With The Disappearers, Marlon James has written an explicit and violent epic that’s been called “the novel of the decade, if not the century." He joins the party to talk about queer Jamaican culture, ’80s music icons, and the gay sex scene that even his editor thought he should leave out.
About the show: Welcome to Audie Cornish and Ari Shapiro’s Engagement Party, where the hot takes are the smart takes. After years of working side by side, Audie and Ari have made it official with their pop culture video podcast. Party hopping between what you’re watching, reading and scrolling, these longtime friends unpack what matters in our endless feeds.
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0:00 Welcome, Marlon James! We’re a little obsessed with you, and not just because you wrote the book of the century
2:45 Everybody’s obsessed with the sex in this book (there’s a lot of it), and we have thoughts
5:55 How candid should we be about depicting our own minority communities in media?
9:12 Being gay in Jamaica is still dangerous, but it’s changing
10:25 Marlon James on exorcising demons (and his own literal exorcism)
16:52 Depicting the Jamaican experience on the page and the screen
22:16 The playlist of every song mentioned in Marlon James’ new book exists, and it’s 154 tracks long
26:38 When do you introduce kids to sex, violence, and "problematic" content in books?
32:30 Marlon doesn’t entirely buy the "end of reading" discourse
34:27 Take or Tea! Patron saints of ’80s pop culture, ebooks vs. audiobooks, why Nolan’s The Odyssey fell short, and a comfort read for hard times
Something in your feed you want us to talk about on the show? Email us a video at engagementparty@cnn.com and we’ll feature you on the show.
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