A conversation with author Elinor Lipman: The light touch is hard to come by

By Suzanne Wilson
Staff Writer

Published on November 13, 2009

Northampton novelist Elinor Lipman is often compared to Jane Austen, the 18th-century English novelist whose keen eye, sense of irony and sharp social commentary still draw legions of readers to her books.

"I don't know why anybody would not love that," said Lipman, during a late August interview over coffee at the Yellow Sofa in Northampton.

Lipman's most recent novel, "The Family Man," is the story of Henry Archer, a divorced gay man who reconnects with his long-lost stepdaughter, Thalia. The book opens with Henry's phone call to Denise, his ex-wife and Thalia's mother; Thalia's father had been Denise's first husband. Then there was Henry, who had still been in the closet at the time. Now, Denise Krouch - the grasping, grating Denise - has just lost the husband she'd dumped Henry for years earlier.

Henry and Thalia's story of forging a new, loving bond is the backdrop for other goings-on. Thalia, an aspiring actress, is hired by a public relations firm to pretend to be the girlfriend of a horror movie actor whose career badly needs a boost from the tabloids. Henry, meanwhile, falls in love with Todd, who sells table settings at a Manhattan store. And Denise, after adopting a greyhound, is on the prowl for a new husband.

Lipman's fans, and they are many, praise her lively prose, likeable characters and clever plots.

"Just because something is 'light' doesn't mean it's not masterful," wrote Carolyn See in the Washington Post. "Lipman's use of dialogue, for instance, is exquisite. ... Lipman mesmerized me. She hypnotized me. I admit it freely: I fell victim to the Elinor Lipman Effect."

Lipman, 58, is the author of eight previous novels, including "The Way Men Act," "Isabel's Bed," "The Inn at Lake Devine," "The Dearly Departed" and "The Pursuit of Alice Thrift." Her second book, "Then She Found Me," was made into a 2007 movie starring Helen Hunt, who also directed the film. She has won the Paterson Fiction Prize, the New England Book Award for Fiction, and has taught writing at Smith College in Northampton.

Though widely known for her novels, Lipman has also penned op-ed columns for the Boston Globe and written columns for the Globe Magazine. She describes herself as a fervent supporter of President Obama - "I could not be a bigger fan," she said - and credits "my old socialist father" with passing his political passions on to her.

What follows are edited, condensed excerpts from a conversation with Lipman that touched on "The Family Man" and detoured into other areas as well.

Q: Henry is your first main character who's gay. Where did the idea for him come from?

A: When I started the book, Henry was a friend and client of a woman who did classified ads at the Village Voice. Henry called up looking for someone to read to him.

I got to the beginning of Chapter 5 and suddenly I wrote a sentence - "Henry Archer did not attend his ex-wife's husband's funeral, but he did send a note of condolence" - and that turned out to be the new beginning of the novel.

Q: But how did you know that after five chapters you needed a new start?

A: I was having lunch with [author] Anita Shreve, who is a very close friend, and I said, 'I'm stuck. I have 54 pages and I feel it's just feet in quicksand.' I told her about Henry and that sentence I'd written and she said, 'that's the beginning of the novel." After that, well, I won't say it was smooth sailing, because it never is. But Henry did become the protagonist.

Q: Tell me about that not-so-smooth sailing.

A: I'm in that phase right now - though if I have students, I wouldn't ever indulge that notion of getting stuck and having writer's block. I'd give them tricks of the writing trade to get out of it. For a while when I was writing "My Latest Grievance," I was tying myself to a chair - I'd read that John Cheever did that - so I tried it, not with rope, but with a nice shawl. It was that little reminder to stay seated, not to jump up and go put the clothes in the dryer. I aim for 500 words a day - ideally.

Q: Do you rewrite and edit yourself as you go?

A: Oh, nothing but. I send each chapter to two very dear friends. I don't want to waste their time so I don't send them unpolished stuff. What works best for me is to revise and rewrite as I go along.

Q: Where did the idea for Thalia and her 'job' as a fake girlfriend for the horror film actor come from?

