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Help for resistant writers, working to bloom. Library censorship news. victoriawaddle.substack.com

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Be a Cactus Podcast

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by Victoria Waddle

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Help for resistant writers, working to bloom. Library censorship news. <a href="https://victoriawaddle.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast">victoriawaddle.substack.com</a>

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May 31, 2026

The Fiction of Pulitzer Prize Winner Daniel Kraus.

Hello Friends,While this is not our “Library and Banned Books News” week, (that’s next week), I do want to mention that the Knox County, TN schools reversed the banning of Alex Haley’s Roots. And that was because of community and national blow back. Fighting back matters! Good job, book ‘freadom’ fighters!I had another cataract surgery last week, and wasn’t seeing clearly again, so I had the chance to listen to several audiobooks. One of them was Daniel Kraus’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Angel Down. I read some remarks about the book questioning whether the Pulitzer committee was biased toward experimental work. Apparently, some critics found all the finalists to be similar in their approach. I don’t know—I haven’t read most of the books up for the award. However, Angel Down is unusual (I wouldn’t go so far as to say experimental) in that it is a single sentence. But, at least in audiobook form, it flows well. Pauses can be felt; there are chapter breaks (each starts with the word “and”).Thanks for reading Be a Cactus! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Angel DownAngel is easy to follow and reminded me—in form, not in content— of the Academy Award winning film 1917 (Directed by Sam Mendes) which feels like it was filmed in one continuous shot. I haven’t read any interviews with Kraus, so I don’t know whether he was influenced by the film.Angel is the story of a group of five American soldiers trying to stay alive during the Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I. A weird lamentation is coming from the No Man’s Land between them and the Germans. The pitch and endlessness of the cry is driving the men mad. Their commanding officer—Major General Reis, a very bad guy—commands them to take care of the man, who is probably caught in barbed wire. He means they are to kill the sufferer.No one wants to risk their life in No Man’s Land. Private Cyril Bagger, a con man and draft dodger who only landed in the war because he was caught in an illegal scheme, knows he can con his way out of being chosen for the risky mission. However, when the task falls to a teenage soldier named Arno, a mere boy who lied about his age in order to join the army, Bagger decides to accompany him. He has a soft spot for the poor kid after reading “The Son of Tarzan” to him. For a while, he believes he can make sure that Arno makes it home alive.When the two venture out to find the suffering soldier, they are surprised to find instead what they think is an angel, a woman who is unable to walk but who emanates a beam of heavenly light. It seems she protects them as they rescue her. But once they arrive back with the others, the angel brings out both the worst impulses of each of them as well as their illusory dreams. Bagger and Arno make it their mission to protect the angel and deliver her to safety.The story is full of vivid descriptions of the gore and horror of war—severed limbs, erupting guts, rotting teeth, pus and infections, burnt flesh—one atop the other, giving the reader a sense of the futility and darkness of the enterprise.As a high school teacher librarian, I read many YA books that I would later ‘book talk’ to students. The way the horror and gore were described in Angel were familiar to me. Is this the Daniel Kraus who wrote YA novels that I used to book talk? I checked—and yes, he is the same man.This Pulitzer winning novel has much in common with two novels I read for book talks—Rotters and Scowler. Perhaps this will lead some readers to think ‘how did Angel win the Pulitzer, then?’ But maybe another way to look at it is that some YA books are very good, and Kraus’s are among them. Maybe he was building the skills that landed that Pulitzer.If you enjoy horror, you might enjoy those novels. You could recommend them to teens you know. Teens could impress their teachers with the fact that they’ve read books by Kraus. Here are some thoughts I had when I read the YA books.ScowlerMy thoughts in October 2013:Scowler is a great October read, one in a YA branch of the true horror family. So—this is NOT your love triangle with some supernatural creatures thrown in ala Twilight and its progeny.Scowler is Dark.Scowler is Disturbing.After nine years in prison, a psychopath returns to the family farm with one thing on his mind—revenge against his son, now nineteen years old, for having him locked up all those years ago. That father, Marvin Burke, has escaped when meteorites fall throughout the county. One hits the prison and chaos ensues. Though Burke is supposed to be in a more distant lock-up, another escaped prisoner comes to the farm and warns Ry that his father is out for his blood.Ry had bested his father nine years earlier after climbing through a window and discovering his mother locked in her room, unable to flee. Her immobility is due to the twisted torture that her husband had devised for her in response to the fact that she has secretly done work to support the failing farm. (I can’t tell you—don’t want to kill the creep factor when you read it.)Though the family—Ry, his mom and his little sister Sarah—nearly escape, Marvin Burke catches them. It is up to ten-year-old Ry to be a decoy, to risk himself through a freezing night. He has no jacket, none of the right clothing, in fact. No light. No nothing, except three toys that fall from his pockets. As his mental state breaks under pressure of his father stalking him in order to murder him, these toys come to life and direct him through his living hell.One of Ry’s toys—Scowler—is an old cast-off, homemade from pipes, husks and shells. Hideously ugly.It may prove his salvation more than once.High school housekeeping: I think any teen might enjoy Scowler for a Halloween fright. Though there are several flashbacks, it takes place over a few days, just before the meteorite hits and then just after. Here, the reader finds himself in the mind of a sadistic psychopath as well as in the mind of his son, who, having