Host Rachel Barenbaum discusses the debut novel “Should the Waters Take Us” with author Stephanie Soileau on Check This Out.
What happens when the land, language and culture that tell you who you are, begin to disappear?
The novel reaches across four hundred years of history and follows one family from France to Acadia to the bayous of Southern Louisiana.
“I think the tales that we tell each other, from generation to generation, are the way that we hang on to the long story of our past,” Soileau says. “Even when there isn't a paper trail.”
A Louisiana native herself, Soileau treats the landscape as an active presence in human life: "I was interested in the fact that all these forms of erosion were happening simultaneously: cultural erosion, language erosion, literal erosion of the land under the feet of these communities.”
New York Times Book Reviewer on the Book Biz
On the Book Biz segment, Barenbaum unpacks the trends shaking up the publishing world.
New York Times literary critic Dwight Garner discusses the future of book reviews and, with the growth of Booktok, compares enthusiasm and evaluation.
“I like to read critics writing in real time about a new book,” Garner says. “And that conversation between many critics doesn't really happen anymore. Often I'm the only review a book gets.”
Check This Out from NHPR Books airs Saturdays at 3 p.m. on NHPR and NHPR.org, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts.
Check This Out is made possible by C&S Wholesale Grocers family of companies and the award-winning daily author interview podcast, Totally Booked with Zibby.
