Jeffrey Zaslow: The Girls from Ames
Book Club Discussion
April 22, 2010. Queenie D chats with author Jeffrey Zalsow about his latest nonfiction piece, The Girls from Ames.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
This
book is different from your average biography in that you didn't just chose a famous person and research their life. Can you tell us a little bit
about what it's like to write a book about real people who are involved in the process?
The
Ames book was harder than my other books because I had to ask the women to really share the good and the bad -- the love between them and the times
they hurt and disappointed each other. I told them the book couldn't be just a Hallmark card celebrating friendship. It had to be a full story of
their lives. They worried what their friends and families (and people in Ames) would think. So we had a lot of back and forth about how far they
were willing to go in sharing their memories. It is gratifying to them, and they're relieved, too, that so many people have now embraced their story.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
You
really got to the heart of the female friendship - talking, laughing, crying, supporting - how did it feel to be "on the inside," so to speak?
I
never felt like I was on the inside. I always felt like the outsider -- the man and the journalist -- asking sometimes naive questions. The Ames
girls rolled their eyes at me a lot. But as an outsider, perhaps I asked questions that a female writer would have assumed she knew the answer to.
And so perhaps I touched issues and got answers that wouldn't have surfaced if a woman wrote the book.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
Of
the Ames Girls, whose story did you find easiest to write about? Hardest? Why?
I
was grateful to Kelly for her willingness to share her life so deeply. I was honored that Marilyn trusted me enough to share 6 years of her diary
with me. I appreciated that Karla was willing to share the saddest story of her life -- her daughter Christie's illness. All the Ames girls opened
up in various ways, though sometimes they regretted what they had shared, and we had to work together to see how to tell these stories in the book.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
How
has writing this book helped you to "understand your daughters, your wife, and the other women in your life" as you note in the introduction?
I
wish my three daughters will one day have what the Ames girls have -- lifelong friends who always will be there for them. I sometimes drive my 14-year-old
and her friends in a carpool, and as they chatter and laugh and argue, I know what it is all about, having spent so much time learning about the
Ames girls.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
Have
you formed a friendship with these women that will continue long after the publicity for the book has died down?
Yes,
I do feel like I have made new friends with the Ames girls, and that we'll stay in touch, though I'm certainly not one of the group. As the book
explains, it's a closed society!
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
How
has your column in the Wall Street Journal affected your life?
I
write about life transitions and very emotional issues in the WSJ, so I've been able to tell a lot of powerful stories about love and loss. Every
column I write informs my life and relationships in some way.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Jeffrey Zaslow
Will
you write another story like this? Can you tell us anything about your current writing projects?
I
am still mulling my next project. After coauthoring The Last Lecture with Randy Pausch and Captain Sully Sullenberger's autobiography, and
then of course the Ames book, I'd like to find a story to tell that also draws on the emotions and compelling themes found in all of these books.
Thanks for asking!
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