Today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu was novelist Joshua Braff, talking about his new book, Peep Show.
We talked about the two conflicting settings of his novel: the insular world of the Hasidic Jewish community and the seedy movie theaters in Time Square during the 1970s. We also talked about how his brother, actor, screenwriter, and director Zach Braff, helped him with the book.
Press play below to listen.
Here’s an excerpt: “Zach is a great writer, editor, and friend. We give each other feedback on our work… I’ve had some success getting heard because he’ll go on Facebook and say ‘Hey, my brother has a new novel out’ (my first novel came out in ’04). So we help each other … He read the first chapter of the book, and [the audio file] is available to be heard on my website and at my publisher’s site.”
Braff also explained the idea behind the father in his new novel, a Times Square theater owner facing hard decisions: “The character of the dad, I see him as a little bit of Willy Loman–in the sense that he’s trying to keep the legitimacy of the theater that his father taught him about. But At the same time, he’s keeping up with the Joneses. Which means putting a sex toy shop in the lobby and adding peep show booths. He’s feeling the end of a certain era.”