In this final conversation on The Kindly Ones, I’m joined again by Tom Flynn to explore the last chaotic stretch of Jonathan Littell’s massive and deeply unsettling novel.

We talk about the feverish pacing, the bizarre turns, and the chilling final scenes—from Max biting Hitler’s nose to the feral children in the woods. Does the book fall apart, or is it mirroring the collapse of the world it depicts? Is Thomas even real? Why does it end in a zoo?

This book is hard to read, hard to recommend—and impossible to forget. If you finished it with us this summer, thank you for sticking it out. We made it.

Highlights include:

• Max’s descent into madness—and memory
• The tonal split after he’s shot
• Murder, guilt, and the arrival of the Kindly Ones
• Incest, hallucination, and historical ambiguity
• What’s up with the zoo ending?

Links
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