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Authors: Holly Chamberlin
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for a very special Q & A with
Holly Chamberlin.
*Do your reading habits change when you're in the process of writing a book?
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That's a good question. For most of the writing process I read as usual. But as I approach the final stages, say four to six weeks before my deadline, my reading declines sharply. Partly this is due to exhaustion and partly it is due to a need to keep my focus entirely on the project. The moment I complete the book and send the manuscript to my editor, I dive back into reading. When I completed this latest novel I read five books in one week. It was heaven.
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*So you are a voracious reader. Were you always so?
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Yes. I was the bespectacled kid who lived in the library. As a single adult, I slept with piles of books in my bed. Even today there's a good chance you'll find a book or two among the blankets and cats, though one of the books likely belongs to my husband. There was one exception to this habit of constant reading. When I was an editor in New York there were times when I became so overwhelmed with having to read thirty, forty, fifty manuscripts a week that I simply could not read for my own pleasure or edification. It was brutal.
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*In
The Family Beach House,
several of the characters quote favorite authors and books. Are the books and authors they mention drawn from your own reading?
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Mostly, yes. Though some of the books Ruth gives to Bobby I own but haven't yet read. My mother introduced me to the quote from Dame Julian, and then I found it mentioned in several Iris Murdoch novels, so I felt in good company. There are several versions of the Bible and a copy of the Book of Common Prayer on the shelves behind my desk, and
The Historian
is one of my favorite novels.
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*In this latest book, characters discuss their personal notions of home. For Tilda, home is primarily located in the people who share daily life under one roof. Hannah feels that the physical structure of a home holds meaning, as well. Until the end of the novel, Craig's feelings about home are tortured and in flux. For Adam, home is a piece of real estate to sell for profit. Home is variously a place, a state of mind, or a messy combination of both. What is home for you?
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That's a tough question. My family didn't own a home while I was growing up, so my thoughts and feelings about the notion of “home” are slightly skewed in the direction of the people who inhabit a place. When one is renting, one is borrowing. There can be a feeling of impermanence; what you can count on is a person, not four walls. Since I've owned houses, with my husband, I have discovered more of a fondness for the structure in which we share our lives. As a child I fantasized about living in a big old house, with lots of rooms and staircases and fireplaces. Now that I do live in such a place, I feel a bit like a dream has come trueâthough I never realized the amount of time and effort it takes to keep such a house clean!
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*In this book, as in your last,
One Week in December,
you deal with fairly large families. Is your own immediate family large?
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No. I have only one sibling, a brother, two years younger than I am. I'm quite satisfied with thisâhe's my dearest friendâbut I'm also interested in the dynamics of larger families. I know of one family with five adult children who all get along famously. I know of another family with four adult children who are pretty much estranged. And I know of a third family with five adult children who have divided into two antagonistic camps. All three families are similar in being well educated and generally successful. How did each family develop as it did? Family dynamics is an endlessly fascinating topic.
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*Speaking of family dynamics, the McQueens represent an interesting example of how some of us live to please our parents, of how some of us misinterpret our parents' expectations for us, and of how our parents' unconscious behavior toward us and each other canâoften negativelyâaffect generations. For example, Craig is mired in a self-destructive pattern of passive-aggressive behavior directed at Bill and Charlotte, who, he believes, expect him to fail. For Hannah, the fear of repeating her mother's indifferent style of parenting, in spite of the good example set by her father, almost costs her a marriage. Adam's close identification with his mother isolates him from his siblings and his father, and Tilda's idealization of Charlotte is, she comes to realize, naive.
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That's family for you! I don't believe that any family gets everything rightâpeople are fallibleâbut I believe that readers of the McQueens' story will come away with a sense of just how worth fighting for a family really is. Maybe not always, but in many, many cases. Ruth, who has never had a desire to marry or have children of her own, still chooses loyalty to her family and its ancestral home over a life of isolation or self-centeredness.
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*In past books, you explored the notion of forgiveness. In this book, the idea of tolerance seems important.
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I'm a bit uncomfortable with the term “tolerance,” which, it seems to me, can smack of self-importance, or imply a hierarchy, with the tolerated somehow ranked below the ones doing the tolerating. I'd rather suggest the idea of an embracing of all other human beings as no better and no worse than oneself. Equality for all people is a moral issue as well as a civil one. I have no tolerance for those who would deny others rights they themselves possess. And yes, I used the term “tolerance” here deliberately.
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*You've lived in Portland, Maine, since 2006. Where were you before that?
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We moved to Cape Neddick, Maine, just over the Ogunquit line, in 2003. Because I don't drive I found that life there was a little too restricted for me, so in 2006 we moved to Portland. It's a great city with fantastic food and a thriving arts scene and some beautiful neighborhoods of massive Victorian homes. We still have friends in the Ogunquit area, so we get down there with some frequency. The biggest thing we miss about life in a more rural setting is the proximity of the beach. We were in the habit of walking Ogunquit Beach every day, rain or shine. It was a great privilege. But in Portland I can wear heels, soâ¦
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*If you were offered an all-expenses-paid month-long vacation right at this moment, what location would you choose?
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Well, I would have to be able to bring Jack, Betty, and Cyrus, my cats. And, of course, my husband, Stephen! I'd find a big, old house on the west coast of Ireland and settle in. Maybe I'd take a weekend jaunt to Paris. And one to Edinburgh. But only if I could find a trustworthy cat sitter.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
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THE FAMILY BEACH HOUSE
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Holly Chamberlin
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ABOUT THIS GUIDE
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The suggested questions are included to enhance
your group's reading of Holly Chamberlin's
The Family Beach House
.
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Copyright © 2010 by Elise Smith
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ISBN: 978-0-7582-6092-5