Helen Lewis! Live! On the Computer!
Join us.
Two things: First, Helen Lewis will be joining me for a video chat right here on Substack Live on Friday, May 8, at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET / 4 PM BST to discuss Lena Dunham’s new memoir Famesick. As far as I’m aware, there is no throuple, but it should be a good time anyway.
This chat is for Primos only and will be archived afterward for those who can’t make it. You should receive an email notification shortly before it begins. (Not getting our emails? Check your Substack settings.)
Questions? Comments? Leave them below.
Second, our friends at Longview generously invited me to turn my brief but much beloved (by me) series on dog testicles into an audio essay. You can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or right here, preferably while gazing at this photo of a magnificent beast with blond hair (and big nuts).
Hail Moose (and see you next week).
—Katie
Oh god, Helen is dying and she'll only survive if we yell at her to live on the computer! Everyone, yell at Helen to live! We must save her as we saved Tinkerbell by clapping!
What I love about Lena Dunham's book is that it really is the only celebrity memoir I've ever read that characterizes in such exacting terms the profound cost to the celebrity's family and personal relationships of their fame. I really appreciated how she described how she found old friends started excluding her from things and never asked after her well-being. And how she compensated for her sudden wealth by always paying for shared dinners out. I appreciated her candor and profound self-awareness about the toxicity and absurdity of her sudden and very early success and fame. I also argue that HBO was correct to snatch her up and make very good use of her obvious talent, which I believe is a byproduct of her tormented mental state. She is the Anne Sexton of her generation. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'm eager to hear Helen Lewis's.