Book Interview: Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

It's not often that a woman, especially a mother, will be the one to run away from her family. How did you come up with this idea?

For exactly that reason! It's a fiction writer's job to write the unusual, the extraordinary, but in a very real way. I had no idea when I wrote it how many woman actually fantasize about running away from their families, but I've been hearing it from many, many moms and wives. Most of them, of course, find a better way to handle life's problems than Mira does in the story, but some women have shared their own "running away" stories with me! It's fascinating.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Mira is an amazing character! She so badly wants to be good but she can't help that she's a passionate woman with tangled emotions. She has lived a life of quiet oppression, even if by her own hand. What factors contributed to the idea that being good was the only proper choice for her?

The book starts with a prologue that hints at the deep-seated need Mira has to be "good." She feels at her very core that it's the only way to not be abandoned, from an early age, and that need takes hold and shapes her personality. This is not an unusual phenomenon among those who've lived with a family member who is physically or mentally ill, but of course, Mira has it in spades.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Denial is a huge part of the novel. Each character seems to be in major denial over something. Mira denies that she doesn't have the perfect life. Thea denies that she loves her mom even a little. Parker denies that he may have a hand in the unhappiness of his marriage. Even Nona denies that she made the wrong choice about keeping a secret involving Mira's mother's death. How does the denial of each character feed off the others until it's just one big tangled web with no easy way out?

I guess families are almost like one giant organism, as you point out, each individual feeding off the others' emotions and needs and quirks. Mira is rudely awakened from her denial by her husband's relationship with another woman, and she collides with each member of her family as she tries to deal with it, ultimately discovering that none of them has anything to offer her other than the old-school ways. That no longer works for her in her new state of consciousness, leading to her self-imposed exile from the family. It's only while she's away from them that she can get clear enough in her own mind to begin to change.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

The book also speaks quite gravely to the idea that we can really spend our lives living with, and loving, a person whom we don't even really know. If Mira had shown Parker the "real her" would their marriage have been different? Happier?

That's the big question, and it's an impossible one to answer. How can any of us know what would have happened if we'd chosen the other path? If I were to speculate, I'd say yes, because I'm an optimist. Mira does find the "real her" while she's pulling espresso shots at the Coffee Shop at the Center of the Universe, and begins to share that self more openly with others. There's always hope!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Mira is a very sexual woman. It seems her desire for any sexual encounter stems from a hungrier desire to feel loved. How and why did Mira begin mistaking the act of sex as the act of love?

There's a scene in which this is depicted, when she first leaves home to go to college. She almost stumbles onto a way to receive love and attention, if only for a brief moment, and it drives her desires, along with her fear that she is a "bad girl." It's never simple, trying to fill a large hole that has been created from a lack of love.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

I was hoping to hear more about Fonso but after Mira found him, it was pretty much the end of their relationship. Are there some hurts that just can't be undone? Was Fonso a better man without the shadow of his overbearing father and grandmother constantly on him?

I've had readers say they thought he was the emotionally healthiest character in the story, and I can't disagree! He learned what boundaries worked for him once he left his family. He could function better without them in his life, and he'd created his new family. I do believe that often our families of choice are better for us than our birth families. It's so difficult for those who love them to accept, like Mira, but I have a feeling she'll keep after him.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Is Mira a good mother? She has such a hard time seeing Thea as anything but the baby who adored her that it's almost as if she forgets to enjoy her daughter growing up. How does this affect their relationship?

I actually think Mira is a good mother. She loves her daughter more than anything, and tries her best. I think that's all mothers can do! We humans learn and grow our whole lives long, and Mira has to do a big piece of growing during the course of the story.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

I'm going to be honest, I'm not a big fan of Thea's. I know she has a hard family to live in and I know she doesn't feel appreciated or understood by her parents, Mira specifically. But I thought she was entirely too bratty and downright hurtful most of the time. Where does all her anger stem from?

I believe that some of her strident need for individuality came packaged in her genetic makeup, but also living under the perfection-expectant gaze of Mira enhanced that trait. Her major rebelliousness is over her mother's lack of support for her chosen vocation. Thea wants more than anything to be a musician, but Mira has never approved of her choices. Thea softens as the story unfolds, and the two begin to find a way back to each other.

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Lannie is a true friend to Mira even though the friendship seems unlikely. Did you pair them together so that we could see the polar opposites in each personality?

Interesting! I don't think I thought of it that way; it didn't seem that unlikely to me in a small town, especially given the circumstances that began their relationship. Lannie helps Mira in her time of need, and then Mira rescues Lannie when she's been deserted by her boyfriend. To me, that's the stuff many friendships are made of. You wouldn't believe how many readers have written me and said, "I so wish I had a friend like Lannie!" I do, too!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

Her time at The Center of the Universe really heals Mira. Is it really a journey of self-discovery or more of self-acceptance?

Yes, and yes! As Mira lets the reality of who she really is sink in, she learns to accept herself as not just a "good" or "bad" girl, but as a whole woman. I've struggled with that duality myself, most recently as a writer who feels she must write the truth, even though it may offend others, including family members or friends!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge

What other projects are you working on right now that you can share with us?

My fourth novel is in revision and will be published again by NAL in October 2009. It's a departure for me, in that I've fictionalized a true story that took place in Portland in 2004. A father and his adolescent daughter were found living in a forest that abuts the city, creating lots of juicy issues for the police, and society, to deal with. I've reinvented everything about the story except for the police details of the search, and tell the story from the point of view of a female cop on the search, and the young girl found living in the forest. It has no official title yet.

Book Club Queen: If you could give struggling authors one piece of advice what would it be?

Jennie: Don't forget that the first job is to become the very best writer you can be, and that takes a lot of time, practice, and patience!

Book Interview: A Conversation with Jennie Shortridge