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Category Archives: 2010 CHALLENGES

” A Long Drive Home” by Will Allison : [ A Conversation ]

17 Tuesday May 2011

Posted by Let's Read in 18th & 19th Century Women Writers Reading Challenge 2010, Author, Blog Tours, Books, Crime Fic/Thriller, Everything Bookish, Fictions, Interviews & Guestposts

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Author interviews, BLOGTOURSTOP, Fictions, Mystery, Thoughtful

A Conversation with Will Allison

Author of : LONG DRIVE HOME : A Novel

Free Press : May 17 , 2011

 

1. Your first novel , What You Have Left , has three viewpoint characters and moves back  and forth in time. Long Drive Home has one viewpoint characters and proceeds, for the most part, choronologically . Did you make the decision at the outset  to structure this novel differently ?

I did. I wanted to write a book with a strong sense of tension and narrative momentum – more of page turner – but one that’s still character-based , where plot is a function of character and not vice versa.

2. When you were executive editor of Story magazine, thousands of submissions must have crossed your desk. How did your editorial work influence your writing ?

Reading through the submissions – we averaged about 50 a day – I was constantly reminded of the importance of 1) giving the reader a reason to care , 2) keeping the story moving . I write with an acute awarness that readers have a lot of other things they could be doing besides reading my book.

3.  Where did the idea for the novel come from ?

I liv ein New Jersey , in a quiet neighborhood much like the one described in the book – lots of kids , joggres , people walking their dogs . One morning a few years ago, I went out to get the newspaper . A car came flying down the street , going probably twice the speed limit. I remember picking up the paper thinking I’d like to chuck it at the giy’s windshield , give him a scare . Then I thought , ” You’re an idiot , Will . You could kill someone . ” Then I thought, ” What if  no one saw ? ” That was the seed of the story .

4. Is the book autobiographical ?

No. The circumstances of Glen’s life are similar to my own – I work at home ; my wife works in the city ; we have a young daughter ; we moved here from the midwest ; etc. – but the characters and plots are wholly intended .

5. Has your daughter read the book ?

No . She’s only nine . Some of the lnguage isn’t appropriate . Also I would hate for her to conflate me with Glen . She knows what the book is about , though . On the way to and from school , when I was writing it, she’d ask what part of the story I was working on. She gave me a lot of input . She still thinks Sara’s name should have been spelled ” Sarah ” .

6. Is the traffic in New Jersey really as bad as Glen says ?

It seemed pretty bad to me , coming from the Midwest . I did some reasearch when I started the book . New Jersey is the nation’s most congested state and has the highest pedestrian fatality rate. A 2006 study from that northern New Jersey has four of the ten most dangerous American cities to drive in – all within fifteen miles of where the story takes place . And a 2008 study ranked New Jersey drivers dead last in their knowledge of basic safety and traffic laws .

7 . Was the accident investigaion based on a real case ?

No, but I did get a lot of help from Detective Arnold Anderson , who recently retired from the Essex County Prosecutors Fatal Accident Unit . Andy read an early draft of the book and very patiently answered my questions . I remember being nervous when I first got in touch with him and said I was writing a book about a guy who tries to cover up his involvement in an accident. I thought Andy might think that’s what I was doing. He told me later that , yes , he did check up on me after that first phone call , to make sure I was really a writer .

8 . Was there any kind of moral you were aimimg to impart in Long Drive Home ?

I was very interested in the moral implications of Glen’s actions , particularly how he justified – and was later affected by – doing things he  himself  believed to be morally wrong . But no , I intented no moral lesson for the reader , only moral questions .

9. How much compassion do you expect the reader to show Glen ?

Obviously , Glen makes some terrible mistakes . But I do hope readers will put themselves in his shoes . That’s why I chose to tell the story from his viewpoint . If the story had been told from Rizzo’s or Tawana’s viewpoint , Glen might have come off as a clear – cut villian . That to me have been less interesting .

10. What’s next for you ?

Another novel , that may or may not revisit the characters in Long Drive Home.

The Blurb :

In his riveting new novel, Will Allison, critically acclaimed author of What You Have Left, crafts an emotional and psychological drama that explores the moral ambiguities of personal responsibility as it chronicles a father’s attempt to explain himself to his daughter—even though he knows that in doing so, he risks losing her.

Life can change in an instant because of one small mistake. For Glen Bauer, all it takes is a quick jerk of the steering wheel, intended to scare a reckless driver. But the reckless driver is killed, and just like that, Glen’s placid suburban existence begins to unravel.

