General Fiction | Book Chatter

Red Pill
By Hari Kunzru
Vintage, 2021, 304pp.

The Short of It:

Kind of a mind trip.

The Rest of It:

“After receiving a prestigious writing fellowship in Germany, the narrator of Red Pill arrives in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee and struggles to accomplish anything at all. Instead of working on the book he has proposed to write, he takes long walks and binge-watches Blue Lives,a violent cop show that becomes weirdly compelling in its bleak, Darwinian view of life. He soon begins to wonder if his writing has any value at all.” ~ from the publisher

I am not going to mince words, Red Pill was really hard to get into. It meandered and seemed somewhat dreamlike, to me. Our protagonist is, in my opinion, living the dream getting to do what he supposedly loves, writing, but he’s unfocused and unmotivated and on the verge of going astray.

Relegated to an open office concept to do his work in, he finds himself completely unable to write anything. So, he wanders. Past grave sites, believing that happiness cannot be found on earth. He meets Anton. A very eccentric guy and also the creator of Blue Lives, the violent show that our narrator is obsessed with. After a night of drinking and going from one place to another, our narrator is convinced that Anton is red-pilling his viewers to brainwash them with his alt-right views.

Reality? Fabricated? As I reader, I am not quite sure but our narrator loses his mind. Or maybe his mind was gone all along?

This book came out in 2021 but there are a few passages that I screenshot because they speak directly to those of us concerned about a select few reaping the benefits of what should belong to many.

Paragraph from Red Pill talking about the elite.

The times we are living in now, most definitely benefit the HAVES, not the have nots. Every now and then, as I was cruising along in this book, a truth bomb would drop and I’d be like, oh… yeah. Wow. Red Pill is that type of read. It’s not “in your face”, much more subtle. You will have to dig a little to find meaning.

Did I like it? Honestly, at 60% in I decided to let it go. I wasn’t enjoying it but since it’s a book club pick, I pushed through and then it began to pique my interest. So no, I didn’t love it but as a discussion book, there is plenty to discuss.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

The Poppy Fields
By Nikki Erlick
William Morrow, June 2025, 320pp.

The Short of It:

If you were stricken with grief, would sleeping through the pain help?

The Rest of It:

Enter The Poppy Fields. A center for the grieving. Those, suffering from an unbearable loss, can simply sleep away their pain. Ellis, the creator of the center sees it as an invaluable resource, but it’s not for everyone. Many apply, but several are turned away. The ones who make it through? They have a chance to sleep their pain away in a controlled, loving environment.

Successful treatment renders the patient calm, more able to address the day. But there are risks. Some side effects include emotional numbness. Unable to feel anything. Is that better? Worse? For those around them, quite possibly worse.

Ellis, the creator of the center had her own reasons for coming up with the concept. She left a younger sister back home and that sister, Ava, has met up with three random strangers on her quest to find Ellis. What Ava doesn’t realize is that these strangers are also headed to the same place for different reasons.

This was a surprisingly thoughtful read. Erlick recently wrote The Measure, which many of you read. I had not read that one but when I saw this one come up for review I snatched it up. Grief can be hard to put down on a page, in a realistic way. Erlick does it beautifully.

Our main characters:

Ava – grieving the loss of her grandmother and the relationship she had with her sister.
Ray – carrying the heavy loss of his brother after his brother’s trip to the center.
Sasha – devastated over the sudden loss of the love of her life.
Sky – a free spirit who accepts a free ride on their way to California.

This rag tag crew explore grief together. What it means, what it does to a person, and together they pull each other up. Sky, young and carefree but surprisingly empathetic, accompanies them and supports them in a way that only a young person can.

I found myself completely choked up at times! The writing is gently poignant. Thoughtful and full of yearning. These characters complement each other in surprising ways. As they make their trek across the desert to The Poppy Fields, they share personal stories and feelings only to find out that they are more alike than not. What starts off as a random ride across the desert becomes something much more meaningful.

As for the clinical aspect, it’s minor. Very minor. I remember how cold and sterile Never Let Me Go felt. The Poppy Fields touches on the clinical aspect but mostly focuses on human connections. It’s warm and inviting but will definitely have you thinking about things or people you’ve lost.

Highly recommend.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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