Isle McElroy

2 months ago | thebeliever.net | Isle McElroy

Perhaps it should come as no surprise that one of the most common problems a novelist faces when creating fictional characters is the problem every person must face: the struggle to know thyself. In a first-person novel, a narrator gifted with all-knowing personal insight isn’t just unrealistic, it’s also pretty annoying.

Nov 20, 2024 | courtneymaum.substack.com | Courtney Maum |Isle McElroy

Hello friends and (happy?) Wednesday,If you, like me, have spent the last few weeks wondering: where do we go, now? What do I need, now? Should I get up off my carpet or just stay here all night and let the cat sit on me while I ponder the contagion of America? then I have some good news for you. Isle McElroy (they/them) is a healthy dose of medicine. Calm, measured, intuitive, and wildly intelligent, Isle’s two books (THE ATMOSPHERIANS and PEOPLE COLLIDE) are like nothing I’ve ever read.

Jul 29, 2024 | defector.com | Isle McElroy

Last fall, a few weeks after watching Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things in theaters, I attended a screening of Dogtooth, the director’s breakout film from 2009. Lanthimos’s movies are often considered comedies–perhaps for lack of an identifiable genre–and in both theaters, the audiences frequently laughed, though the tenor of our laughter could not have been any more different. Poor Things is firmly a comedy.

Feb 18, 2024 | newyorkfolk.com | James White |Isle McElroy

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Welcome back to The Daily’s Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what’s keeping them entertained. Today’s special guest is Karen Ostergren, a deputy copy chief who has worked at The Atlantic for more than a decade.

Feb 16, 2024 | newsbreak.com | Isle McElroy

If the thrive post has a patron saint, it is Nicole Kidman. Specifically, Kidman the day she finalized her divorce from Tom Cruise, when she was photographed by paparazzi leaving her attorney’s office with her arms blissfully extended, her mouth a wide, Whitmanian yawp. She is undeniably free. The image has since become a meme— and inspiration for people leaving relationships. If you catch a friend posting this photo, assume that they’re recently single.