I.F.O.A. Day the Second

In which Zesty and Ragdoll enjoy an evening of delightful estrogenic readings.

Thursday Ragdoll attended a night of reading by four authors, namely Madeleine Thein, Claire Messud, Jane Hamilton and Janet Fitch. The evening was hosted by one of my favourite radio personalities, Catherine Belyea.

I have to admit that out of all the I.F.O.A. activities, the readings are the ones that I enjoy the most. I’m always interested in the excerpts the authors choose and their rationale for doing so. Many times, I haven’t read the books being read so I essentially glean their essence from the author’s excerpt choice.

Madeleine Thein was the first reader, choosing an excerpt from her book Certainty. The excerpt introduced the character of Matthew Lim and his reminiscence of being a child in Japanese occupied Malaysia towards the end of WWII. Thein’s novel was one of three in the evening’s readings that had war as a major thematic element. I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed this reading, there was a very structured, almost clinical quality to the writing that left me apathetic. Thein is talented, no doubt, but I didn’t really feel any compunction to care about her characters despite what was happening to them. That being said, I think I will still read this book. It is not usually the type of work I’m attracted to, and I will be interested to see if my initial impression of the novel is maintained.

Claire Messud was up next and read from her book The Emperor’s Children. It takes place in New York City and has “The War on Terror” as a backdrop as it explores the challenges of three main thirty something characters prior to and shortly after September 11, 2001. The first excerpt Ms. Messud read focused on a character by the name of Murray Thwaite. The author described him as “a prominent liberal journalist who if he was real, would be someone you would most certainly have heard of.” It was a brilliant and extremely humourous excerpt in which Murray is preparing to work on his intellectual masterpiece, the secrecy of which he guards with the ferocity of a Rottweiler in a junk yard, only to be interrupted by his daughter Marina who is currently staying with Murray and his wife. Rife with the internal explorations and motivations of the characters, it was a marvelous juxtaposition of what people are really thinking versus what they actually say. The second excerpt was similar in tone and the reading of both was complemented by Ms. Messud’s natural gifts as a performer. A modern day Dickens, another author known for the dramatic quality of his readings, she vividly brought her characters alive to hilarious affect.

The third novel to be featured was When Madeline Was Young by Jane Hamilton. Again employing “The War on Terror” theme, Ms. Hamilton chose an excerpt in which the East coast family of Mac Maciver goes to the down home Christian conservative funeral of his cousin Buddy’s 21 year old son, a soldier recently killed in Iraq. Having not seen his cousin in 30 years, the excerpt was balanced between Mac’s internal observations of the situation and the machinations of his uptight wife and neurotic daughters as they try to navigate their way through the funeral without offending anyone. There was one particularly funny "fish out of water" moment when the family are at the wake contemplating the potential consequences of choosing a cupcake with a cross on it versus one with the American flag. Based on this excerpt alone, I wouldn’t be surprised if the movie rights to this novel have already been snapped up.

The last reader of the night was Janet Fitch, who is most widely known for her debut novel White Oleander. It was chosen by Oprah for her book club and catapulted Fitch to instant star author status. I didn’t read the book, but I did enjoy the movie and I looked forward to this reading. Ms. Fitch read through several excerpts from the beginning of her new novel, Paint It Black, which takes place during the early 1980’s when the punk scene of Los Angeles was in full force. She introduced her central character, Josie Tyrell and the main event that kicks off the book, namely the suicide of Josie's boyfriend Michael and the shadow cast by his larger than life mother. I have to admit that initially I wasn’t drawn in, but by the end of Fitch’s reading I couldn’t wait to read this book. Based on what I know about Fitch’s work, this book focuses on several themes she likes to visit, namely southern California, powerful mother figures and disenfranchised female protagonists. For some reason, I felt very strongly about this novel, so much so that I bought it at the festival and had Ms. Fitch sign it. I noted that my name is spelled with “two l’s” and she laughed, saying that her daughter shares my name and says the same thing about the spelling. She seemed like a really nice down-to-earth person and I’m keeping her book as a talisman of sorts, a lucky charm to keep close by as I pursue my own writing.

Up next: A night with the Grand Dame of Canadian letters, Ms. Margaret Attwood. Don’t you dare call her Madge.