I first met Arin Greenwood at a blogger meetup on Saipan in 2006. Those blogger meetups werent really meetups in the sense that we would hold actual meetings with agendas and things like that, a bunch of us would just go to Java Joes and nibble on chicken nuggets while we IMed each other and avoided making eye contact.
Arin just published her first novel, Tropical Depression, which is loosely based on her five years practicing law in the Northern Mariana Islands. I was recently able to catch up with Arin over a cup of coffee and a blueberry scone in Washington, DC. After comparing notes on life after Saipan, we had the chance to talk about her new book.
Angelo OConnor Villagomez: Can I just start by saying that I really like this book? I read it from cover to cover on a flight from Detroit to Tokyo. I loved it so much, in fact, that after a small nap I opened the book back up and read it again.
Arin Greenwood: Thats about the nicest compliment I could question for " thank you! And I must say: I like a captive audience.
AOV: No, really. Ninas tale just sucked me in. I dont know if youll appreciate this comparison, but I havent loved a book this much since I read the first Harry Potter book about 11 years ago.
AG: Now THAT is the nicest compliment I could question for!
AOV: So lets talk about the book. The main character, Nina, is a twenty-something neurotic non-practicing Jewish vegetarian from the East Coast. How did you come up with this character?
AG: It was a real stretch, despite that I was in fact a twenty-something neurotic non-practicing Jewish vegetarian from the East Coast when I started writing the book. By the time I finished writing it I was well into my thirties, though, and was a small less neurotic. Only a small though.
AOV: So would you be offended if I say that I wanted to break up with Nina about half way through the second chapter?
AG: No way. She was a mess. Youd have been completely right to break up with her.
AOV: One of the things about this book is that its not quite memoir, not quite fully fiction. What made you choose to take this middle ground?
AG: I didnt want to write a memoir because, thankfully, my own life isnt fascinating enough to turn into a memoir. Also, I wanted to be able to make things up. As for why it isnt entirely fiction " it really is mostly fiction. I mean, Im not imaginative enough to write sci-fi or historical fiction, or to write about people or places that Ive got no experience with whatsoever, so my characters and tales will always have some element of real life in them. But the book really is fiction!
The book went through about a hundred drafts and revisions, and early versions were much more autobiographical and non-fictional than how the final book turned out. I had this thought that I wanted to write a book that was like life " the word I used to describe what I was trying to do, in the early drafts, was œdrifty. I wanted people to drift in and out in the book, the way they do in life.
But I was working with an agent who convinced me " correctly, I reckon " that all the characters got confusing and a small bit dull, and that the book needed more of a clear narrative arc. So by the time the agent thought Tropical Depression was ready to go out to possible publishers, it had been turned into something that " while still clearly rooted in real life " was most certainly fiction.
AOV: So how much of the book is based in experience and how much is fictionalized memoir? I mean, is the nudist lawyer Nina meets on her first night on Miramar in the Bitter Haole (Miramars most well loved watering hole for ex-pats) a metaphor for something else, or are there really pot-bellied naked haoles running around that I dont know about?
AG: I never met a nudist in Saipan. Except at the strip clubs, and Im not sure that counts. For sure I never met a nudist lawyer, sadly. Sadly?
As for the Bitter Haole " mostly that was just supposed to be amusing.
AOV: Lets discuss the characters some more. Most of the characters seem like caricatures, with an Alice in Wonderland quality to them. Is everyone on Miramar mad?
AG: No comment. You know, on a side note, I now live with a man, who Im marrying soon, who doesnt believe in the concept of madness. He thinks the mind is a metaphor and therefore cant be œsick the way that a physical body part could be sick. My mother, who has an MA in psychology, is just thrilled at his analysis, as you can imagine.
AOV: The character I liked the most was Captain Joe. To me he was the only voice of sanity in the entire book. Whats the tale with him?
AG: I like that character. He was based on a few people Ive known, in different places. One was a guy I knew in Florida " and, really, the apartment building where Nina lives in Tropical Depression, was based on an apartment building I lived in Naples, Florida, when my college boyfriend and I chose to drop out of school for a while and live at the beach for a while. It was this fantastic run-down ancient building, a few blocks from a pier where people would go fishing and pelicans would glide around to try to get the fish off the lines, where working people would live nine months of the year, then would get kicked out during the high season. There were lots of characters who lived in the building, including a boat captain I got to know, who I always thought would make a wonderful character.
