Nerdette Book Club discusses ‘Beautyland’

Nerdette

Our April Book Club pick is Marie-Helene Bertino’s second novel 'Beautyland.' It tells the story of Adina, a girl born in Philadelphia in 1977, just as the Voyager I spacecraft launches from Earth in search of extraterrestrial life. As a child, Adina learns she herself is an alien, and her mission is to send her observations about humanity to her supervisors via fax machine (it is the ‘80s, after all). With that conceit, Bertino paints a gorgeous tapestry of what it means to be human, filled with poetic descriptions of the utterly mundane. This book is full of love, longing, and curiosity.

We are joined by two expert readers: Mira Jacob, the author of the novel ‘The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing’ and the graphic memoir ‘Good Talk,’ and Molly McGhee, whose novel ‘Jonathan Abernathy You are Kind’ was our January Book Club selection! We discuss the book in detail, including spoilers! So if you have not read the book yet, go back and listen to our spoiler-free chat with author Marie-Helene Bertino in the feed first.