suffered beyond ordinary human endurance, may well become a psychopath himself. The language is colorful, so if cursing offends you, you might take a pass. But this gives a sense of reality both to the brother-sister relationship and to the dire situation of the family. It’s a book of average length and average difficulty that will give you a taste of what adult horror fans read in the lengthier works of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and their ilk.RottersMy thoughts in June 2013:Such a weird story! The combination of bullying and horror story compelled me to finish the book, and I think it will appeal to anyone who likes really quirky stuff.Joey Crouch has lived with his mother all of his life in Chicago. They don’t go out much and he’s never been over the Illinois state line. But when his mother is hit by a bus and killed, Joey is removed to a small town in Iowa to live with a father he’s never known.Things are very bad from the start. Ken Harnett, Joey’s dad, doesn’t bother to pick him up at the depot. He immediately leaves the house upon Joey’s arrival and doesn’t return for three days. Meanwhile, Joey sleeps on the floor, has nothing to eat and notices a strange, nasty odor in the shack that he can’t identify.Dressed poorly, hungry and stinking, Joey immediately becomes a target of bullying in his new high school—not only by jocks but by a sadistic biology teacher as well, one who daily makes Joey stand in front of the class and then uses him to point out body parts and their functions. (Just a note here from the teacher in me: I had a hard time believing that any teacher anywhere could get away with treating a student the way Joey was treated—but if one tried, I would hope that someone in the class would speak up and tell outsiders.)The situation only gets worse when we discover what that terrific stink is: Ken is a modern-day grave robber. With nothing to lose at school, Joey decides to learn the trade, and we enter the bizarre brotherhood of this underworld. They are criminals with a strange code of honor, and the one of them who has broken the code is terrorizing all the others. He may have the power to use Joey to get at the whole group.Rotters are people—because all people will die, and then they will rot if they are not cremated. The descriptions of grave robbing, of disintegrating corpses, are the stuff of nightmares. (So beware.) Yet the story is oddly original and well-written. There are a lot of interesting facts about the history of grave robbing and the ‘resurrection men’ who dug up corpses for scientists and professors to use in study. (Remember Jerry Cruncher in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities?) When Joey has been bullied beyond endurance and he seeks revenge—well, imagine what a grave robber could do.Reading<a target="_blank" href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/100421-15-essential-works-of-american-literature.html">15 Essential Works of American Literature </a>from Publishers WeeklyThe most vital books published in the U.S. since 1776 as voted on by critics.Of these 15 books, I’ve read 13. Which of them have you read?AI and Writing Awards<a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/19/commonwealth-short-story-prize-winner-doubts-ai-artificial-intelligence?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwdGRleAR6kO9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xNzM4NDc2NDI2NzAzNzAAAR56ui-lNeVSi1igU4TmZlX0RlTPNprCzxYwY_zMjyO9uPUYTqqGe0T1_s-lzw_aem_RlkeXr27NvWmSaQiqi8_fQ#Echobox=1779272390">‘Obvious markers of AI’: doubts raised over winner of short story prize</a> from the GuardianGranta publisher says ‘perhaps we never will know’ true authorship of work that won Commonwealth prizeA few syntactical tics – and the verdict of an AI detection platform – have sparked a furore over the possibility that a short story given a prestigious literary award was written by AI.The foundation that awarded the prize and Granta, the magazine that published the winning <a target="_blank" href="https://granta.com/the-serpent-in-the-grove/">story</a>, said they had considered the allegations but had not reached a conclusion as to whether they were true. …The Commonwealth Foundation and Granta have said there is a limit to their ability to detect whether the allegations around Nazir’s possible use of AI are true.The foundation said it did not use AI checkers in its judging process because supplying unpublished work to them “would raise significant concerns surrounding consent and artistic ownership”.It said all entrants to the prize had avowed that their submissions were their own work and “personally stated that no AI was used”, something it confirmed with “further consultation”. It added that AI checkers were “not unfailing and infallible”.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.wired.com/story/commonwealth-short-story-prize-ai-allegations/">ands this article in Wired adds:</a>Besides Nazir, two more winning authors have <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/frontier_foid/status/2056500794237890693">drawn allegations</a> of using AI in their work. Pangram finds that “The Bastion’s Shadow,” by Maltese writer John Edward DeMicoli, winner for the Canada and Europe region, is fully AI-generated; it scans “Mehendi Nights,” by Indian writer Sharon Aruparayil, winner for the Asia region, as partly AI-generated. Neither DeMicoli nor Aruparayil immediately returned requests for comment when reached through their respective social media accounts.The other two short-listed stories, by Holly Ann Miller of New Zealand and Lisa-Anne Julien of South Africa, deliver “fully human-written” results from Pangram.In a further twist, the Jamaican author Sharma Taylor, a judge for this year’s Commonwealth Short Story Prize, has been <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/OngoingGoblin/status/2056507257433493555">accused of using AI</a> to craft her descriptive blurb that accompanied the listing of “The Serpent in the Grove” as a regional winner. Pangram evaluates Taylor’s text as “AI-assisted.” She did not immediately return a request for comment.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/05/25/the-prehistory-of-ai-slop">For fun, check out “The Prehistory of A.I. Slop” in the New Yorker</a>Before ChatGPT, there was the Plot Robot, Auto-Beatnik, and a century’s worth of schemes for automating authorship.WritersI saw this cross-posted on Narratively —a great list. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://victoriawaddle.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">victoriawaddle.substack.com</a>

