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In Search of America on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever
Episode 69

In Search of America on the Biggest Cruise Ship Ever

Twenty decks, seven swimming pools, and one novelist in a meatball T-shirt.

Radio Atlantic

April 25, 202424m 4s

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Show Notes

Writer Gary Shteyngart set sail on the inaugural voyage of the biggest cruise ship ever built—the Icon of the Seas—in search of the "real" America. (And maybe to throw a great suite party along the way.) What he found instead, like many a great novelist before him, was a far more isolating experience. Shteyngart recounts his "seven agonizing nights" aboard a giant floating mall full of memorable characters, bad entertainment, even worse food—and the ever-present desire to keep up.

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