A: I knew there was going to be a daughter or stepdaughter. One night when I was cooking dinner, I was thinking about Katie Holmes, who married Tom Cruise. I was thinking about what her parents might have thought about it and what they might be going through. I mentioned that to my agent who said, 'be verrrry careful. The Church of Scientology has very big pockets.' I said no, no, this will be about a guy who needs a girlfriend and I'm sure that happens out there in the world of publicity.

Q: And Denise. I guess everyone knows someone like Denise.

A: I got an email from someone who said, 'I loved every character, even Denise.' She was meant to be comic relief and a pain in the ass.

When my editor and I met for breakfast in New York to talk about the manuscript, she said she had only one request. 'I would just like it if you could bring Denise back for a grace not at the end of the book.' So I wrote that chapter at the end, 'A Little Mea Culpa.' I think the book was so much better for that. Denise was annoying but she meant well.

Q: Do you find that some people assume that writing must be fun and easy for you since your books have a light tone?

A: Yes, sure - though my fellow writers don't. There are a couple of quotes that you can have up your sleeve for that, about how easy reading takes hard writing. People think I must be sitting here smiling as I go along, but writing's a struggle.

Q: You said you finished "The Family Man" in 2007. I'm wondering if the later economic collapse and recession is affecting the lives of the characters you're writing about now. In other words, will the fears, the precarious nature of many people's lives now seep in to your writing?

A: Definitely, it's already seeping in big time. People are brought together because of reversals.

Q: Is your writing process the same for fiction and non-fiction?

A: I just a wrote a 500-word short story for a Jewish Web site that asked for a very, very short short story on the theme of "Jews on the beach." It reminded me of the feeling of writing an op-ed piece of about that length.

In terms of crafting, I revise every word, every sentence - in either. In terms of the architecture of the piece or the thought I put into it, I feel as though it's the same. Of course, with an op-ed, I'm coming out as a writer from behind the curtain. I like it, but I don't know if I'd like to do that 52 weeks a year.

For the Globe, I was doing the op-eds in February and March of 2008, (during the presidential primaries,) so it was a fun time for that. I'm a big fan of MSNBC and a big fan of David Schuster, so when he was suspended for using one bad word on the air, I ranted about that.

Q: You're still following politics closely?

A: I still tape "Hardball" every night, and I watch Rachel Maddow when I can.

Q: Who are some of the writers who influenced you growing up?

A: My favorite Young Adult book was Jean Webster's "Daddy Long Legs." It holds up - I read it again 10 years ago. My father used to press Ring Lardner on me. I went through every O.Henry story. I was a big F. Scott Fitzgerald fan. In college, I went through a Somerset Maugham phase - I used to push "The Razor's Edge" on everybody.

Q: Do you ever get criticized for having most everything turn out OK in your books?

A: Here's my feeling about that, about injecting darker themes. I was a judge for the works of fiction for the National Book Award. And we went through cartons and cartons and cartons of books that were without one line of wit, books that took themselves very seriously. There's enough of that, the world doesn't need more dire straits. After 9/11, one editor wrote me, and said, 'I think of you as the literary Red Cross. I'm sending copies of "Isabel's Bed" to everyone I know.' And I thought, what higher compliment is there than that?

Q: What have you read over the past year or so that you've enjoyed?

A: I loved Steve Healy's "How I Became a Famous Novelist." I reviewed it and wrote that I may have read a funnier book in the last 20 years, but at the moment I'm hard-pressed to remember what it is. I liked Joyce Maynard's "Labor Day" and Sebastian Stuart's "The Hour Between," Anita Shreve's "A Change in Altitude," Philip Roth's "Indignation," and Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge," which won a Pulitizer Prize. I'd say my favorite book of the year was "The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order" by Joan Wickersham. Loved it, loved it.

Q: You said you love memoirs, so I guess you don't agree with those who say we've gone overboard in that department, that now everyone thinks his or her life is worthy of a book.

A: I do love them. But a good writer and editor will decide what will be between those hard covers. I appreciate the editorial decision-making. I don't like ones that are whiny - it can't just be, life is miserable and now I'm going to tell you about it. It has to have value added.

Q: What's next on your nightstand?

A: The new memoir by Frank Bruni, "Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater." I love his writing. Can't wait.

For more information about Elinor Lipman, go to www.elinorlipman.com.

Suzanne Wilson can be reached at swilson@gazettenet.com.