Mr. Difficult

In the season one finale, we rank all of Jonathan Franzen's books, answer a few listener questions, and reveal what's next for the podcast.

Critic Leo Robson joins us to discuss Franzen's most recent collection of essays, The End of the End of the Earth.

Novelist Gabriel Roth joins us to discuss Jonathan Franzen's second essay collection, Farther Away.

We're joined by author Scaachi Koul to discuss Jonathan Franzen's 2006 memoir, The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History.

In this episode, we're joined by novelist Nell Zink to discuss The Kraus Project.

In this episode, we're joined by novelist Brandon Taylor to discuss Jonathan Franzen's first essay collection, How to Be Alone.

We're joined by New York Times national correspondent Ruth Graham to discuss Franzen's depiction of faith and Christianity in Crossroads.

In this episode, Erin, Alex, and Eric are joined by critic Merve Emre and poet Elisa Gabbert to discuss Jonathan Franzen's sixth novel, Crossroads.

Everyone agrees that Purity is an insane mess. But what if it's also good? Novelist Rumaan Alam joins Erin, Alex, and Eric to discuss Jonathan Franzen's fifth novel.

We're joined by novelist Jacob Bacharach to discuss Jonathan Franzen's fourth and most Franzen-y novel, Freedom.

We're joined by Variety TV Critic Daniel D'Addario to discuss the unaired pilot for Noah Baumbach and Jonathan Franzen's adaptation of The Corrections.

Erin, Alex, and Eric are joined by the novelist Emily Gould to discuss Jonathan Franzen's third novel, The Corrections.

Erin, Alex, and Eric are joined by Matt Zeitlin and Mark Krotov to discuss Jonathan Franzen's second novel—and Mr. Difficult-consensus worst book—Strong Motion.

In this episode, Erin, Alex, and Eric discuss what works (and mostly what doesn't) about The Twenty-Seventh City, the book's cringey racial and sexual politics, and whether or not its central plot is something out of Tucker Carlson's fevered imagination.