Alex Witchel: The Spare Wife
Book Club Guides
May 27, 2009. Alex Witchel talks with Queenie C about her novel,
The Spare Wife.
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
You
are a New Yorker. Is this the way you perceive those that live on the Upper East Side? Have you had any experiences with people like your characters?
Yes,
I would say that my novel is "reported" in the sense that it is based entirely on my experiences living in New York City since 1982. But it should
be said that you don't need to live on the upper east side to behave badly! Ambition and entitlement know no neighborhood, in New York, or any city.
But I chose that neighborhood because it is the remaining pocket of old money and status in New York, and those "society" people traditionally make
the rules that everyone else follows.
Their social life is a tightly choreographed schedule of activities (luncheons, dinners, charity events) that combine the rich people, who are the
unchanging backbone of the group, with people of interest – a rotating selection of the journalists or performers of the day. The entertainment, so
to speak. Since they're not rich, they have to know how to make conversation, be amusing. Like courtesans, just co-ed and in the living room.
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
It
seemed as if Ponce and Red had a true friendship. How did that develop?
It
developed through Ponce's role as a spare wife. What I mean by this is that she is the friend to both people in a marriage, husband and wife. She'll
play tennis or golf with the husband if the wife doesn’t want to, or watch football with him. Then with the wife, she'll go shopping with her or
bird watch or whatever it is the husband doesn't want to do. She's never a sexual threat, just a friend, and if either one needs a "wife" to keep
them company, she's happy to comply. That way, she never has to commit to a primary relationship herself. It's a way to avoid the kind of intimacy
that scares her, while actually enjoying the friendship of people she cares about.
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
This
story was chock-full of deception and betrayal. Was it difficult for you to write about the characters in that light?
Not
at all. People are deceived and betrayed every day!
Seriously, each person in the book had a specific motivation for his or her actions. If he or she behaved badly, I made sure the reader understood
why. And the most fun part was meting out my own justice at the end. That's the best part of writing a novel. You rule!
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
If
you had the opportunity to become one of these characters in a movie, which would you choose and why?
That's
a funny question! Not being much of an actress, I guess I'd pick Rachel Lerner, the tough-girl magazine writer who sees through Babette, our "villainess,"
and figures out how to bring her down at the end. Rachel is the character who's most like me, but I didn't want to write the book only from her
point of view since she's an outsider. I wanted to try to get into the heads of some of the people inside the group because not all of them were
bad people; certainly Ponce and Shawsie, though not perfect, are both good eggs. And I wanted to write about friendship and intimacy between women
and how hard that can be. Not every woman is a fountain of understanding and forgiveness, nor should she have to be.
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Have
you ever attended an elite dinner party like those that Ponce helps organize?
Yes,
I have. Knowing that women are never seated together at the table, you usually talk to other women during cocktails. You are also never seated with
your husband, but between two other men (even if gay couples are included, two singles of the opposite sex are invited so it remains boy-girl. No
kidding!) The rule usually is that on one side you have a great seat (a person who’s fun to talk to) and on the other side a work seat, someone you're
not all that happy to see. You speak to one during appetizers, the other during the main course, and then during dessert, conversation is usually
opened up table-wide for a discussion of current events.
The entire experience really makes you appreciate just how great it is to put on a nightgown and climb into bed with a bowl of spaghetti and the
remote control!
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
Can
you tell us what you are working on now?
Right
now, I'm doing my New York Times work, which consists of writing a monthly column called Feed Me in the Wednesday Dining section, along with
being a staff writer at the Sunday Magazine where I write profiles. Most recently, my subjects were the actor Rupert Everett and the Irish novelist
Colm Toibin.
I have a few thoughts for another book, but haven't quite decided on one in particular. The work on The Spare Wife was almost anthropological,
and especially in light of the economic collapse, it's interesting to see how eager people are now for the rich to get their comeuppance.
I'm not sure another novel is what I'll do next. It seems that the real world these days is too chock full of things you could never invent that
might merit exploring, instead. I'm hoping an idea will present itself soon!
Book Club Guides: Interview with Alex Witchel
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