May 17, 2026

Books! Magdalene Laundries, A World Appears by Michael Pollan, Here’s to you Jesusa! …

Hello Friends,I hope you are feeling and doing well. I have several bookish things going on lately that I hope you’ll find interesting. But first, because life is rough, here’s something I found very hopeful on Reasons to Be Cheerful.<a target="_blank" href="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/prison-conservation-butterflies/?utm_source=Reasons+to+be+Cheerful&utm_campaign=f9e670c691-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_01_14_04_31_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-858671eea4-518361225">Endangered Butterflies Are Thriving Behind Bars</a>In the tender, methodical work of rescuing an imperiled butterfly species, incarcerated women are finding a sense of purpose.My pandemic pups turned six years old.Hard to believe, but here they are thriving, and this is another thing that soothes these challenging days. I was moving into a period of despair when they came into my life and helped me rally. I wrote about it in my chapbook <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bamboodartpress.com/store/victoria_waddle-the_mortality_of_dogs_and_humans.html">The Mortality of Dogs and Humans</a>. I promised on my ‘About’ page to post about the dogs once in a while, so here are a few nap time photos.On Mother’s Day night, I decided to watch The Maltese Falcon because, somehow, I’d neither seen it nor read the book. This post from <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/23568510-doctalk-allan-n-schwartz-phd">DocTalk, Allan N Schwartz PhD</a> steered me to it: As a retired psychotherapist and psychoanalyst, I cannot help but view this film through the lens of symbolism and human motivation. The black bird itself, the Maltese Falcon, is not merely an object. It becomes almost mythical. Everyone in the story is obsessed with possessing it. Men and women lie, betray, manipulate, and kill in pursuit of it. Yet what fascinates me most is that the falcon has power not because of what it truly is, but because of what people imagine it to be.That is one of the great truths about human psychology.People often chase symbols rather than realities.BooksI had the chance to talk to <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/211281961-marla-miller">Marla Miller</a> about how my work as a teacher and librarian influenced my novel <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/keep-sweet/9b700ad875ee778f?ean=9781955969482&next=t">Keep Sweet</a>. So much depends on what happens away from the desk!Sci-Fi Authors and Latino/Latine WritersI’m reading speculative fiction for a special (extra) issue of the Inlandia Journal right now. <a target="_blank" href="https://inlandiaaliteraryjourney.submittable.com/submit">Submissions are open</a> through May 31. (Side note: Submissions are also open through June 14 for their Eliud Martínez Prize. If you are a Latine writer seeking publication of a full-length manuscript [150-300 pages], have a look.)Review of Scouts’ HonorAnd I wrote a book review for the teen issue of Inlandia, <a target="_blank" href="https://inlandiajournal.net/spring-2026-vol-17-victoria-waddle/">“</a><a target="_blank" href="https://inlandiajournal.net/spring-2026-vol-17-victoria-waddle/">A Vow to Hide the Truth</a><a target="_blank" href="https://inlandiajournal.net/spring-2026-vol-17-victoria-waddle/">,”</a> about Scouts’ Honor by Carlos Cortés. In general, the teen issue is all teens except the managing editor—the readers, the editors, the submitters/writers/artists. If you know a teen writer, have them look for the next submission period next winter.Thanks for reading Be a Cactus! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Books on My TBR List<a target="_blank" href="https://lithub.com/how-the-fanatical-legion-of-mary-secreted-young-girls-away-to-toil-in-irelands-magdalene-laundries/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_id=01KR4DWW3S6W47BQQRGP1WW3JB&_kx=hjVdRLw1xlYW_BpUjBeHJT66ygHozgEpktNNW_FHWQc.U5D8ER">How the Fanatical Legion of Mary Secreted Young Girls Away to Toil in Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries</a>LOUISE BRANGAN ON THE GIRLS WHO DISAPPEARED IN 20TH-CENTURY IRELANDExcerpted from <a target="_blank" href="https://bookshop.org/a/1688/9781668079744">The Fallen: The Lost Girls of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and a Legacy of Silence</a> by Louise BranganI read the above linked excerpt on LitHub, and now I need to read the book. Or at least listen to the audiobook. Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These was my introduction to the Magdalene Laundries. The power of this slim book/novella cannot be overstated. If you haven’t read it, you must. It’s the best thing I’ve read in the last several years.I’ve been checking out some recent ‘Best Of’ lists. I’m always hoping that I’ve read many of the books, maybe because it’ll make me feel like I have fine sensibilities. But honestly, there are many excellent books that critics, cuddled up in their sleeping bags in the Big Five tent, are wholly unaware of.<a target="_blank" href="https://time.com/collection/our-america-250/2026/books-that-define-america/">25 Books That Capture This American Moment</a> Time MagazineOf these, one that I haven’t read and look forward to is The Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. I read and enjoyed (so to speak—I mean I found it powerful) her novel Kindred.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/ng-interactive/2026/may/12/the-100-best-novels-of-all-time">100 Best Novels</a> The GuardianThe Guardian is posting “a countdown of the greatest literature ever published in English, as voted for by authors, critics and academics worldwide.” They add 20 books per week. So far they have posted 100-61. Another 20 will post on Thursday. No unexpected titles, but I have to say, I’m surprised that Pedro Páramo is only # 96. I think it might belong in the top 50.What I’m ReadingI just finished Michael Pollan’s A World Appears, a nonfiction exploration of consciousness. I thought my kids might also want to read it, but they have a point: the final outcome of all books about consciousness is that we don’t understand it. Nevertheless, Pollan’s exploration is very interesting and wide-ranging. He interviews many scientists, philosophers, writers, and spiritual seekers and also incorporates his own experiences with consciousness-altering psychedelics.“When neuroscientists began studying consciousness in the early 1990s, they sought to explain how and why three pounds of spongy gray matter could generate a subjective point of view—assuming that the brain is the source of our perceived reality. Pollan takes us to the cutting edge of the field, where scientists are entertaining more radical (and less materialist) theories of consciousness. He introduces us to “plant neurobiologists” searching for the first flicker of consciousness in plants, scientists striving to engineer feelings into AI, and psychologists and novelists seeking to capture the felt experience of our slippery stream of consciousness.”I also just finished Here’s to You, Jesusa! which is a translation of the testimonial novel Hasta no verte Jesús Mío by Elena Poniatowska. The original Spanish was published in 1969. I was interested in reading Jesusa because I’m trying to get a sense of Mexico during the Cristero Wars. (Research for my own writing.) I can’t say it helped me much, but it is a strange book with a frustrating protagonist who is nonetheless admirable for her insights into politics and her ability to survive a variety of hells, including desperate poverty. If you want to read about a woman who fought in the Mexican Revolution and also survived the Cristero Wars, this is it.“Jesusa is a tough, fiery character based on a real working-class Mexican woman whose life spanned some of the seminal events of early twentieth-century Mexican history. Having joined a cavalry unit during the Mexican Revolution, she finds herself at the Revolution’s end in Mexico City, far from her native Oaxaca, abandoned by her husband and working menial jobs. So begins Jesusa’s long history of encounters with the police and struggles against authority. Mystical yet practical, undaunted by hardship, Jesusa faces the obstacles in her path with gritty determination.”Although No Way Home by T. C. Boyle is very good, I stopped reading it because I had to finish my library books and return them. I hope to get back to No Way soon.What are you reading? Anything you’d like to recommend?Please like and share. Thanks! I hope you have a good week. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://victoriawaddle.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">victoriawaddle.substack.com</a>

