THE SIMP with Roshan Sethi | Episode 53

absolutely it's good to see you now you know when i when i got the book you and i've been talking about this for a while i was very excited because this is your debut novel to get a copy i think that when you're a publisher it's been so talked about that i think they had slightly run out of galleys so the the galley that i got was just like um edition with like a piece of like tape oh my god nothing on the back so i love it's very

special yeah you got a one-of-a-kind

They made it just for me.

But I finally did get the book.

On the back is the...

Instead of the description of the story itself, it is the job.

And, you know, it's a job posting in the world of the novel.

It's a job posting for an assistant to a Hollywood power couple.

And I...

From working in the industry for a couple decades, I'm so jaded at this point.

I read it and I was like, oh yeah, that sounds like a pretty straightforward, normal job.

But give us the pitch for what the story of the novel is.

What is the story of The Simp?

Um, it's basically, I, there was an ad that went viral in the New York times in 2023.

That was an art world couple in New York asking for an assistant and the ad went viral because it was so ridiculous in terms of what it was demanding and how little it was paying.

And I was interested in the person who would ever answer that ad.

So I transplanted it, not knowing anything about the real writers of the ad.

to Hollywood and imagined an actor who was unemployed and desperate enough to try to get that job and then actually do the job.

And I wanted it to turn into something like Parasite.

So that's the book.

Nice.

And it is a novel without a hero.

And as we start, I immediately got distracted because as I started reading, I had this terrible thing where I've been reading for the podcast and other things, but so many contemporary books.

And I'm really bad about trying to keep up with the classics.

I try to make rules for myself.