#192 | Escaping Identity: Is It Even Possible in Today's Society?

episode SUMMARY:

Douglas Vigliotti discusses the sparse but scintillating novel "Sugar Street" by Jonathan Dee. As the unnamed protagonist settles in a new town, he grapples with the question of whether it is possible to truly lose one's identity in today's society. With thought-provoking insights, lean prose, and a focus on small stakes, this book explores themes of shame, guilt, identity, and the search for self.

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Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week before we jump into the episode, I just want to quickly remind you that you can now listen to the Season 2 trailer of Slightly Crooked: Good Stories, Told Well, it's available on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, and it does feature my 2021 poem collection, mini heartbreaks (or little poems about life). And that collection is a mini-memoir of sorts on writing, artistry, missed opportunities, growing up, and moving forward. So if you'd like to hear more about how that collection came to be and hear what is coming up on Slightly Crooked: Good Stories, Told Well - Season 2, then go check out the trailer. Now that I've got that out of the way, let's jump into the actual reason why you're listening to this episode.

(01:07)

And that's to Hear about Sugar Street by Jonathan Dee. It is a piece of literary fiction. It's a short book around 200, 230 pages or so, give or take. It came out in 2022. So it is a relatively new book. Dee has written, I don't know, seven eight novels, I believe in 2011. One of his novels, The Privileges was a Pulitzer finalist. So he does come with some critical acclaim. He also teaches at the MFA program at Syracuse, which is one of the more prestigious programs in the country alongside another well-to-do author George Saunders, and I think he also is a writer, not Saunders, Dee, for The New Yorker. So I just wanted to give you a little background on the author. He's probably most known for his contemporary social novels, similar to Jonathan Franzen or Jennifer Egan, authors of that nature. But anyway, I wouldn't feature this book on merit alone as there are many great writers who I don't feature the books on this podcast, not because I have anything against them, just because I don't know, I haven't been compelled to share the book yet, but this is a really good one and it covers a lot of things that I think most people have thought about loosely.

(02:24)

So just quickly, the book is about a guy, an unnamed protagonist. So I love the unnamed protagonist. This is something that Jay McInerney did in Bright Light's, Big City, which is another book that I shared on this podcast a couple of months back. So this story features an unnamed protagonist who's on the run trying to basically escape pain and people from his past, he empties out his bank account and all he has is $168,000 to his name. And it's interesting because throughout the book that $108,000 serves as almost like a countdown. One of the interesting points that he actually makes in the book is even if it sounds like a lot, a lot turns into a little when you realize there will never be any more of it. To me, this was just a really witty observation that the protagonist makes in the novel, one that applies to so many different aspects of life.

(03:23)

And really this book is full of that type of sensibility and those types of insights. And so before I digress any further, as I was saying, he's on the run with his $168,000 of cash and he's finding a place to settle and live out the rest of his life in obscurity running away from his previous identity. And he is working really hard to not be found, right? So avoiding cameras and not having any kind of digital footprint or using credit cards. And it's really this discussion about whether it is possible to lose one's identity in the society that we live in today. And if it is possible, is it something that you really want to do? Now, I'm not going to reveal too much about the backstory of our unnamed protagonist because that is what unfurls in the novel and ultimately climaxes in a rather unsuspecting ending.

(04:21)

But what I will share with you is as he tries to avoid having this digital footprint or having a human connection at all, it becomes inevitable that he has to with his neighbors and kids in the neighborhood because of the political environment in the town that he ends up settling in. It's really a sparse story, and the prose reflects that just as much as the stakes in the story. And so what I mean by that is not only is the prose economical, but the stakes are super small too. Now, that doesn't mean that it's not entertaining, it just means that the stakes are small. This is something that I haven't talked too much about on the podcast before, but a lot of the stories that I share have small stakes. They're not high-stakes stories. So high stakes would be the world is going to end.

(05:15)

There's a serial killer on the loose. A small-stakes story is somebody like this unnamed protagonist, enters this mysterious neighborhood and a story ensues between the neighbors and the people in the town. And how does it get resolved? And does the unnamed protagonist end up going on his merry way or does he end up being found out and caught up by his history? And I think there's so much to learn from small-stakes stories because there isn't this big looming problem that needs to be solved, right? That's not to say that the character, the protagonist doesn't have a pressing problem that he wants to solve because all great stories have a protagonist that wants something in opposition, both internal and external standing in the way of him getting it or her getting it. But because there isn't something so pressing the world about the end, let's say, or something of that nature, you could focus on the themes.

(06:16)

And this book has great ones like shame and guilt and identity, and can you avoid any of that as you go through your life? Or do you just have to stop and face it at some point, or perhaps even more appropriately in this case? What is the antidote to that? How do you deal with those pressing aspects of being human but scaling it back just a tad? Another thing that a small-stakes story really emphasizes is the prose. So the writer has to be so precise and this book and D is very economical with his prose in this. It's scintillating in a way. And as I've already mentioned, I love the sensibilities of this novel. I took so many quotes out of it while I was reading it. One of my favorites is, “The day tingles like stepping out of a bath. I could feel time on my skin.”

(07:16)

That is such great two sentences right there. Or something that doesn't evoke as much imagery, but shares more wittiness is this quote. “They might not see things that way, but if I concerned myself with how others see things, I'd be right back where I was.” Or another, “The problem with shrinking your life down to a handful of pieces is that when one of those pieces is taken away, the effect is disproportionate” So you could tell by these lines that they're very thought-provoking, or at least they are for me. And you can expect a lot of that in the novel. But again, ultimately the novel itself asks a pretty big question is it possible to escape from who you are or will that find you eventually? This is a question that you could play around with for a very long time in your mind if it interests you, because you could find cases one way, cases another, or you can read a 220-page story like this one and be provoked by it the entire time.

(08:26)

But that's what makes reading a book like this, such an engaging read even for a small-stakes story. But as I mentioned already, I think I did anyway. I love a small story. Alright, so that's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. If you did, this is where I remind you to do two things. One, share it with a friend or family member, and two, double down on that support and take 10 seconds to subscribe or follow on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on. Either one of those things, sharing or subscribing goes a long way in helping more people find the show and in return, supporting the initiative of inspiring more men to read. If you'd like to connect with me, you can always do so @Douglas Vigliotti on Instagram. It's the only social media that I have. And for more information, you could always visit BooksforMen.org where you can get full transcripts for all of these episodes, as well as sign up for the newsletter, which is a monthly roundup of every episode complete with full book and author information, episode summaries, all the best quotes and newsletter only book recommendations. Again, all you have to do is head over to BooksforMen.org.