“With everything you complete, you’re supposed to be so transformed by the process of completing it—of telling the story—that you no longer resemble the person who started the story. I’m completely different from the person I was first writing Fleishman Is in Trouble. That’s the great thing about being a writer; it puts you in conversation with the world.”
-Taffy Brodesser-Akner, episode 378 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Taffy Brodesser-Akner (“Fleishman Is in Trouble”) is a staff writer at The New York Times, where she covers everything from The Eras Tour to Tom Hanks.
She joins us today to unpack her new book Long Island Compromise (7:30), its central questions about wealth, trauma, and inheritance (11:58), and the real-life crime that inspired the story (12:52). Then, we dive into the process of writing a novel (15:17), a formative passage from the book (24:31), and Brodesser-Akner’s memories of growing up in between Brooklyn and Long Island (29:54).
On the back-half, she describes her work as a journalist (40:14), profiling Nicki Minaj (45:38) and Bradley Cooper (45:54), how those experiences propelled her to write Fleishman Is in Trouble (46:20), her reflections while writing about Taylor Swift (54:05), and the transformative power of storytelling (1:04:07).
Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at sf@talkeasypod.com.
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Show-notes:
- Order Taffy’s books Long Island Compromise and Fleishman Is in Trouble.
- Watch the series Fleishman Is in Trouble on Hulu.
- Read Taffy’s profiles of Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bradley Cooper, and Billy Bob Thornton.
- Find more of her work on her website.
- Read about Long Island Compromise via Belletrist.
- Follow Taffy on Twitter and Threads.
- For more conversations, hear our talks with Min Jin Lee, Elizabeth Gilbert, George Saunders, and Margaret Atwood.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
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Original illustration by Krishna Shenoi. Reference photograph by Emil Cohen.
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