Written in part as a confessional letter from Glen to his daughter, Sara, Long Drive Home evokes the sharp-eyed observation of Tom Perrotta and the pathos of Dan Chaon in its trenchant portrait of contemporary American life.

When Glen realizes no one else saw the accident, he impulsively lies about what happened—to the police, to his wife, even to Sara, who was in the backseat at the time of the crash. But a tenacious detective thinks Sara might have seen more than she knows, or more than her parents will let her tell. And when Glen tries to prevent the detective from questioning Sara, he finds himself in a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game that could end in a lawsuit or prison. What he doesn’t see coming is the reaction of his wife, Liz—a panicked plan that threatens to tear their family apart in the name of saving it.

But what if the accident wasn’t really Glen’s fault? What if someone else were to blame for the turn his life has taken? It’s a question Glen can’t let go of. And as he struggles to understand the extent of his own guilt, he finds himself on yet another collision course, different in kind but with the potential to be equally devastating. Long Drive Home is a stunning cautionary tale of unintended consequences that confirms Will Allison’s growing reputation as a rising literary talent.

My Review :

This is an incredibly realistic thriller/suspense story that could literally happen to just about anyone. Allison masterfully crafts a fast paced plot that kept my attention from start to finish made all the more possible by the novel’s just over 200 page length. The page count is deceptively short for Allison gets a lot accomplished, and reader’s are taken on a tense, emotional, psychological ride through the turns of fate experienced by one Glen Bauer. I highly recommend Long Drive Home to all who enjoy suspense novels and think this would make an intriguing choice for a book discussion group.

About the Author:

Will Allison’s debut novel, What You Have Left, was selected for Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers, Borders Original Voices, and Book Sense Picks, and was named one of 2007′s notable books by the San Francisco Chronicle. His short stories have appeared in magazines such as Zoetrope: All-Story, Glimmer Train, and One Story and have received special mention in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Short Stories anthologies. He is the former executive editor of Story. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, he now lives with his wife and daughter in New Jersey.

To learn more about author Will Allison through his website.

Thanks to Free Press, I received a complimentary copy of Long Drive Home by Will Allison for review.

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“The Flat on Malabar Hill” by Chitra Kallay::My Review

19 Wednesday May 2010

Posted by Let's Read in Author, Books, Everything Bookish, Fictions, International Authors, SouthAsianAuthorChallenge2010

≈ 3 Comments

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Fictions, Thoughtful

Piety and religious devotion run alongside addiction and bigotry in a Mumbai family. Told from multiple view points, The Flat on Malabar Hill pits traditional values against modern ways in an ethnic novel which spans two continents and three decades. In this family, two sons provide devout mother Shanti and morally upright father Vinod their greatest joy and deepest anguish. Kishore is handsome, brilliant, and an MIT graduate. His Americanized wife, Anjali, has spent years in the U.S. and struggles to adjust to Mumbai. The younger son Dev plays drums at nightclubs and shares drugs with his idle rich friends. When he wants to marry an uneducated, low-caste, Anglo-Indian night-club singer, Vinod threatens to disown him. Years later, Vinod has bypass surgery and Shanti is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Kishore, a member of the sandwich generation, uproots his family from Seattle, where he works for Microsoft, and moves them into the Malabar Hill flat, which his father deeds over to him. Anjali begins to redecorate, but each brush stroke erases Shanti’s and Vinod’s memories. Shanti’s mind continues to fade, and Vinod feels powerless to help her. He makes a momentous decision, leaving a painful legacy for the family.

In this book of Kallay you get a telescopic view of a Mumbai family blanketed in tradition – spiraling toward urban cosmopolitanism… whether that’s good or bad ..is for you to read and judge yourself. The characters are quiet engaging and well developed and they as well as the story conveys a very believable portrait of the city as well as it’s society. Three generations of an Indian family that, for three decades, faces experiences in life that most readers will find they can relate to. The three generations are not confined to Mumbai only, some travels to America to stay for a while which adds the multiculturalism that flourishes and adds it’s own complexity to the story. Through all the disappointment, personality differences and different societal values we , readers get to love or hate the characters and experience them..the elder son Kishore, the madness of trying to reconcile the views of his American-reared wife and his rebel younger brother along with the stately traditions of his elderly parents.”The Flat On Malabar Hills” can be read by all “generations” of readers.

Thanks to Paula@AuthorsMarketingInc. for  the review copy.

