“When you write about mental health, you want to start conversations [that are] helpful in the community,” says Matthew Quick (Silver Linings Playbook). “But where does your responsibility as a writer end?” The author, who returns to Malaprop’s on Saturday, June 4, was a teacher before his writing career took off. He parlayed both his classroom knowledge and feelings about the intense fan letters he received into YA novel Every Exquisite Thing. There, Nanette, Alex and Oliver befriend Booker, a recluse-turned-mentor and the author of the teens’ favorite book, The Bubblegum Reaper.
As the teens in Every Exquisite Thing seek answers to their problems (divorced parents, feeling isolated, uncertainty about the future) in Booker’s out-of-print novel, they become obsessed with the author himself. Plot points and characters serve as clues to the writer’s own life, though he has little interest in sharing his personal story. “Authors are not people who typically seek out fame — most authors are people who like to quietly work out things alone in a room,” says Quick. Adding to that conundrum, “the boundaries between reader and author are forever being blurred on social media.”
But Quick has his own list of books that made an impression when he was a teen. Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut and Invisible Man by Ellison were “books that make you look at society and question everything.” And as a kid who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian home, reading The Stranger, by existential writer Camus “felt revolutionary,” he says. “It was a moment when I saw that, the adults in my life, there were other people who opposed their thoughts.”
Every Exquisite Thing is likely to be that for some teens. Early reviewers on GoodReads have already been noting pithy quotes like, “Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you have to do it.’’
Read the full story at mountainx.com
WHO: Matthew Quick
WHERE: Malaprop’s, 55 Haywood St., malaprops.com
WHEN: Saturday, June 4, 7 p.m.
Before you comment
The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.