Vox Tablet

In the Rearview

Novelist Darin Strauss talks about living with, and atoning for, a terrible car accident

September 8, 2010
(Flickr/Robert Martens)
(Flickr/Robert Martens)

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is for many American Jews the one day each year they dedicate to thinking about their lives, their transgressions, and their futures. But some people think about their actions much more frequently, and writer Darin Strauss is among them. Much of what he’s thought about over the past 20 years is a fatal car accident during his last days in high school; Strauss was driving, and a classmate was killed.

In a new memoir, Half a Life, Strauss writes about the crash and its aftermath. He joined Vox Tablet host Sara Ivry to talk about how this tragedy has shaped his life, about guilt and doubt, and about his fears for his children.

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Vox Tablet is Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast, hosted by Sara Ivry and produced by Julie Subrin. You can listen to individual episodes here or subscribe on iTunes.

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