132,627
edits
Changes
From TheBookbag
Jump to navigationJump to searchThe Interview: Bookbag Talks To Melissa Leet (view source)
Revision as of 16:22, 29 August 2020
, 16:22, 29 August 2020no edit summary
* '''Bookbag: When you close your eyes and imagine your readers, who do you see?'''
Melissa Leet: When I close my eyes, I see most the expressions of my family and friends as they tell me what they liked (and disliked) about the novel. Eyes closed, I feel again the unexpectedness of having them share their interpretation of a passages passage from angles that I had never considered.
* '''BB: What inspired you to write ''Landslide''?'''
ML: I write to explore questions that are preoccupying me. In ''Landslide’s'' case, I consider the nature of resilience after catastrophic loss. By the time I started the novel, my mom and three close friends had died. My husband had also battled cancer. Before death (or hardship) came again -as it inevitably would given our aging ageing parents - I wanted to understand what death meant to me personally. While writing Landslide, we have lost two additional friends, and my husband’s entire nuclear family - father, mother and sister - all gone. While writing Landslide did not stop the pain of the subsequent passings, I believe it did help me face death with greater grace, presence and love.
* '''BB: When I finished reading ''Landslide'' I came to the conclusion that it wasn't only in your characters' lives, but in everyone's, that we have a series of ''before and after'' events which come to define us. What do you feel has defined your life?'''
ML: It is true that in ''Landslide'' Jill experiences unimaginable heartbreak - landslides altering Jill’s life again and again. While writing Jill’s reactions to such tragedy, I discovered Jill’s persistent optimism. Because of this optimism, I have never felt guilty about challenging Jill so aggressively. Instead, by moving Jill through the hardship, I have seen Jill discover her resilience. I have also seen Jill realize that sometimes death opens paths as wondrous as those found in life.
* '''BB: I loved the way that the story cross-cuts between Jill and Susie's childhoods and adult lives. How did you come to the conclusion that the story needed to be told in this way?'''
ML: I wrote about Jill’s childhood because I wanted to understand how early hardship reverberates throughout one’s life. I felt that alternating between Jill’s childhood and adult life helped to keep the plot dynamic.
