“If criticism isn’t going to be written by one human mind, what else is it for? Criticism done by AI means nothing.” — Bethanne Patrick

Is London really falling? Perhaps. This week on Keen On America, everything seems to be falling. There are young men falling from riverside apartments. Girlhood is falling to the commodification of appearance. Book reviewing is falling to AI. Mary Todd Lincoln fell through history as a shrill and inconvenient widow. And just three days ago, Yale historian Ian Shapiro argued that democracy itself has fallen — from the euphoric heights of 1989 to today’s nadir of illiberal populism.

One person who never falls is our unfailingly literate friend Bethanne Patrick — book critic at the Los Angeles Times, founder of #FridayReads, and the best-read lady in America. And her May list of recommended reads is full of books about falling. Take, for example, the New York Times bestselling London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe — a true crime whodunnit about Zac Brettler, a nineteen-year-old who reinvented himself as the son of a Kazakh oligarch and fell to his death from a Thames-side luxury apartment. Then there’s Girls by Freya India on Gen Z and the commodification of girlhood; Make Believe by Mac Barnett, the Children’s Laureate, on storytelling as an art of raising kids; I Am Not a Robot by Joanna Stern on AI as useful tool, not a civilizational menace; and An Inconvenient Widow by Lois Romano which rehabilitates the already fallen Mary Todd Lincoln.

And then there’s the fall of book reviewing itself. Where have all the critics gone? New York Times book critic Dwight Garner wrote its obituary this week. But Bethanne Patrick hasn’t fallen. And, last I checked, London is still standing.

Five Takeaways

• London Falling: The Oligarchs Were the Problem. Zac Brettler reinvented himself as the son of a Kazakh oligarch and fell to his death from a Thames-side apartment. The real villains, Bethanne argues, aren’t the new money culture per se — it’s the oligarchs who transformed London. Andrew is sceptical. Janan Ganesh: London has always been capitalism.

• Girls: The Commodification of Girlhood. Freya India argues that technology has made existing anxieties about appearance thousands of times worse. Face-tuning, influencers, targeted advertising, bullying. The parallel with London Falling: both are about young people who cannot escape the mirror of other people’s wealth and image.

• Make Believe: Art for Children. Mac Barnett, Children’s Laureate, argues children need great art, not just books. Stories must move you toward caring about other people. Not passive consumption — give and take. Zac Brettler was a brilliant storyteller. The wrong kind.

• I Am Not a Robot: AI as Tool. Joanna Stern spent a year using AI for almost everything. Her verdict: a tool, not good or bad. The Authors Guild raised $900,000 at their gala fighting AI copyright infringement. The Chicago Tribune published AI summer recommendations including a Louise Erdrich novel she never wrote.

• Where Have All the Book Reviewers Gone? Barthelme predicted machines doing reviews in 1981. Now it’s happening. Google Gemini summarises reviews before you see them. Bethanne Patrick is one of a tiny handful of full-time critics left. Her verdict: criticism requires judgment. Judgment requires a human mind.

About the Guest

Bethanne Patrick is a book critic at the Los Angeles Times, founder of #FridayReads, host of the Missing Pages podcast, and author of Life B: Overcoming Double Depression (Counterpoint, 2023).

Books Discussed

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday, April 2026)
Girls by Freya India (2026)
Make Believe by Mac Barnett (2026)
I Am Not a Robot by Joanna Stern (2026)
An Inconvenient Widow by Lois Romano (Simon & Schuster, 2026)

Chapters:

00:00:31 London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe: the best books of May
00:03:31 Andrew’s disclosure: I know the Brettler family
00:06:14 The Holocaust, Russian thugs, drugs, and mental illness
00:09:48 Radden Keefe as the Erik Larson of the present
00:12:34 Catherine Liu and the militant left
00:14:23 From boys to girls: Freya India’s Girls
00:15:23 Gen Z, technology, and the commodification of girlhood
00:18:58 Make Believe by Mac Barnett
00:21:14 Zach Brettler as storyteller: what stories are for
00:22:47 I Am Not a Robot by Joanna Stern
00:25:01 The Authors Guild gala: $900,000 raised
00:28:41 Where Have All the Book Reviews Gone? Barthelme’s 1981 prediction
00:29:25 AI slop at the Chicago Tribune: the Louise Erdrich book that doesn’t exist
00:35:48 Literary email scams: ‘Hi, it’s Margaret Atwood’
00:38:01 An Inconvenient Widow by Lois Romano
00:39:06 Mary Todd Lincoln: unpleasant, or cheated by history?
00:42:26 Pamela Harriman and the limits of rehabilitation
00:43:37 Oh, Mary! on Broadway
00:45:41 Bethanne’s favourite of May: Make Belie