The author talks with VF about bibliomancy, the fall of Twitter, and grappling with grief in her new novel, ‘Death Valley.’
was driving through Baker, California—a sparsely populated Mojave Desert town best known as home to what was once the World’s Tallest Thermometer—when the first line of her new novel,“I was trying to escape this feeling of anticipatory grief,” the 44-year-old author says, over Zoom, of the pilgrimages she made that year between her hometown of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where her sister lives. “But you can’t escape a feeling, because the feeling’s inside you.
The last day I saw my father, he had finally made it out of the ICU and gotten to a rehab. He was still on a feeding tube, but he was off the ventilator. I had been flying back to the East Coast every couple of weeks to see him, but it was still COVID. We were wearing masks, and at one point, when he had pneumonia, we had to wear hazmat suits. That was the first time I was able to touch him and hold his hand. I remember touching his wrist and thinking, I could just sit here forever.
I think it comes from having a poetry background, in part. Also, there’s nothing like archetype and myth to convey a universality of feeling, to render it tangible. Obviously, all human beings have such different life experiences in terms of what happens, and yet there is this universality of human emotion. Our experiences might be different, but the realm of emotion remains the same.
Were there any pieces of writing or art that had a significant impact on you while you were working on this book?by Edward Abbey. I probably read it four times, and I stole a lot of nouns from that book too. This is another one of my little divination things. I used to do this as a poet, and it works with prose. I’ll make lists of nouns, just nouns that I find in texts, to give it a richer flavor.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Melissa Etheridge still ‘healing’ following son’s death from opioid addiction: ‘He’d want me happy’“Every night I do this, I heal a little bit more because I’m talking about how my son would want me happy and I can believe that every night,” the singer told Page Six.
Read more »
Melissa Rohlin Videos & StoriesWatch and read the most popular and latest videos and stories from Melissa Rohlin featuring Highlights, Analysis & Commentary
Read more »
CeeDee Lamb puts Cowboys up on PatriotsDak Prescott finds Lamb on a 20-yard fade for a touchdown.
Read more »
Valuable sculpture by Alabama artist found at Birmingham Goodwill for $39.99Woman finds valuable art piece in the same Birmingham Goodwill a $6000 wedding dress was found.
Read more »
Friends Art Imagines Every Character With Kids (& Who Joey Has Them With Is A Big Twist)Joey finds love with a surprising partner.
Read more »