|
BIO
Cassandra King is a native of Alabama, where she formerly taught English and creative writing classes. She has published stories and essays in various quarterlies and anthologies, and her second novel, THE SUNDAY WIFE, was published to terrific reviews and acclaim. Cassandra currently resides in South Carolina with her husband, Pat Conroy, and she belongs to a real-life Same Sweet Girls group, which reunites every year.
AUTHOR TALK
 March 9, 2007
Cassandra King is the bestselling author of MAKING WAVES, THE SUNDAY WIFE and THE SAME SWEET GIRLS. In this interview, King describes the real-life events that inspired her to write her fourth novel, QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS, and elaborates on its message about love and loss. She also discusses the recurring themes found in all of her work and shares her thoughts on the importance of finding humor in the most dire situations.
Question: Are there parts of this book that you drew from your life experience?
Cassandra King: Almost everything in the book I drew from personal experiences, which has been the case with my other fictional works. QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS came about this way, too. As I was revising my last book, my sister's twenty-year marriage was falling apart. My own divorce, years earlier, had been bad enough, but witnessing my sister's grief and being able to offer little comfort was a different kind of agony for me. At a signing in Atlanta several months later, serendipity intervened, and the idea for a book was born. I met a woman who conducted divorce recovery retreats, and I not only signed my sister up, I accompanied her in order to do research. Watching the women at the retreat bond with each other, and make the first steps toward recovery, moved me beyond words --- or so I thought, until I began working on QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS.
Q: What ties each of your books together despite the obvious Southern settings? Are there certain topics, themes, ethics, etc. that you tend to address, consciously or not, in each novel?
CK: This is my fourth novel, so recurring themes are becoming more obvious, to the point that I found myself deliberating avoiding them when writing this book. For example, all three of my previous books have dealt with the redemptive quality of art, so I wouldn't allow myself to have an artist, musician, or writer in this one. But another prevalent theme of mine, the redemptive value of friendship, is present in this book. As for topics, all of my principal characters come to crossroads in their lives and face difficult and life-changing decisions. Also, the stories tend to be set in small towns, where everyone's life is more open to scrutiny. It's been pointed out to me that my books deal with the search for beauty and meaning in life, which isn't conscious on my part; I think this is what life is ultimately about for all of us.
Q: How were you able to go into such detail regarding birds in this book? Do the birds serve as particular metaphors?
CK: I'm an amateur birder and have a lot of material on birds, as well as several pairs of binoculars, notes, birdfeeding paraphernalia, and so forth. Bird-watching is one of the greatest joys of my life. In QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS, the birds at the retreat site worked nicely as a metaphor for the wounded participants who came seeking healing and the wings to fly again.
Q: Even though this book features a divorce therapist who deals with broken hearts on a daily basis, there are a lot of humorous scenes, as in your other books. Do you see humor as an essential part of a good story?
CK: Humor may not be necessary in a good story, but I believe it's absolutely essential to a good life. I gauge the seriousness of events in my personal life based on whether or not I can find any humor in them. If not, I know I'm in danger of allowing depression to take over. Obviously, we all experience tragedies that are far from funny, and I'm not suggesting we treat them otherwise. Even in the worst tragedy, however, humor can be cathartic and healing. I based a scene in QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS on something that occurred when my sister was at the lowest point in her divorce. She's a kindergarten teacher, and her staid and respectable teacher friends took a boat out on a lake near her ex-husband's house, where they mooned him. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about here.
Q: Do you see this book as a cautionary tale about love, marriage, and divorce, or not?
CK: No, I don't see the book as a cautionary tale, a 400-page treatise, or a how-to manual on surviving divorce. Instead, it is a story of love and passion, betrayal and heartbreak, loss and recovery. It deals with the ties that bind us to others, whether in family, friendship, courtship, or marriage. Mainly, I think the book is about the way that all of us struggle to make these crucial relationships work. In doing so, our hearts can, and often do, get broken. We can be disillusioned and hurt to the point where we ask ourselves if it's worth it, if loving others is worth the risk. And that's the core of the story. In QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS, each of my characters has been wounded by love, each in a different way; and each one has responded according to his or her willingness to take the risk. Ultimately, life is about loss and letting go --- not of the loss, but of the pain.
© Copyright 2007, Hyperion. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
INTERVIEW
September 27, 2002
Cassandra King's debut novel, THE SUNDAY WIFE, digs deeply into the delicate balance between marriage and individual identity. King shared some insight into her characters and her views on Southern life in a joint interview with Bookreporter.com's Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum and Bookreporter.com's president, Carol Fitzgerald.
BRC: The first person narrative of THE SUNDAY WIFE is both conversational and personal. Why did you choose to tell the story in the first person? Was it initially conceived this way? Do you feel it makes the story stronger?
CK: I am very fond of first person narrative because it allows me to get into the thought-stream of my character (somewhat like method acting does for actors, I guess). Yes, it was initially conceived that way, and yes, I think it makes the story stronger because it also allows the reader in on the character's thought process.
BRC: Were your characters based on any specific people? Do you know people like Dean, Augusta, Ben, Maddox and Celeste?