March 22, 2026

Iran and Exit Prohibited; AI-Generated Writing; Cesar Chavez Fallout

Hello Friends,There are some things I wanted to discuss about this crazy week, so I’ll put off the final discussion of Enshittification. Next week we’re starting the new schedule of alternating the “Library and Banned Books News” with these review posts rather than having both within one week. So—next Sunday is about libraries and censorship.¡Sí, se puede! Yes, we can!I read in two newspapers that California is changing its Cesar Chavez holiday to “Farmworker Day/El Día del Campesino.” I’m glad my state is continuing with the honor. I’m over being heartbroken over the loss of idols. I think it’s best to celebrate ideas and movements that have helped people rather than any particular man. If you need some helpful reading on the Chavez abuse news, these may be useful:<a target="_blank" href="https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/a-reckoning-long-overdue?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email">This guest post on the </a><a target="_blank" href="https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/a-reckoning-long-overdue?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email">Contrarian</a><a target="_blank" href="https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/a-reckoning-long-overdue?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email"> by Maria Cardona.</a>Let us be absolutely clear: none of these horrific revelations erase the very real gains made in farmworkers’ rights through years of grueling, backbreaking organizing. Those victories belong to an entire movement. Yes, Chávez was a leader — but so much of the unacknowledged credit belongs to Dolores Huerta and to the women who powered that movement from behind the curtain.<a target="_blank" href="https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/hard-truths?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web">And this</a>:However, the farmworkers movement is not defined by an individual — and never has been. As Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/redirect/3e800c92-064e-4319-9437-c084b8ded65f?j=eyJ1IjoiNmMyd3gifQ.zahhb5Zy_nKrMGVIP9NLdNdnNUVXEaONXjzpYN-1mjU">noted</a>, “A movement is about the people — not any one person — and its strength lies in the values it upholds. We can honor the farmworker movement — and the generations who sacrificed to build it — while also confronting painful truths. No legacy is above accountability.” While we are shaken to our core, we continue to honor the tens of thousands of farm labor activists.<a target="_blank" href="https://open.substack.com/pub/annelamott/p/sand?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web">Anne Lamott gives us hope, as always.</a>Thanks for reading Be a Cactus! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.And here’s some good news from this week’s Reasons to be Cheerful because it’s important to remember that everyday people work to correct past mistakes, even devastating ones.<a target="_blank" href="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/heritage-growers-california-future/">The Native Seed Farm Safeguarding California’s Future</a>At Heritage Growers, every acre is being cultivated to repair ecosystems and help the Golden State meet its ambitious conservation goals.California is widely recognized as one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots, supporting thousands of endemic plant and animal species, more than any other US state. However, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.californiabiodiversityinitiative.org/pdf/california-biodiversity-action-plan.pdf">California’s Biodiversity Initiative</a> notes that its wetlands, riparian woodlands and forests have “suffered extensive losses,” with “an estimated 80–90 percent” of its biologically diverse landscapes altered or lost in the past 150 years. Development, agriculture, invasive species, climate change and increasingly intense wildfires are among the culprits. Reestablishing native vegetation is crucial to reversing those trends.Right after I posted Friday’s “Library and Banned Books News,” the librarian in Rutherford, TN said she will not move those 190 YA (mostly LGBTQIA) books out of the teen section because it violates the First Amendment Rights of the teens. We’ll see what ensues, but it’s a reminder that good people are out there fighting.Iran and Its PeopleI read a couple of articles this week about the choices Iranians are now having to make.