“Prince of Ayodha” by Ashok Banker :: My Thoughts…

07 Friday May 2010

Posted by Let's Read in 2010 CHALLENGES, Author, Books, Classics, Everything Bookish, International Authors, Once Upon A Time:The Journey, SouthAsianAuthorChallenge2010

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Mythology

 
The series is a collection of 6 books written by Ashok Banker. The first in the series is Prince of Ayodhya.
 
 
Rama, Lakshman and other characters of Banker’s “Prince of Ayodhya” aren’t demigods or incarnations of the one true God . They are teenage boys , born into a royal family facing a grave threat of invasion. The invading hordes are Asuras (Rakshasas) headed by the dreaded demon lord, Ravana.  Ravana has been marshaling his forces to overrun the Arya Nations (Indian kingdoms) with a demon horde the likes of which has never been seen. It’s up to Rama and his brother, Lakshman who are princes of the Suryavansha royal house to go out there and start the process of opposing him. The Asura Wars  was when Ravana was defeated by the current ruler of Ayodhya the Unconquerable, King Dusserutha. He is now old and about to announce Rama’s ascension to the Sun Throne when Guru Vishwamitra  comes to warn Ayodhya of Lanka’s plans. The Gurus, Vishwamitra and Vashishta are two of the Seven Seers. They are sages of supreme power who have control over the magic of the Universe (called Brahman) and able to channel these energies to achieve the pinnacle of knowledge through penance and are almost immortal. They guide the princes on the path of righteousness that will eventually lead to victory.
 
We Indians, as children, all read Ramayana  (by Valmiki) which is pretty much one dimensional. In Valmiki’s Ramayana, there were the Princes Rama & Lakshmana –  exiled from Ayodhya, Sita (Rama’swife and love) gets kidnapped by Ravana who desires her and they raise an army and go get her back (and kill him, as a matter of course). This book by Ashok Banker describes, in contemporary language, how two normal boys are able to take on the demons who are powerful magical entities . Banker adds so much more: he develops the characters beautifully , the inter-personal relationships are fascinating, the social and cultural backdrop is described beautifully, and the introduction of various minor characters enhances the richness of the tale. Another thing that makes Prince of Ayodha  great is the side stories of deceit and intrigue within the Royal household which will eventually lead to Rama & Lakshman’s exile.  We have very realistic characters like Kausalya (the first Queen) and the King and they’re all normal people who feel lust, pride, joy, sorrow, envy and rage. They aren’t all perfect versions of humanity who have only righteousness in their hearts. They’ve made mistakes that they regret, they feel anger and betrayal and the whole gamut of human emotions that the previous telling of these epics lacked.
 
Indian myth has always had great potential for brilliant stories, granted that the person deals with them in a way that 21st century people can understand. Banker does just that. He says that like the age old tradition of honor, the princes are bound to Dharma (one’s obligation in respect to one’s position in society). They must, as princes of the royal house and being Kshatriyas (warriors), fulfill their destiny and duty in fighting the scourge that will soon cover the land in darkness. He brings old traditional sentiments and makes them very relatable emotions of today. He also infuses into the story at appropriate points, the stories of Hindu mythology, like the marriage of Shiva and Parvati, Kama’s Folly, the stories of Lanka just to name a few.
 
 Banker has a few inconsistencies in his novel but I overlooked them because the narrative is so engrossing and fast paced. Besides, they are nothing major that impact the outcome in any significant way.I believe , in  ancient epics there’s no sense in which there’s an “official” version. Which means that all you can do is to enjoy each retelling on its own merits. If you take this attitude, rather than constantly wondering if a particular plot element was “really” part of the Ramayana, you’ll thoroughly enjoy Banker’s version!
 
It’s so well put together that I really could not stop reading. There are other books in this series like, ” Bridge of Rama”, “Armies of Hanuman”, “Demons of Chitrakut” , “Seige of  Mithila”, and I can’t wait to read them..
This review is part of   “South Asian Author Challenge 2010” and “Once Upon A Time : The Journey”.
 

“Nastanirh” (The Broken Nest) :: Rabindranath Tagore

30 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by Let's Read in 2010 CHALLENGES, Author, Book Review Wednesdays, Books, Classics, Everything Bookish, Fictions, International Authors, MEMES, SouthAsianAuthorChallenge2010

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Books in Bengali, MEMES

(I was trying t find a cover picture of the story but didn’t get any, so this is the poster for the movie “Charulata” based on “Nastanirh)

The story takes place in the late 19th century India and tells the tale of a lonely housewife Charu (short for Charulata). Charu and her rather detached, older husband Bhupati live a quiet, well-to-do life. She is a very beautiful woman, with tons of money and all the time in the world to enjoy her passions – the arts, literature and poetry. Yet her workaholic husband seems to be more concerned with his job than his marriage. And alas, she is all alone, ailing from that distasteful disorder of ennui that seemingly plagues so many kept women.

