Bruce Holsinger’s ‘Culpability’ grapples with the impact of AI.
On this episode of Fully Booked, Bruce Holsinger joins us to discuss Culpability (Spiegel & Grau, July 8)—on the day Oprah’s Book Club announced the novel as its 116th pick. “Medieval historian-turned-novelist Holsinger seems to have created his own subgenre of psychosocial thriller,” Kirkus writes in a starred review, “spinning super-smart, propulsive page-turners out of zeitgeisty worries like ultracompetitive school admissions, disaster relief, and now, to absolutely crushing effect, artificial intelligence.”
Holsinger is the author of five novels, including The Displacements and The Gifted School, and many works of nonfiction. He is a recipient of the Colorado Book Award, the John Hurt Fisher Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Medieval Academy of America. He teaches English at the University of Virginia.
Here’s a bit more from our review of Culpability: “On the Cassidy-Shaw family’s way to a weekend tournament on the Eastern Shore of Delaware, paterfamilias Noah is working on a legal memo in the front passenger seat; his 17-year-old son, Charlie, is at the wheel. In the back seat are Alice, 13; Izzy, 11; and their mom, Lorelei, a MacArthur ‘genius’grant winner who studies the ethical concerns raised by AI. And one is about to unfold before their very eyes when Alice suddenly screams, Charlie jerks the wheel, and they crash into a Honda Accord coming in the other direction. After this explosive opener, the complexities just keep coming—each person in the car has reason to believe the accident was really all their fault….AI threads through the plot in so many fascinating ways….If you are not already hooked on Holsinger, it’s time to join the club.”
Holsinger and I discuss how he spent the morning of the announcement, the self-driving car accident that sets Culpability in motion, family dynamics, unpublished manuscripts, eponymous adjectives, AI’s impact on society, the challenges of teaching in the digital age, his experience judging this year’s PEN/Faulkner Award, and much more.
Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, John McMurtrie, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.
EDITORS’ PICKS:
Bad Influence by Claire Ahn (Viking)
Blood in the Water by Tiffany D. Jackson (Scholastic)
Ubac and Me: A Life of Love and Adventure with a French Mountain Dog by Cédric Sapin-Defour, trans. by Adriana Hunter (Summit/Simon & Schuster)
The Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks (Avid Reader Press)
THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:
They Told Us To Just Believe by Daniel Friedrich
Anna and Darel by Jim McConkey
Vibrations by A.R. Alexander
A Simple Explanation of the Gnostic Gospel by Cyd Ropp
Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.
