Good question. From what I can tell, it worked in a few ways:

Hm, all the drama at the office was undercut by the fact that they were all about to lose their jobs anyway. At least if you have office drama, you still have an office.

So much of the book is about the way the private becomes fodder for public consumption. As unforthcoming as Lynn is about her private condition, it sublimates out into "our" realm through rumors and strange projects that don't seem to be about anything but the boss's obsessions. And at least two of the moments that…

Who Am Us, Anyway?
I wish I could discuss this question more interactively, instead of posting at the end of the day. But unfortunately I've got double meetings to go to…

Now that I think about it, the title sounds kind of British. I like the idea of a cell of Islamic fundamentalists who want to destroy Western culture, but who are too British to get the job done.

Do you have to live like a refugee?
Strictly speaking, the answer is no. But you make a good case for the opposition.

Maybe it's just 'cause I'm slow, but it was worth reading twice. The second time through I saw some recurring themes I missed the first time.

Good things
Do film festivals count as pop-culture experiences? Or is their pop-to-culture ratio too skewed?

As far as film speed goes…Fritz Lang fought with composer Gottfried Huppertz over the right speed for "Metropolis". Not many movies at the time had custom music, but Metropolis was one of them. Lang wanted a slower film speed, partly so the "whore of Babylon" dance wouldn't look goofy. But, much like love, the music…

Yes, thank you for this feature and for introducing me to "To The White Sea". I probably never would have read it or even heard of it. Thanks to you, I got to read it twice!

I should have been careful what I wished for
Great catalog of standout scenes. Now I have a shit-ton more movies I need to watch.

"Culturally Acceptable Violence"
Zack, thank you for cooking up that phrase. As we've talked about the book, I thought it was strange that we could be so much more revulsed by a fictional character that kills about 12 other fictional characters, than by around 90,000 possibly real Tokyo citizens that were flash-fried…

Cool, Miller, I didn't think of that. So many of Muldrow's thoughts are nonverbal, but the words Dickey uses to lay them out are consistent with Muldrow's verbal thoughts. And the language was more evocative, I think, than it would have been if Dickey had been using a Scrabble dictionary.

My guess is Muldrow wouldn't have gone willingly, unless he could be shipped right back to the Brooks Range.

…or a dolphin.

Sure, I think that a code of "let the most ruthless survive" creates a world of monsters. I also think the code is self-defeating to boot. But the long-term failure of ruthlessness doesn't stop ruthless men from trying to make it work, and making everyone else miserable in the process.

You're right, Miller, probably no one else would have survived. Nature does just judge everything on results — success or failure — and Muldrow aligned himself with this better than anyone else would have. Nature does have cooperative relationships, but in Japan Muldrow could only find colors and landscapes to…

I like Farmer John's idea that people with questions strike Muldrow as weak. I can't think of a point in the book where Muldrow asks a question, even a practical one. Actually, I can't imagine the Buddhist monks asking questions either…

Cool, the only Shirley Jackson story I know is "The Lottery". I'll have to check out "We Have Always Lived In The Castle".

Building a better Muldrow
I was wondering how Muldrow came to be who he is too. Like a famous serial killer once said, "Serial killers are made, not born." What human relationships helped shape Muldrow?