However, the sun shines a bit brighter for our heroine when Bhupati’s young, handsome cousin Amal arrives for a visit. Bhupati, who is far from a heartless man and feels sympathy for his wife’s cheerless plight, encourages his cousin to befriend his wife as they both have so much in common (he loves poetry and the arts as well).  Finally we see Charulata happy, singing, playful, and tending to Amol, mending his clothes and inspiring him to continue writing. Her innocent flirtations catch her offguard as she becomes deeply attached to Amol. Amol also realizes that his emotions are leading him astray. After Bhupati is ruined when his brother in law, whom he trusted and loved, makes off with the newspaper’s money, Amol decides to leave, not wanting to take away from Bhupati his “other” wife. Charulata is crushed by Amol’s departure and inadvertently betrays her emotions to Bhupati. Bhupati is completely disillusioned by these reversals of trust and love. Their marriage is severed.

MY THOUGHTS:

I really donot have the heart or the audacity to review the wrting skills of Rabindranath Tagore…so I will just write what I felt like after reading this particular story…

This story instantly takes you back to 1879 Calcutta to explore the seeds of India’s early movement for independence from England and to examine the restrictions placed on educated Indian women. It’s like Victorian England but instead it’s Victorian India  in which a neglected wife, on the point of breaking through to self-awareness, begins to perceive male dominion as a hollow façade of beards, braces and boredom.

 The unadulterated love and longing of an intelligent woman , Charulata, for her younger brother-in-law ,while the husband is pursuing his intellectual hobby of running a radical English newspaper in Calcutta ,Charaluta is left to confide her creative passions with her artistic and poetic brothrer-in-law ,it is diificult to define where this crosses the line from admiration to love….. but the emotion evolves naturally to blossom into something more than matronly affiliation ,whether there is an element of lust is left for us readers to decide with small trivial domestic details,but the relationship is a satire on the security of the indian marriage where any such thought, much less act can become a blasphemy.

It’s a story to be read and interpret in your own way…

This is part of my “South Asian Author Challenge 2010”.

Kristy Kiernan’s “Between Friends” ..My Thoughts..

25 Sunday Apr 2010

Posted by Let's Read in 2010 CHALLENGES, 2010 Debs Challenge, Author, Books, Everything Bookish, Fictions

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Thoughtful

Friends since childhood, Ali and Cora are each other’s confidants and shoulders to lean on when the going gets tough. They are also joined together by an unusual bond: when Ali and her husband Benny were having trouble getting pregnant, Cora donated her eggs and is the biological mother of their 15-year-old daughter Letty. Letty always knew the truth – thanks in part to the framed magazine excerpts about the arrangement – and having children of her own has always been the last thing on free-spirited Cora’s mind.

Diagnosed with a potentially fatal hereditary condition, Cora returns to the States after teaching seminars across the globe and dreads the difficult conversation with her best friend. Ali has a revelation of her own: she has kept the remaining embryos frozen and is finally ready to try for another child. Overshadowing their dueling news is Letty, whose reckless behavior lands her in hot water time and time again. The incidents have Benny reeling and drive a wedge between the couple, with Cora stepping in to pick up the slack and provide the support that Letty so desperately needs. Are three parents too many or is it just what Letty needs to survive her difficult adolescence and emerge unscathed?  

 MY THOUGHTS:

The story is dramatic and unpredictable.  The drama doesn’t over shadow the story. The characters and the situations that comes along can be anybody and in anybody’s life, it’s as true as it can be..and all the things that are not perfect in the story, it won’t seem unreal because life is not perfect !!

The author lets us crawl into the minds of Ali, Cora and Letty as each of them does their narration in the book. Letty is a  self-centered teen, who loves her parents, but  story of her conception has overshadowed her true self.  Ali wants to control things  she can just makes  plans and sticks to it.  Cora, who never wanted to be a mother and was pleased to help her best friend become one, finds herself experiencing feelings and longings that she has never acknowledged before.  Benny, a side character, but a  gentleman, loves his wife and his daughter. There are twists and turns between them and their situations. And each time you think you have figured out what’s going to happen, well comes another twist and start again to figure out !!!

I loved the book, it gives you a picture of families dealing with infertility and other chronic illnesses. It makes you feel their emotions, sadness, happiness…you cry with them, laugh with the..try to understand them. I would certainly recommend this book to everybody who loves a good book.

This review is part of “2010 Debs Challenge”.

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