CK: Although composites, my characters are based on specific people. I once knew a psychic who looked like a plain, ordinary woman-next-door, so it was more fun to make Celeste look the part. I've known plenty of Augustas --- wild, zany, beautiful women whom I envied. Ben is based in many ways on my ex, who was a minister; Dean in some ways, on myself. Maddox? I began writing the book before I met my present husband, but Maddox has characteristics of both him and other good men I've known --- my grumpy but softhearted daddy, my sensitive and caring three sons, my sweet brothers-in-law, and many male friends who are very nice guys. (Although there are some abusive men in this story, I never intended it to be a male-basher.)
BRC: People have said that being Southern is a way of life, not just a reference to a geographic place. Do you agree with this?
CK: I definitely agree that being Southern is a mindset, a way of life, even a way of looking at life. Yes.
BRC: Do you feel that Southerners are more judgmental about people who do not conform to an ascribed way of behaving? Do you think a society with such "rules," often creates the kind of secrets, lies and hidden dreams that are so much a part of this book? There are as many stories hidden as those that are seen on the surface.
CK: I have lived in the South all of my life so it's difficult to say whether Southerners are more judgmental than others without a basis for comparison. It's possible that is true, however; certainly Southerners appear to be more judgmental than, say, folks living in Berkeley, California. I do think a society based on ascribed rules for living is going to foster more secret lives, yes.
BRC: Dean is an "outsider" who does not conform to the expectations placed upon her as a preacher's wife. She and Ben are so different that it is difficult to see what drew them together. Do you think there are a lot of couples who have marriages like Dean and Ben's where the wife is suffocating as she tries to please her husband? Do you think that couples often hit this crossroad?
CK: I worried about Ben and Dean's marriage, thinking they were indeed too different to have made it for twenty years, especially without children to hold them together. However, I began reflecting on other couples I know who are like Dean and Ben. Too often, women in our society are 'pleasers.' They are determined to make a marriage work, even if it's not working for them, even if they're in an unhappy situation. Too many of us suffer from low self-esteem, and let ourselves stay in an unhappy situation because we don't think we deserve better. I think Dean was that way. Her meeting with Augusta was the crossroads for her, but it probably would have come eventually, one way or the other.
BRC: What made you select the dulcimer as the instrument that Dean would play? Augusta and Maddox are the only two people who know what it is when it is introduced to the congregation. Did you do this to set the three of them apart from the rest of the characters?
CK: I'm glad you asked about the dulcimer, because there are several reasons for my use of it in the story. First of all, I selected it because I have one and have so little musical talent that I cringe playing it, but love it dearly. So, I used it because, in spite of my pathetic attempts to master it, at least I was familiar with it, unlike other instruments. I chose it because, like Dean, it's unique but not always appreciated as being so. And, it represents Dean's special talent, which she has put aside for church music, the organ and the piano. Her husband does not appreciate it in the same way he does not appreciate Dean. He's only interested in something that fosters his career.
BRC: Dean questions much of what happens in the church. She is clearly having a spiritual clash of conscience. How important do you believe it is to have a spiritual life?
CK: I think we all have spiritual lives whether we admit it or not, whether we consider ourselves religious or not, whether we consider ourselves in the least bit spiritual. I believe the 'soul' of each of us is the spiritual part of us.
BRC: As many of our readers may know, your husband is Pat Conroy. Does he read and comment on your work, and likewise do you do the same about his? If so, can you share any ways you have influenced each other's books?
CK: When I was teaching college composition classes, I emphasized the different writing/learning styles we all have. My particular style is not to have anyone read a manuscript until I've finished it and begun revision. Then, I welcome suggestions as to what works, what doesn't (I also have no problem ignoring those, either!). When rewriting a scene, I occasionally ask Pat to read over it, saying something like "do you think the tension between the characters works in this scene?" for example. He has no trouble reading it, saying "nope," or "yeah, works fine," then going back to the sports page. When I read his manuscript, I might offer some editing comments as I do for my students, such as "antecedent to this pronoun is hazy..." kind of thing, but never any major stuff. He says I'm a good editor with those sorts of suggestions because he doesn't notice grammatical things till later. Pat has influenced me more strongly because he's encouraged me to write from my personal experiences, something he wrote the book on, so to speak.
BRC: You have been compared to some very popular Southern writers. Whose work has influenced you, Southern or otherwise?
CK: No writer has influenced my writing as much as I'd like him/her to have! I'd die to write poetic imagery like Pat Conroy. I'd kill to create memorable characters like Tennessee Williams, to have the style of Truman Capote and the masterful plotting of Harper Lee. I'd love to be funny as lots and lots of folks writing today. I just discovered a writer named Beth Gutcheon who has the sharpest, most lifelike dialogue I've ever read. I could go on and on.
BRC: What have you heard from readers about THE SUNDAY WIFE?
CK: So many readers have identified with Dean Lynch, the Sunday wife. They've told me they too have lived a life ruled by the expectations of others and lived in fear of breaking out, becoming their own person.
BRC: What are you reading these days?
CK: I'm finally reading THE LOVELY BONES, which I'm enjoying very much. I just finished a wonderful book, THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE, SO FAR. I have a stack I'm dying to get to!
BRC: What's next for you?
CK: I'm writing THE SAME SWEET GIRLS, a novel about a group of women who went to college together and meet every year in Gulf Shores. They're middle-aged now but insist they're the same sweet girls they were in college. After that one, I want to write a book about a farmer's daughter who takes over her family farm when her father is no longer able to make a go of it.
© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
