Patricia Gussin: The Test
Book Club Discussion
February 10, 2010. Patricia Gussin, author of The Test,
talks about her book in an interview with Queenie C.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
The
idea of leaving a test behind in order to obtain an inheritance is an interesting one. What made you decide to use that as a theme in this book?
Would you consider doing something similar?
The
balance of career and family has become so critical especially now when so many parents are in the work force, not just fathers as in the old days,
but mothers, too. It's unfortunate, but the formative years in one's career and the critical times in children's lives overlap. What if we get
the balance wrong? Is it ever too late to right that wrong? In The Test, billionaire Paul Parnell becomes fixated on how to make his grown
children better people. Is it too late? He decides to give them a year after his death to prove themselves, to bring their lives into conformance
with a moral value standard. They must pass this "test" to inherit his considerable wealth. He's trying to rule from the grave. He's well intended,
but it all goes wrong.
If I had his billions and if I felt that I had let my children down, I don't think that money is the answer, but what is? The Test is a
desperate attempt by Paul to right wrongs, but it is fundamentally flawed, bringing out the worst, not the best, in his heirs.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
You
mention Milton Erickson many times throughout the book as Welton's mentor. Why did you choose Erickson? Do you have an interest in Psychology or did you
have to research someone to use as a mentor figure?
My
villain is a psychiatrist trained in hypnosis. I chose Milton Erickson as his mentor because of his contributions to the medical field of hypnosis.
I'm a family physician and have a passing knowledge of psychiatry and a great interest in the field, but I'm not an expert. I consulted a few texts,
but relied primarily on Hypnosis: Medicine of the Mind by Dr. Michael D. Preston.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
From
the book jacket, I see that you spend part of your time in NY. Why did you decide to use the September 11th attacks in the story? Where were you
when the Towers fell?
I
was in New York City on September 11th , saw the towers fall, forever imprinted with the fiery inferno, the sirens, the march of the soot covered
and stunned, yet courageous survivors. When I started writing The Test, I had not the vaguest plan to include the scenario, but as the book
took shape I needed a dramatic turning point in Ashley Parnell's life. And when I looked at my timeline, I was there. September, 2001. A turning
point for my protagonist and a turning point for the entire world.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
Each
member of the Parnell family was drastically different. Do you think that it is true for most families; each member is the opposite of the other
with very little in common?
The
Parnell family is complicated. Two children from Paul's first marriage, sons, now in their forties. Dan, a farmer, isolated from the family; Frank,
a U.S. senator, ambitious and accomplished. Opposites, indeed. A step-daughter, Rory, mother of eight, well-balanced, yet desperately ill. Monica,
a celebrity, born out of wedlock, in the period after the death of Paul's first wife and before he married his second, a daughter unknown to the
family before the reading of the will. And lastly, the two younger girls, in their twenties. Ashley, the primary protagonist, a medical student;
Carla, a model, tragically mired in the drug culture. Again, opposites, good girl; bad girl.
I am always amazed at the diversity within families, among siblings, raised by the same parents. With my own family of seven children, I realize
that each one grew up in different circumstances. With the older kids, we were struggling to get through medical school. With the younger ones,
we were fairly established, and with older siblings they grew up much, much faster. And then there are the ones in the middle, there's a lot to
be said about sibling order. I love complicated families and that's what made writing The Test such a fun challenge.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
Who
was your favorite character to write about?
It
was very difficult to pick the primary protagonist for The Test. Any one of the six siblings could have carried the story. But I picked
Ashley, the medical student. Maybe because I have been there. (For me, not a rich trust-fund daughter, like Ashley, but a mother of a three month
old and a three year old, struggling to balance the checkbook.)
Ashley is in her last year of medical school, the closest of all of Paul's children to him. She's hard working, dedicated, and also naive and
overprotected. Even though it's hard to sympathize with one who's lived in so much privilege, our hearts go out to Ashley as she becomes prey to
the psychopathic villain.
Book Club Discussion: Interview with Patricia Gussin
Can
you tell us anything about your current writing projects?
My
next book of fiction will be a thriller, And Then There Was One. Two of three identical triplets simply disappear from a shopping mall in
Auburn Hills, Michigan. The children's mother is a forensic child psychiatrist, and their father, a former professional baseball player and a coach
for the New York Yankees.
Just released, What's Next...For You?, co-written with my husband, Robert Gussin, is non-fiction. It tells the story of how we've transitioned
from medicine and medical research to becoming writers, vintners, and publishers. The subtitle for What's Next...For You? is "The Gussin
Guide to Big Changes, Big Decisions, & Big Fun" by Robert and Patricia Gussin
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