Thanks to one of the finest book editors in the business, Alane Salierno Mason of the great independent publisher W.W. Norton, for inviting us to dinner Friday night. We knew we'd be in good company, and sure enough, alongside some fine booksellers and Norton's laid back president, Drake McFeely, one of the convention's most in-demand authors, Andre Dubus III (whose picture we borrowed, instead of took ourselves, from an excellent Boston Globe photographer), joined us too. We met Dubus through Larry Brown years ago in Oxford soon after his novel House of Sand and Fog was released. The book went on to become a best seller, an Oprah Book Club selection and an Oscar-nominated film. This success couldn't have happened to a nicer, more gregarious and down-to-earth guy.
Andre was one of this year's Book Expo hot tickets, arriving with a new novel, The Garden of Last Days, which is sure to be another best seller. We'd read an early copy and couldn't put it down. Andre has a way of roping you into the lives of his characters, even if they don't strike your first fancy. The new book is set in a Florida strip club and follows a dancer, her young daughter, an ejected patron, and a Muslim extremist. Tension builds as we witness how their beliefs lead to actions which will cause their worlds to collide. This sprawling story grew in Andre's imagination after reading a news report that the 9/11 hijackers had frequented Florida strip clubs.
We met for dinner at The Standard Hotel in downtown L.A. A line of hip kids waited outside the main lobby, awash in neon and sensual electronic music. A column in the middle of the room displayed cascading digital text with sayings like, "You are guileless in your dreams." Everyone was clamoring to get up to the rooftop bar, one of L.A.'s hottest night spots. Somehow it seemed like a fitting atmosphere to toast a book about Florida strip clubs.
During dinner, Andre talked a bit about working on this book. Someone teased him about a prestigious writing grant he had received and asked if he'd been paid in singles to supplement his research in strip clubs. Actually, he said, he'd spent thousands on lap dances, "just talking" to the dancers, trying to learn about their lives without exposing himself as a writer. Here's a hard-working writer, willing to go the extra mile for the sake of authenticity.
He admitted having deep reservations about the extremist angle of the book. He wrote for years, concentrating on the other characters, ignoring the Muslim terrorist until the novel threatened to cave in on him. He threw himself headlong into research, desperate not to make a mistake in his portrayal, reading everything he could get his hands on. His two favorite books on Muslim extremism were The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright (Pulitzer Prize winner for non-fiction) and a lesser known book by Fawaz A. Gerges called The Far Enemy.
Andre spoke too of his affection for the work and friendship of Larry Brown, the great Mississippi writer who passed away in 2004. They both toiled in blue collar jobs while teaching themselves to write and were able to discuss carpentry and pouring concrete alongside characters and books. He charmed everyone at the table, telling hilarious stories on himself and having genuine interest in his guests.
We're pleased to say that Andre will be visiting Greenwood on July 18, and we hope you'll all come out and meet him and hear him read from this terrific book, which we'll discuss in greater depth very soon.
