Malavika Kannan’s Book Notes music playlist for her novel Unprecedented Times

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Hanif Abdurraqib, Andrew Sean Greer, Roxane Gay, and many others. Malavika Kannan’s Unprecedented Times is a perceptive and smart debut, easily one of the best pandemic novels I have read. Booklist wrote of the book: “Razor-sharp . . . Rishi is a relatable narrator, letting the reader in on both her most vulnerable thoughts and most biting social commentary. A sparkling work of fiction, this story feels like pages ripped straight from your funniest friend’s diary.” In her own words, here is Malavika Kannan’s Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel Unprecedented Times: Foreign Friend — M.I.A. M.I.A., like Rishi, is a quick-talking Tamil provocateur with indefensible takes. “Foreign Friend” is her raw, rough, vaguely menacing bop about the…