Captain Joe is also based on some people I met in Micronesia " some really incredible people I met in Guam and Saipan when I was working on a tale about Carolinian star navigators for ANAs inflight magazine. Hes also a small bit based on another person I met in Saipan, who was in fact searching for a rare starfish hed spotted once and then had never seen again.
So that character, like nearly all the characters, is a composite character " he shares qualities with some real people, and has a lot of made up stuff about him, and its mixed together into a fictional, hopefully lovable, character.
AOV: Ninas fashion sense (or lack thereof) plays a huge role in the tale. You go to fantastic lengths to describe just about every single article of clothing Nina wears during her year in Miramar. Were you channeling Memoirs of a Geisha for goth vegetarians?
AG: Ha. No. So for Nina, I reckon she feels like her clothes are supposed to be her outward manifestation of who she really is. But she obviously has terrible fashion sense. So the clothes, in a way, are supposed to show that while she considers herself to be so self-aware, shes really showing in full show what a mess she is on the inside. I reckon shes also trying to use clothes to make herself feel comfortable in her own skin " they are supposed to be her skin, in a way. But of course by dressing in this silly way she makes herself uncomfortable, in the end, because shes not dressed appropriately for her situation. Shes wearing silly dresses to serious jobs, for example " but in a way I reckon shes trying to make herself uncomfortable in these situations. Like, she could just go out and buy herself a suit and wear a suit to work, right? But instead she purposely doesnt wear a suit " she wants the world to know that she doesnt belong in any of the worlds where shes found herself. But shes also looking for a world where she can be herself, and have that be all right. See " really, the whole clothes thing is very deep!
AOV: You were a practicing attorney on Saipan for five years. How closely do Miramars courts resemble real life?
AG: Well, some of the more surreal parts of the Tropical Depression courts really are right to life. There really was an exorcism at the court, after a law clerk died there, for example. The prosecutors really did complain that witch doctors would come to trials, and intimidate witnesses and jurors. There really was a case where an inmate escaped from jail, repeatedly, after the guards left his cell door open, and claimed he couldnt be sent back because he was too claustrophobic. I wish I could have made this stuff up, but Im just not that creative.
And, just being serious for a second, I reckon that there really is an issue in Saipan " as in all small communities " about how it is possible for justice, which presumes objectivity, to be meted out when everyone knows everyone. I really have thought about applying for a Fulbright or some other fancy grant to study juries and justice in small communities. One day perhaps Ill go beyond just thinking about it?
But I never heard judges or justices use personal connections with people as a reason to choose a case one way or another " that part of it is made up. And while there was quite a lot of talk about Spam at the court, no one ever really tricked me into eating it; I was far, far too clever to fall for that. There was a lot of cha-cha at the court, though " that part is right.
AOV: And now for my last question: So who gets to play Nina in the movie?
AG: Is this the part where I get to be wildly optimistic? My mom thinks that Natalie Portman should play Nina. I reckon my fiancé would like it if Mila Kunis played Nina. I reckon either of them would make an brilliant choice for the role. Who do you reckon should play Nina?
AOV: Well, after watching Black Swan I have to admit Id go see just about any movie with those two. But, they might not be kooky enough. How about space cowboy turned robot assassin turned crime-fighting blogger Summer Glau? Christina Ricci would also be fantastic, too. Shes does weirdo like nobody else.
Angelo OConnor Villagomez is a regular contributor for the Saipan Tribune. You can keep up with him on The Saipan Blog, Saipans most well loved blog since ever since. Tropical Depression is available in paperback and for Kindle on Amazon.com.
Article source: http://www.taotaotasi.com/2011/01/arin-talks-about-her-new-book-silly.html
No Tag
Halo Sobat, Nama Saya Sofyan Syah, Memulai Dunia Blogging Sejak Nov 2011, Meskipun Masih Baru terjun di Dunia Blogging, Saya tidak patah semangat Untuk menjadi Yang terbaik dari yang Terbaik, karena saya yakin, Tidak ada hal yang tidak Mungkin.Buat saya Blogging Is My Life.Senang rasanya jika sobat sudah Berkunjung di blog ini.
Komentar :
Post a Comment