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The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Learned Behaviours by Zeynab Gamieldien review – murder mystery probes privilege and class politics
Interrogating your privilege can be a divisive, somewhat uncomfortable endeavour – but the way it underpins everyday lives makes for great fiction. It's a topic that has been explored via familial relationships in Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half, through the employer-employee dynamic in Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age, and in a schoolgirl narrative in Alice Pung's teen novel Laurinda. Australian author Zeynab Gamieldien's second book, Learned Behaviours, also tackles the issue, via a murder mystery: a searing look at how the intersections of race, class and gender can affect the trajectory of a person's life, even when they no longer seem consequential. It follows Zaid, a prospective barrister who has made considerable efforts to shed his past in a diverse outer part of Sydney known to locals as The Area, which he describes as a 'broad collection of western Sydney suburbs with Canterbury-Bankstown at its heart'. He has travelled overseas, lived in London, drives a Mercedes, and works a job that sees him socialise with the wealthier and whiter north shore and eastern suburbs types on weekends. There he 'assume[s] the role of informant' on the quirks of his past life; it's a currency he trades off in his new world. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning That past comes back to him in the form of Amira, the sister of his high school best friend, Hass, who killed himself after being arrested for the murder of a female friend in their final year of school. Amira has found Hass's diary and asks Zaid to read it, convinced her brother might have been innocent. Her request draws Zaid back in time to confront painful memories, make rattling revelations and square up to his own role in his friend's death. Told between his high-school past and the present, Learned Behaviours isn't a typical murder mystery. Fans of true crime and meticulously plotted crime fiction might find the ending lacks the kind of detail that provides closure; they might even scoff at the possibility that the police bungled the investigation so spectacularly. But this book is not about a clean finish or plausibility (I could never imagine the boys I know from The Area keeping a diary, for example). In it, the intricacies of the murder investigation take a back seat to the bigger themes of belonging, upward social mobility and wrangling a past that weighs heavy on your present – not just in Zaid's case, but in that of his father, Tapey, who is constantly dwelling on the injustices he experienced in District 6 in apartheid South Africa. Gamieldien has done an excellent job of interrogating privilege without being sententious or didactic. It's in the cost of Zaid's barrister training, which he feels more than his moneyed colleagues; it's in the bills piling up in his father's home, and Tapey's reticence to seek compensation for the wrongs done against him; it's in his sister Iman's struggle to leave an abusive relationship in London and return home with a young child in tow. Despite appearances, Zaid knows he has not really 'made it'; he's perpetually on the outer edge of his colleagues' orbit, lacking the fancy school connections that are traded for favours in the workplace, and the weekends away at coastal second homes. Like Gamieldien's debut, The Scope of Permissibility – which explored the push-pull of faith and desire – Learned Behaviours explores social codes and what happens when they are broken. Zaid's inability to swim is a motif, representing how the stark disparity between social classes is experienced on even the most mundane levels. Zaid does his best to rectify it, and the novel is littered with scenes where he plunges himself into bodies of water, hoping for a shift. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Early on in the story, Zaid realises that ''making it' is not synonymous with movement', and that social climbing does not ensure success or belonging. As he ventures back to The Area more frequently – to continue visiting his father, yes, but also to spend more time with Amira – Zaid begins to recognise that getting out of The Area doesn't mean escaping it. Learned Behaviours is a pacy, compelling and immersive narrative that deftly tackles a weighty topic. It's understated but sophisticated, with more than one tragedy at its heart: a murder, yes, but also a necessary reminder that some people can 'afford missteps … requiring only a single step to get back on course', while others need to tread more carefully, or risk being derailed for ever. Learned Behaviours by Zeynab Gamieldien is out through Ultimo Press, $34.99
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Chicago Sun-Times accused of using AI to create reading list of books that don't exist
Illinois' prominent Chicago Sun-Times newspaper has been accused of using artificial intelligence (AI) to create and publish a summer reading list that includes several recommendations for books that don't exist. Social media posts began to circulate on Tuesday criticizing the paper for allegedly using the AI software ChatGPT to generate an article with book recommendations for the upcoming summer season called 'Summer reading list for 2025'. As such chatbots are known to make up information, a phenomenon often referred to as 'AI hallucination', the article contains several fake titles attached to real authors. 'I went into my library's database of Chicago area newspapers to confirm this isn't fake, and it's not,' a post on Bluesky by Book Riot editor Kelly Jensen says. 