Book notes | Red Pill
The Fourth Friday Book Club met on Friday, April 23, to discuss the Red Pill by Hari Kunzru.
The choice of title itself, Red Pill, is the opening challenge.
Originally, the phrase Red Pill was understood in popular culture to signify a free-thinking attitude, an awakening from a conventional life—for example, as portrayed in the 1999 film The Matrix.
More recently, according to the Atlantic (April 13, 2021), taking the Red Pill was adopted by some far-right political subcultures to mean that a person “had been radicalized in some ways.” It has come to represent the acceptance of conspiracy theories, of startling delusions and, from that, an acceptance of violent action in the defense of white supremacy and alt-right subcultures.
Inventive and thought-provoking
Now for a short summary of the novel Red Pill, itself. The unnamed narrator is awarded a fellowship and relocates to the Berlin suburb Wannsee. Wannsee is full of ghosts, there is the villa where the Nazis planned the Final Solution; also in Wannsee is the grave of a Romantic writer who shot himself and a companion.
There is a somewhat confusing digression to the far left, to the Stasi of East Germany, with the author suggesting that it is as violent and oppressive as fascism.
Our narrator binge watches television, an extremely violent police drama. There is a meeting with the program’s writer; the writer declares he now “lives rent free” inside the narrator’s brain. And so, it appears that is how the narrator is affected.
Paris, the Scottish Islands, and back to New York City, there is plenty to deal with: delusions, mystical rhetoric, and spirituality contained in far-right rhetoric.
The Red Pill concludes in New York on election night November 8, 2016. The narrator sees in the Trump election all the hard-right memes of the past year, manifest now into the real world.
For the Fourth Friday Book Club, Red Pill was inventive and thought-provoking. Our discussion ranged over layers of meaning and interpretation.
—Dorothy Marden. Fourth Friday Book Club co-chair
Book Club II to meet April 23
Fri, Apr 23 2021, 2pm
The (Fourth Friday) UMRA Book Club II will meet at 2 p.m. Central Time on Friday, April 23, via Zoom to discuss Red Pill by Hari Kunzru. New members are welcome!
A bold novel about searching for order in a world that frames madness as truth, Red Pill is an allegory about how well-meaning liberals have been blindsided by bigots with substantial platforms.
The Red Pill narrator relocates to the Berlin suburb of Wannsee after receiving a prestigious fellowship. Wannsee is a place full of ghosts, including the villa where the Nazis planned the Final Solution and the grave of the Romantic writer Heinrich von Kleist, who committed suicide in despair that “… no happiness is possible on earth ….”
After watching a violent cop show, the narrator fears that he is a party to a cosmic Darwinian battle that exposes him to an ugly, violent, alt-right world view.
An interesting side note: Among the noteworthy events is the date in November 2016 when friends gathered to celebrate the U.S. presidential election outcome, and Trump is declared the winner.
Hari Kunzru is not a familiar name for most U.S. readers, despite the fact that his books have been translated into 21 languages. His short stories and journalism have appeared in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The New York Review of Books, and Red Pill was cited among “Notable Books of 2020” by The New York Times.
Zoom information will be emailed with reminders in advance of the April meeting. Please contact Dorothy Marden at [email protected] or Margaret Catambay at [email protected] for more information or to be added to the mailing list.
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.