S4 Ep26: Empathy and Indeterminacy in Russell Banks' Lost Memory of Skin

Book Spider

In this episode, the Book Spider hosts discuss Lost Memory of Skin, a novel that seeks to empathize with probably the most reviled subgroup in the entire world: pedophiles. The novel follows the exploits of a young sex criminal known only as the kid, whose life of hardship culminates in an attempt to meet a teenage girl for sex. In the aftermath, the kid finds himself homeless, living under a causeway in southern Florida, attempting to eke out an existence among other down-and-out sex criminals. When he meets the professor, a sociology researcher at a local university, his fortunes seem to turn for the better, until the professor's past catches up to both of them.