'Why the hell are you using ChatGPT to make up book titles? You used to have a books staff. Absolutely no fact checking?' As early Tuesday afternoon, the post had more than 1,000 likes and nearly 500 reposts. Among the fake book titles are Hurricane Season by Brit Bennett, Nightshade Market by Min Jin Lee, The Longest Day by Rumaan Alam, Boiling Point by Rebecca Makkai, Migrations by Maggie O'Farrell and The Rainmakers by Percival Everett. All of those authors listed are real acclaimed novelists – but the books attached to them are not genuine titles that they published. Additionally, the article includes descriptions for each of the phoney books as well as reasons why readers may enjoy them. The article does include a few real titles, such as Atonement by Ian McEwan. Others on social media have pointed out that the use of AI appears to be found throughout the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times summer 2025 section. Screenshots of an article called 'Summer food trends' shows the piece quotes a purported Cornell University food anthropologist named Catherine Furst. But there appears to be no one by that name at Cornell. In another article about ideas to spruce up one's back yard, it quotes a purported editor named Daniel Ray. No such website seems to exist. On Tuesday morning, the official account for the Chicago Sun-Times on Bluesky addressed the controversy. 'We are looking into how this made it into print as we speak,' the account wrote. 'It is not editorial content and was not created by, or approved by, the Sun-Times newsroom. We value your trust in our reporting and take this very seriously. More info will be provided soon.' The AI-generated stories also appear to have been syndicated outside Chicago. A post on Threads by AngelaReadsBooks accused the Philadelphia Inquirer of publishing the same fake reading list. 'At a time when libraries and library budgets are being threatened every day, this is a slap in the face to anyone in the profession,' the post reads. 'Where is the journalistic integrity???' Popular author Jasmine Guillory reacted to a post about the fake novels, writing on Threads: 'Holy shit. Just imaginary books and they printed it.' The Chicago Sun-Times, resulting from a 1948 merger, has long held the second largest circulation among newspapers in the Windy City. It trails only the Chicago Tribune. It was not immediately clear whether any other local newspapers circulated the AI articles. The rise of AI content is an ongoing issue with which newsrooms have had to grapple. Certain papers have openly utilized the technology and even put out job postings for 'AI-assisted' reporters.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Best-selling authors David Grann, Brit Bennett to kick off Rochester speaker series
Two authors whose books have resided atop the New York Times best-seller list are slated to be the initial speakers at a new Rochester speaker series. David Grann, whose narrative nonfiction books have often topped the Times list, is scheduled as the inaugural speaker in the Rochester Speakers Series. Grann, the author of "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "The Wager," is scheduled for Oct. 7. Also scheduled is best-selling novelist Brit Bennett, author of "The Vanishing Half" and "The Mothers," who is scheduled for April 21, 2026. The series will be held at Asbury First United Methodist Church on East Avenue in Rochester. For some, the Rochester Speakers Series may revive memories of the Rochester Arts & Lectures series that in the late 1980s and early 90s drew a wealth of authors and journalists of note to Rochester. Among the visiting speakers were Maya Angelou, Kurt Vonnegut, Calvin Trillin and Isabel Allende. "Everyone comments that we miss having something like that," said Nancy Klotz, a local lawyer who, with Laura Hamilton, a marketing and communications consultant, is a co-founder of the Rochester Speakers Series. Over the past year, organizers of the series surveyed local arts, journalism, literary and professional organizations to sample the appetite for such a speakers' event. The demand was there, as well as a recommendation that the series be limited to three to four visitors a year. Utilizing a contribution from the Louis S. & Molly B. Wolk Foundation, the organizers were able to design the series and invite its initial authors. The organizers envision a continuing series that relies upon ticket sales and grants. One ticket pricing platform offers cheaper $35 tickets for individuals under 35 years old to attract younger people to the series. 'Sister cities Syracuse and Buffalo have had successful high-profile speaker series for decades, demonstrating both audience demand and the value of such events," Hamilton said in a news release. "But people here aren't always eager to make the long drive to either city. Rochester Speakers Series brings such events home, and we couldn't be more thrilled to introduce this series to our community.' Grann's "Killers of the Flower Moon" tells of a little-known murderous plot against indigenous Osage men and women by white people who stole oil-rich land from the tribe. The book was transformed into an Oscar-nominated film by director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. "The Wager" is a riveting account of mutiny, shipwreck and survival with an 18th century British warship. Scorsese and Dicaprio have also acquired the film rights to the book. Bennett's books, like Grann's, arrived with critical acclaim. "The Vanishing Half" explores race and identity as two light-skinned Black teens, after the lynching murder of their father in the 1940s, follow very different life treks, with one choosing to pass as white. Bennett's book "The Mothers" was hailed as a rich debut novel with depth-filled characters and a propulsive plot constructed around a familial secret. Tickets for the series are on sale at the website The Rochester Speakers Series is a nonprofit organization. — Gary Craig is a veteran reporter who, during the past Rochester Arts & Lectures series, interviewed visiting speakers Seymour Hersh, Rush Limbaugh, Carl Hiaasen and others. This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Authors David Grann, Brit Bennett to kick off Rochester speaker series
