Welcome to the Pan Pan’s book club, where the first and only book you’ll be reading all year is Miranda July’s The First Bad Man. If you haven’t read it, don’t worry: the real story is the club itself. More than just a staging of scenes from the book or a literary dissection, The First Bad Man is an immersive, comedic, and occasionally combative look at the overlap between the play’s characters and its inspirations.

July’s writing addresses the delicate balance between the satisfaction of engagement and the risk of harm when we dare to show our true selves. As the members of the book club get into the book, it gets into them. Is this a club based in good faith? Or have you stepped into something darker than you signed up for?