In an email interview, she confessed the Marilynne Robinson-sized hole in her reading, and the book her high school boyfriend would be glad she got to. SCOTT HELLER
What’s the last great book you read?
I finally read “Bel Canto” and I just — ugh! — luxuriated in it. What a pleasure.
What books are on your night stand?
“The Violence,” by Adriana E. Ramírez. “Kill Dick,” by Luke Goebel. “Baldwin: A Love Story,” by Nicholas Boggs, is just outstanding. I’m taking my time with it.
What book might people be surprised to find on your shelves?
Probably more surprising is what’s NOT on my shelves. I consider giving away a book the highest form of praise. When I love something, I urgently must put it in someone’s hands. I have given books away to strangers next to me in restaurants if I finish while dining alone.
Describe your ideal way to procrastinate from writing.
Filling out questionnaires!
What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?
In college my friend Indira gave me “The Complete Stories” of Zora Neale Hurston. It changed my way of seeing the world.
“The Great Gatsby” was an inspiration for “Last Night in Brooklyn” — but so was the musical “Company.” Explain.
I adore “Company.” Sondheim at his best. But the gender-swapped production a few years ago didn’t work for me. I hadn’t considered how much that story relies on the protagonist being a man. Which got me thinking about “Gatsby” and how much of that book hinges on how a man would size up a situation and even tell a story. And then my brain was off to the races.
You described the novel as a “field guide to friendship.” What do you mean?
Social media created this illusion that relationships can be managed online. Not really true. I wanted to capture how much knowing people — in a real way — happens over the course of being in the trenches of life together. Experiencing those awkward, friction-based moments that happen when out and about.
Would you call it an anti-Brooklyn-novel novel?
Ha! I think that would describe my first novel. This is more of a look at what we traded in for the “upgrade.”
What is an “‘insuperiority complex” and how does it figure in your book?
It’s what develops when a person is consistently overprepared and yet constantly underestimated. It creates feelings of tension and frustration and, if not tended to properly, it can result in outbursts of rage. But in my book, mostly the characters are trying to work out their IC on the dance floor.
Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?
Much to my high school boyfriend’s chagrin, I resisted reading “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” until about two months ago. Is that a classic now?
What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?
I have not read “Gilead” or “Housekeeping” and I should really walk around with a paper bag of shame over my head until I fix this.
What’s your favorite book no one else has heard of?
“Widow Basquiat,” by Jennifer Clement, is beautiful and no one seems to know it when I bring it up.
What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
“Long Island Compromise” gave me a few good chuckles.
The last book that made you cry?
There were moments in “The Gods of New York” that actually made me weep. I was moved by Jonathan Mahler’s accounts of New Yorkers unafraid to make hell to fight for more. He tells one story of a 10-year-old homeless boy named David Bright. He was going to school hungry, but still managed to become a giant pebble in Koch’s shoe. It just … got me.
Who is your favorite fictional hero or heroine?
All these years later and it’s still Anne of Green Gables.
Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book?
Yes! “My Sweet Audrina,” by V.C. Andrews. My mistake for leaving that where my grandmother could find it.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
Turns out societal collapse is a predictable science! “End Times,” by Peter Turchin, was illuminating, if sobering.
In the movie version of your book, what song should be playing over the end credits?
Glass shatters. Close-up on Alicia, our protagonist, as she gasps and takes off. Eye of God over her and Brooklyn as we hear Willie Hutch’s “I Choose You” and the credits roll. (But, honestly, I haven’t given it much thought. …)
Source:
www.nytimes.com
