© 2025 KMUW
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Marginalia: Karen Tucker On 'Bewilderness'

Jared Lipo
Karen Tucker, author of 'Bewilderness'

Karen Tucker’s novel, Bewilderness, is a powerful read. Set in rural North Carolina, the book explores drug addiction through the story of Irene and her friend Lucille, or Luce.

Irene leads the reader through their world: through her present, through her memories, and even through her Reddit conversations. The book isn’t so much a wild ride as it is a consciousness-inducing downward spiral.

I recently spoke with Karen Tucker about the book and her journey to write it. Here’s our conversation.

Bewilderness by Karen Tucker was published by Catapult.

Marginalia was produced at KMUW Wichita. If you like this podcast, please consider leaving a rating or review on Apple Podcasts.

Engineers: Mark Statzer and Torin Andersen
Editor: Lu Anne Stephens
Producer: Haley Crowson

Follow Beth Golay on Twitter @BethGolay.

Beth Golay is KMUW's Director of Marketing and Digital Content. She is the host of the KMUW podcast Marginalia, co-host with Suzanne Perez of the Books & Whatnot podcast, creator of the podcast You're Saying It Wrong, creator of KMUW's daily news podcast Wichita's Early Edition, and NPR StoryLab Workshop team member on the award-winning podcast My Fellow Kansans.