Keen On

According to Andrew Lipstein, here are 3 questions at the heart of his acclaimed new novel Something Rotten: a) What do we want masculinity to look like? b) What constitutes truth? c) How to present death in our culture?Yeah, seriously big questions for anb ambitious novel. Set in Copenhagen, Something Rotten follows a canceled NPR host wrestling with masculinity in liberal society. Lipstein, a Brooklyn-based writer with three young boys (all under 3) and a Danish wife, offers his own insights into the cultural contrast between America and Denmark, on everything from social welfare to masculine ambition. In contrast with Lipstein’s three points, here are the 5 KEEN ON takeaways from our conversation:* On Writing Fiction vs. Nonfiction* Lipstein finds writing nonfiction significantly more challenging and less enjoyable than fiction* He estimates it takes him 2-3 times longer to write a single paragraph of nonfiction compared to fiction* Despite the challenges, he's currently working on a nonfiction book about