<a target="_blank" href="http://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=ab62ddaf-c4d9-4a9d-a937-f05cbe6e959e">Iranians Weigh Tough Choice: Stay or Flee</a> from the LA Times<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/what-the-war-has-done-to-iranians">What the War Has Done to Iranians</a> from the New YorkerAnd one closer and more personal, a text convo between the New Yorker Journalist Cora Engelbrecht and “Hadi” in Tehran. There’s Hadi’s early sense of hope about the war, the fulfillment of a lifelong wish for the death of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which later turns to despair when the regime itself stays in place. I’m not sure whether you can access the article if you’re not a subscriber, but it’s very worthwhile. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/what-the-war-has-done-to-iranians">Here</a>.“As for me, my situation is clear,” he added. “I want to remain close to what’s happening. I’m staying here in the middle of the war until the very end, until my home, what I consider my home, is taken away from me.”After reading these, I thought of a wonderful memoir about Iranian culture and history, about leaving Iran after the 1979-80 revolution. Exit Prohibited deals with the same question: should we stay or should we go? I know the author, Ellen Estilai, through the Inlandia Institute, a literary nonprofit.Opening the Door on Iranian CultureExit Prohibited by <a target="_blank" href="https://substack.com/profile/15666684-ellen-estilai">Ellen Estilai</a>At the end of July 1980, Ellen Estilai, her husband, and their two daughters are leaving Iran. The decision isn’t easy. Ellen met and married her husband, Ali, in Davis, California, a decade earlier when they both attended university. Ali always planned to return to his homeland after earning his PhD in genetics. As a “first student,” his foreign education was paid for by the Iranian government on the promise to return and with his father’s house as collateral. After Ali graduates, Ellen goes with him, later giving birth to their children. Though she plans to spend her life in Iran, the 1979 revolution and its repressions make staying impossible. And while all four members of the family have permission to leave, Ali is detained at the airport. His passport is confiscated, and he is told he’s on the mamnou’ol khorudj — exit prohibited — list.Ellen and her daughters take off for Switzerland with plans to continue on to the United States. But they’ve no idea when they will see Ali again. She wonders: “Who would want to prevent Ali from leaving Iran? Which officious bureaucrat, which backbiting colleague, which sly neighbor could have written the letter or made the phone call? And just what is Ali being accused of? Having an American wife? Not being Islamic enough? Working on saffron?”The author moves from these thoughts to an examination of her life in Iran. Though hijab is not required under the shah’s rule, many Iranian women continue to wear headscarves, knee-length coats with long sleeves, and pants underneath. Those that don’t are eyed suspiciously as too westernized. As one of them, and a foreigner to boot, the author is sometimes distrusted. Yet she immerses herself in the culture and learns Persian. Her in-laws are a large, happy group who welcome her without hesitation. Their open-heartedness and gatherings, “a celebration of connectedness, of old roots and new growth,” satisfy a need that is not met in her small family of origin. Unlike her mother’s anxiety over hosting gatherings or guests, Iranians believe that a guest is God’s gift.Life in Iran is far different from what the author is used to. With few convenience foods available, she finds herself cooking much of the day. Itinerant street vendors call through the neighborhood selling coats and pants, watermelon, crystal dishes, and more. Though she is not convalescing, Ellen feels like Jimmy Stewart’s character in Rear Window. As she watches the drama in the courtyard and on the balconies, she discovers a good deal about her neighbors’ lives.The author also learns cultural norms. Taarof is the necessary offering of compliments and ceremonial courtesies (“these endless streams of pleasantries took so much valuable time”). The fatalistic worldview that everyone has their own ghesmat (kismet) prevails. Nonetheless, this view allows for a tradition of warding off the evil eye by preparing hot coals in a brazier and tossing in esfand (wild rye) seeds. And, of course, there is the ever-present samovar because tea is a part of all interactions, business or pleasure.Ali lands his dream position as a professor in the Biology Department at the University of Tehran. He secures funds to create a new department, the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, and to purchase new equipment. Though his hopes of improving Iranian education appear to be coming true, some people are envious of him.Meanwhile, Ellen completes her education in English Language and Literature and begins working at the new Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art