Friday night, January 27, 2006, was the strangest author reading I’ve ever attended. Kaye Gibbons was at St. Louis’ Left Bank Books to read from
The Life All Around Me by Ellen Foster, and almost 40 people (without staff) were there when she was introduced at 7:05 p.m. The book is a sequel to the acclaimed Ellen Foster, where the pitch-perfect, first person voice is often used as the ultimate “voice” example in creative writing classes around the nation.
Her opening statement was so immediately noteworthy that I went from casual observer to intrepid reporter. It went like this, “I’m real mean right now.”
I whipped out a pen.
“Menopause is not letting up, my home in Raleigh is on sale, the furnace downstairs is broken, and my kids need $20 for a football game tonight even though I made them fabulously wealthy before I left several weeks ago.”
Divorce, Stripping, Bald Spot
She’s a thin woman, glasses, average height with blonde streaking her brown hair and a slight Southern accent.
‘I still don’t know what they did with the money.’*
The order of the evening went something like this:
She opened the book, then…
“I’m likely to have hot flashes” and I dress in layers, “so if I start stripping, just throw money at me.” The audience laughs.
She continues: earlier in the day she had listened to another author on C-SPAN and he was tedious (when reading) because he seemed to think, “he was all that and a basket of chips.”
‘I had money because of the Oprah thing (for
Ellen Foster and
A Virtuous Woman), but then I got a divorce.” She holds up the book, “So I’m selling these at a discount out of the back of my car.” The audience laughed.
She is 45 and menopausal. “I’m going to be a hellacious ______ when this book tour ends (in April).” (Sorry, didn’t catch the noun.)
At some point she starts chit-chatting with an audience member in the front row who is offering commentary on her thoughts.
Her house sells March 6. “With all the things I have to fix I’m going to get 14 cents (out of it).”
She starts to read, then clutches the back of her head, where her hair was gathered. She starts to explain—there was some type of plane/scheduling problems that meant she had to wash her hair in the restroom sink at Washington’s National airport. When she stuck her wet hair beneath the hand dryer her hair got sucked up into it and so now it’s “pulled back to cover my bald spot.” The audience laughs, enthralled with every soul-baring anecdote.
The ReadingAt last she starts reading the Introduction in earnest. Her reading voice loses most of the accent. The character’s voice is so distinctive that you expect Gibbon’s to have a special reading voice for her. That just wasn’t the case. She read quick and clipped.
The Introduction is 14 year-old Ellen’s letter to the President of Harvard, explaining why she’s ready to attend despite her young age and difficult circumstances. It is only eight pages long, but Gibbon’s skips the back story (from the first novel) in the letter saying previous readers know it; and as for new readers: “You’ll be eaten alive by curiosity (and want to buy the first book).” More laughter.
By way of qualification, Ellen Foster refers to a couple noteworthy essays she wrote and Gibbons interjects that these were essay titles she actually wrote as a child that won some local/county prizes, but got bested at the state level (I believe) by Carol Layman(sp?), whom she acts bitter toward for the obvious audience response. She looks again at the book, then adds. ‘Every time I do that someone says (afterwards), “I’m Carol’s cousin. She’s paralyzed.”
She hustled through the rest of the Introduction, allowing the audience to chuckle at the appropriate spots, snapped the book shut, and asked for questions.
Q&A
In no particular order:
Q. What made you want to be a writer?A. “Being a reader. I didn’t plan on being a writer”
Q. Why a book now (almost 20 years later), about Ellen Foster?
A. ‘It never occurred to me to write another Ellen Foster book.’ When it did, “Boy howdy!”
She had to learn not to care about Ellen Foster to write the sequel. (During the signing, she mentioned the way she recaptured the voice was she ‘got away from the kids and got away from the laundry.’ Then ‘I reread Ellen Foster and it just came. I just started writing.’)
She’s pleased with her current publisher—Harcourt—and feels like she’ll be with them a while. For the first time since she started writing she doesn’t have to “please a man” (editor). She loves her new female editor (who also handled
Life of Pi), as previous editors changed words.
Q. What do you read now in both fiction and non-fiction?
A. She doesn’t read much fiction. “I get pissed at bad fiction—especially if I bought it.” Laughter.
The chatty audience member suggested using the library. Gibbons immediately does a riff on that being no different from Blockbuster, where her movies ride around “in my daughter’s car” so they’re always late. ‘I owe Blockbuster $178.’
She majored in American history so she reads lots of non-fiction. She especially wants another book from Robert
Caro, while also enjoying David
McCullough, David
Halberstam, and Arthur M.
Schlesinger.
She was quick to ask if there were any other questions, then ended it with: “Anybody with any soy just hand it right up.”
It was 7:28 p.m.
The Signing
She was unfailingly polite when she signed books. Each reader was told, “Thank you for coming” in her sweet, Southern drawl. She signed however many books each person brought.
Most of this was overheard from around the line:
- The book tour consists of about 10 days on the road, then a couple home before returning to the road, through April.
- Menopause was discussed (surprise!); she walked a lot during the day.
- She always answers students who write to her via her web site—although it may take a week.
- She recently signed 1,500 copies of the book at Ingram.
- The Rolling Stones were in town, so she lost several attendees. She didn’t blame them.
- She has another book out in October that she co-wrote because the original author, a friend, committed suicide, but wrote out (in detail) how she wanted KG to finish it. ‘It was an awful experience.’
It was mentioned at the start that there’s likely to be one more Ellen Foster book covering Ellen and Starletta reaching 80. If it’s written anytime soon I’m predicting there will be some great insights into menopause.
Exit Stage Right
Evidently she found out about her busted furnace three minutes before the reading—‘Never call home (right before a reading) as it’s always bad news.’—so, once all of the necessary books were signed, she rushed off to deal with the furnace man, as she told him to wait 60-90 minutes in her house until she called back.
I don’t feel cheated—I doubt anyone did—because she’s got to be the most interesting author on tour this decade. This wasn’t a reading, it was an event featuring a beseiged Southern politeness that was simultaneously bizarre and charming. Don’t miss it if she’s coming to a bookstore near you!
-Kent d Curry
* Please consider double quotes accurate and single quotes as near-accurate.
