4 GOINGS ON ABOUT TOWN
11 THE TALK OF THE TOWN
Amy Davidson Sorkin on hope amid COVID;
touring the rooms at the top; a P.S. A. for the M.T.A.;
mining Minecraft for wisdom; true selves on display.
PERSONAL HISTORY
Ann Patchett 16 How to Practice
Cleaning house and the art of letting go.SHOUTS & MURMURS
Susanna Wolff 23 Beyond Hygge
LETTER FROM GAMBIA
Ian Urbina 24 The Smell of Money
A fish-meal plant transforms a coastal community.ANNALS OF TECHNOLOGY
Joshua Rothman 30 Missing a Beat
The challenges of building an artificial heart.
A REPORTER AT LARGE
Dexter Filkins 40 Last Exit
What kind of future does Afghanistan face?
FICTION
Jonathan Lethem 50 “The Crooked House”
THE CRITICS
BOOKS
James Wood 56 Kazuo Ishiguro’s “Klara and the Sun.”
59 Briefly Noted
Casey Cep 62 The women of the Barbizon Hotel.
PODCAST DEPT.
Alex Ross 66 Music appreciation with “Switched On Pop.”
ON TELEVISION
Naomi Fry 68 The twisted logic of “Behind Her Eyes.”
THE CURRENT CINEMA
Anthony Lane 70 “The Father,” “I Care a Lot.”
POEMS
Rosanna Warren 34 “Number Theory”
Jim Moore 45 “Poem That Ends at the Ocean”
COVER
John Cuneo “The Polar Opposite”DRAWINGS Pia Guerra and Ian Boothby, Christopher Weyant, Lonnie Millsap, Kim Warp, William Haefeli,
Justin Sheen, Frank Cotham, Yinfan Huang, David Sipress, Suerynn Lee, Tom Chitty S POTS John Hersey