as Manager of Education. The author’s discussion of the museum — architecturally, it’s a paean to Iranian culture, but the artwork has dual foci in Iranian and western art — peeks into, and is a harbinger of, the cultural conflict that comes to consume Iran a few years later.As the author learns about Iranian culture, readers do as well. They are immersed in the beauty of Isfahan, its art and its “exquisite, sublime, and ethereal” interlocking patterns. The friendliness of Kerman, Ali’s hometown, is on display as is the routine of daily life, of being a working mother and being part of “a large, boisterous family that was endlessly interested in one another’s business.”The narrative is infused with humor. (“As dull as it was, Days of Our Lives provided me with many random but potentially useful phrases, such as ‘Mickey aqim-e?’ [Mickey is sterile?]”) Like most Westerners, Ellen knew little about the modern political situation in Iran. Along the way, she unearthed historical imperialism. During the previous century, both Britain and Russia/the USSR had meddled in Iranian politics. The CIA led a coup in 1953 that overthrew a democratically elected prime minister. After moving to Iran, the author hears stories of the SAVAK, the shah’s secret police, and its engagement in political repression. With her newfound knowledge, she wonders — along with everyone she knows — how life under Khomeini could be any worse.During Ali’s sabbatical of 1978–79, Ellen and Ali travel back to the home of their alma mater and their meeting place, Davis, California. Thus, they are out of the country during the fall of the shah and the installation of Khomeini. Uncertain of the reality of daily life in Iran, they choose to return to Iran at the end of the sabbatical.Still, overall, readers understand the melancholy of Ellen’s departure from Iran. While she has enriched her life in a new landscape, with a new language and new traditions, and with a large, loving family, there’s no doubt she must exit. She’s worried about the future of women with talent and energy in the Islamic Republic, including her own daughters. “I knew what I wanted for them. I wanted them to know their foremothers. I wanted their voices to be heard. I wanted them to have a place at the table.”With their dreams no longer attainable, the Estilais have a new challenge in negotiating Ali’s exit. The complexity of the author’s experience and her relationship to Iran before and after the revolution makes a compelling memoir. Readers learn not only about a culture and its history but also about the dual immigrant experiences of Ellen and Ali and their inspirational ability to restart their lives.Writer Issues, Reader IssuesAIThe NYT posted a little quiz with five sets of two paragraphs. The object is to pick the one of the two paragraphs in each set that you think is better. One is AI-generated. One is from a fairly well-known writer. It’s interesting to see how good AI paragraphs are—keeping in mind that they are generated from a vast store of real human writing. But I wonder if AI generation could sustain a complete short story, an essay, a novel, memoir, or any nonfiction book. What’s the cumulative effect?Apparently Hachette found a horror novel worthy of publication which it has now canceled after reports that parts were AI-generated. The author claims that someone she hired to edit the self-published version used AI. She is pursuing legal action.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/books/shy-girl-book-ai.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U1A.X8zu.LvB_1P2nszcs&smid=url-share">Horror Novel ‘Shy Girl’ Canceled Over Suspected A.I. Use</a> from NYT (Gift link)On Thursday, a day after The New York Times approached Hachette citing evidence that the novel appeared to be A.I.-generated, the company said it was pulling the book from publication. By Thursday afternoon, the novel was removed from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Shy-Girl-femgore-revenge-EVERYONE-ebook/dp/B0F8NY374P">Amazon</a> and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/mia-ballard/shy-girl/9780316603836/">Hachette website</a>.And <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/09/business/ai-writing-quiz.html?unlocked_article_code=1.U1A.Lv5R.3mdwkhCUSA_M&smid=url-share">Here’s the quiz if you’d like to try it. (Gift link)</a> Great literature may not strike us as the best reading in a single paragraph:Thanks for reading! Take heart. I believe the old ‘darkest before the dawn’ proverb. We’ll see you out on the streets on Saturday. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://victoriawaddle.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1">victoriawaddle.substack.com</a>

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