They also discuss the plot, as it relates to Paraguay’s independence and the instillation of Francia as Supreme Dictator, and make predictions on what’s to come. Also: More skulls!!

This week’s music is “Northern Wind Brings Redemption” by Saagara.

Next week’s episode will cover through page 326. If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.

Sometimes a pen is just a pen, and sometimes it’s a magical object that might contain all of Dr. Francia’s madness. Although this week’s episode covers pages 166–216, most of the time is spent on the Compiler’s note starting on page 197, in which “the Compiler” finally becomes a fully-fledged character—one who is in possession of the Supreme Dictator’s pen. Kaija, Brian, and Chad talk about how this adds a new dimension to the novel and helps to frame the various threads we’re following (Francia’s dying days, the history of Paraguay gaining independence, the occult, Francia’s...

Speculation about the Supreme Dictator and his pet skull dominates this episode of the Two Month Review, although it also includes a comparison between Francia and Alex Jones, an assessment of Francia’s argument as to why he should lead the independence movement, stray thoughts about the Compiler, and a bit about the interplay between the Supreme Dictator’s representation of himself and his reign, and the historical documents that exist.

This week’s music is “Skulls” by The Lemonheads.

Next week’s episode will cover through page 216. If you want to follow along, the complete sch...

If you’re reading this book and feel lost—you’re not alone! Chad spends most of this podcast talking over everyone and sharing his research about the history of Paraguay circa 1810, which is when a good chunk of this week’s section of the book (pages 56-110) takes place. After somewhat getting their bearings (this is a difficult book!), the crew talk about circles, meteors/aeroliths, writing and power, the occult, predictions for the rest of the novel, and much more. If you’re struggling with this novel, this episode should provide a few toeholds to understanding Roa Bastos’s—a...

The new season kicks off with an overview of Augusto Roa Bastos's life, some background on this season's dictator, Dr. Francia of Paraguay, and a bit of table setting as to how this book came to be. Then, Chad, Brian, and Kaija dive into the book’s chaotic humor and presentation, the presence of the occult in the first chapter of the book, and what makes this novel challenging to read.

This episode’s music is “Cult of Personality” by Living Color.

You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your...

Ted Morrissey (The Tunnel at 25, A Lesson Before Writing podcast) returns to help Kaija, Chad, and Brian close out this three-month-long discussion about William H. Gass’s The Tunnel. They discuss the book’s structure, its ending, hoarding and alcoholism, the lack of academic attention paid to the book, the value of the audiobook’s liner notes, and more!

This episode’s music is “I Wish I Was Sober” by Frightened Rabbit.

TMR will be back in mid-February with season 30 featuring I, The Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos & Helen Lane. The complete schedule for season 30 will be avai...

This week, pervy academics, rivers, candy shops, and a bit of childhood gambling carry us through the penultimate section of Gass’s The Tunnel. Brian and Kaija kick off the episode sans Chad, who pops in toward the end and vechoes the discussion about the book’s overarching pattern of 4s, the applications of “harnessing history,” and—once again and with feeling—what is it that creates and shapes despicable and/or evil people into their despicable and/or evil selves.

This episode features two songs: “The Candy Man” by Sammy Davis, Jr., and “Wabash Cannonball” by Johnny Cash.

N...

Susu, the Book of Judges, MAGA, morality, the mirror of literature, heavy furniture . . . all of these are discussed on this week’s episode covering “Susu, I Approach You in My Dreams,” which includes the all-too-timely subsection “Being a Bigot.” Brian fills in some biblical background this week, Chad argues that reading Kohler makes you a better person, and Kaija is concerned about cats.

This episode’s music is “Coast” by Snocaps.

As we head into the end of this season, we’ll be covering a very long section next week: “Going to the River” (pages 534–632). The complete schedule (i...

Ted Morrissey (The Tunnel at 25) returns to talk about his favorite section of The Tunnel, which has some Joycean overtones, and is a little less angry than some of the other parts of the book. (See: Kohler talking about breakfast, saying nice things about Martha.) It is a section that gets into the core of Kohler’s argument in Guilt and Innocence in Hitler’s Germany—an argument that can also be summarized for our times as, “who is more evil: Trump or someone who joins ICE?” A fun way to kick off 2026 with laughs and intellectual musings, and some addit...

In this section of The Tunnel, Gass looks at academia, committees, power dynamics on campus, and the “curse of colleagues.” Chad, Brian, and Kaija have a lot of fun with this section talking about how gross Kohler is, which colleague of his they most represent, whether or not any of these people are “real,” and the state of college as a public institution in 2025.

This episode’s music is “Sideboob” by English Teacher.

The next episode will drop in 2026 and will cover “Around the House” (pages 437–475). The complete schedule (if you’re reading along in real time) can be foun...

Lori Feathers (Interabang Books, Big Book Project) joins Kaija, Chad, and Brian to talk about “The First Winter of My Married Life” in which Kohler and Martha suffer the invasive noises of a nearby neighbor, Kohler loses his cool because of his inconsolable son, and various memories are explored thanks to a photo album. They talk about this, about how Kohler is manipulating the reader (why? to what end?), the cruel humor of the book, and much more—including the unveiling of what book we’ll be covering next season . . .

This episode’s music is “Spring and by Summer Fa...

Chris Via of Leaf by Leaf joins Kaija, Brian, and Chad on this episode to talk about “Why Windows Are Important to Me.” They discuss Chris’s ten-hour-long project on The Tunnel, why “Blackboard” is his favorite section, edges and nodes and architecture in literature, philosophy and metaphors, and much more. A very high-level, intellectual episode thanks in large part to Chris’s contributions!

This episode’s music is “Das Verschwinden” by The Notwist.

Next week we’ll cover “The First Winter of My Married Life” (pages 334–385). The complete schedule (if you’re reading along in real time) can be found h...

Covering the “Mad Meg” section (pgs 214–282), Chad, Kaija, and Brian talk about the juxtaposition of Kohler’s childhood Sunday drives with the bombast of Mad Meg’s lectures, about Southern Gothic writing and Flannery O’Connor, blaming others for your sadness, history and ideas, and more.

This episode’s music is “The Catastrophe (Good Luck With That, Man)” from Car Seat Headrest.

We’ll be back on December 4 to cover “Why Windows Are Important to Me” (pages 282–334). The complete schedule (if you’re reading along in real time) can be found here.

You can subscribe to this podcas...

As Kohler begins to dig his actual tunnel, Chad, Kaija, and Brian talk about Culp as a sort of döppelganger, complicity, the symbolism of a tunnel, losing one’s wedding ring, whether the breakup scene with Lou really took place, the formal constraints of dirty limericks, and much more. For all the daily fascism in the novel, the conversation about it is fun and funny, while teasing out various themes and exploring the core issues.

This episode’s music is “Whistle While You Work” from Snow White.

Next week we’ll cover the second section, “M...

This week Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about the midwest as hell, locusts and tornados, one’s family and attempts to escape it, forms of love found in the book, aging (as always), History and history, Rilke, whether or not we “know” Kohler, and much more. It’s a fun, illuminating episode covering a section that, despite the exploding glass and wind, is a bit slower and more focused than the previous two.

This episode’s music is “Whirring” by The Joy Formidable.

Next week we’ll cover the second section, “We Have Not Lived the Right Life” (p...

On this week’s episode, Ted Morrissey (author, creator of The Tunnel at 25) joins Kaija, Brian, and Chad to talk about “Koh Whistles Up a Wind” and how to approach The Tunnel overall. (He also unveils what he thinks is Gass’s real masterpiece—you’ll have to listen to the end to find out.) They talk about the “trap” Gass set for reviewers, enticing them to identify him with Kohler, about the “milk crate edition,” and other aspects of the making of this novel, about the realization Ted has about page 92, and much more.

This episode’s music is “Sincere” b...

For this season of the Two Month Review, we’re leaving the sunny, paranoid skies of Pynchon’s California behind in favor of William Frederick Kohler’s study, where, instead of writing an introduction to his recently completed book, Guilt and Innocence in Hitler’s Germany, Kohler starts writing about his life and things that annoy him, about annoyances and disappointments, and about the awful aspects of ourselves that we never want to directly confront. In this particular episode, Chad, Brian, and Kaija talk about Gass’s life and other writings and provide a general framework for anyone approaching this maste...

Peter Coviello (Vineland Reread) joins Kaija, Brian, and Chad to talk about the ending of Vineland, how it compares to One Battle After Another, what the Thanatoids are, the sheer joy of reading Thomas Pynchon, and more. A very lively way to end the season filled with laughs and Coviello’s wonderful insights.

Up next, for Season 29 is . . . you’ll have to wait and see. Announcement coming soon, but in the meantime, be on the lookout for a one-off episode about Pynchon’s new book, Shadow Ticket.

This week’s music is “Maybelline” by Chuck Berry.

For the penultimate episode of this season, Andrew Merritt of the Life on Books podcast joined Chad and Kaija to talk about the original arrangment between Vond, Frenesi, and Zoyd, about how, once again, this book is too prophetic in delineating our current situation, about misoneism, about postpartum depression, untested forms of therapy, etc. But the highlight is probably “Pynchon Character or Baseball Player?” featuring some of the wackiest names in all of . . . baseball? Pynchon? Both?

This week’s music is “Pynchon Character or Baseball Player?,” which was fully made by AI as a joke.

Next week...

Chad, Brian, and Kaija try to start out on a light note—goofing on the Phoenix children’s names—but things get deadly serious (pun intended) when they get into talking about Weed Atman’s murder on a college campus and how it’s brought into being thanks to our Big Bad, Brock Vond, and the government’s strategy of shutting down leftest hippies. They talk about forms of revolution, what works and doesn’t seem to, sneaking in political awareness via sit-com level humor, and more. It’s an odd episode given the chilling reality of life in September 2025...