Under Joyce Maynard's Influence
Last Wednesday The Lady Karen and I motored to La Jolla where author Joyce Maynard was giving a reading at a Warwick's book emporium. She is on tour to promote her novel entitled Under The Influence.
I bought two copies of the book because (a) I wanted The Lady Karen and I both to have one, and (b) that was the only way Warwick's would guarantee reserved seating. Good thing I did. The storefront bookstore was filled to capacity with maybe 150 souls in folding chairs, although a contingent of teenage boys sulked in the back row and left early on. Perhaps they'd been lashed into attending by their English teacher, or mistakenly thought the book was about bong hits and might contain some useful tips.
I haven't read the book yet. According to a review by John Wilkens in the November 27th edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "...the title means different things. The main character in the book. Helen, is a recovering alcoholic whose drinking ended her marriage and cost her custody of her 7-year-old son. She meets a wealthy couple who take her under their wing, exerting influence of a different kind that raises questions about the meaning of friendship."
Now then, I have a powerful aversion to chick lit and I'm against everything authors like Shirley MacLaine are for, but Joyce Maynard's work is neither chick lit nor festooned with New Age bliss ninny crystals in print. Her prose is economical, clear, and free of diabetes inducing sentiment.
See, I first read her stuff in the early 1970s when she was an 18-year-old Yale dropout whose initial literary effort was an opinion piece in the New York Times, entited Looking Back, -- An 18-year-old Looks Back At Life.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/maynard-mag.html
Her style was far beyond her years. It resonated with the authority of the inner voice my mind's ear hears when I read something, whether it's an essay by Montaigne or the Yellow Pages. I also heard Joyce Maynard's actual voice when she contributed to CBS Radio's "Spectrum" series when I was working for a CBS affiliate in Northern California.
Her Times essay evolved into a series of them in book form. She also began a correspondence with J.D. Salinger, which also evolved into a May-December relationship between a teenaged acolyte and a 53-year-old recluse of a master. I sometimes wonder if her Salinger connection was a boon or an albatross.
I didn't have the nerve to ask her that when she was autographing books following her talk at Warwick's. I imagine she's tired of being asked Salinger questions. Anyway her work is just dandy on its own. "Salinger? Salinger? She don' need no stinkin' Salinger."
-oOo-
At any rate, thanks for the piece, good as always, and keep sending. I look forward to every one. Be well – Zozo
Comments, critiques and hate mail may be addressed to tomatomike@aol.com.
Thank you, Tomato Mike. And thank you, Karen. I loved my trip to your beautiful city. -- Joyce
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Might have to get a copy of this book. If she does have a similar style to Salinger, she's got to be good I think. I haven't sat down to read a novel in quite a while, and the last one I read was a reread of To Kill a Mockingbird. Seems I don't make time, but perhaps when I am unable to even amble around I'll do that, though I imagine myself writing short stories and poetry a lot more often then, or writing that book about my life I keep saying I will. I've thought of the way I'd lay it out, and of clever chapter headings, and how many people will rush to deny something they read in it...heh...maybe I ought to write it and just leave it for possible publication after I'm out of the reach of upset individuals, sitting on a cloud with Jesus surveying the fallout. Truth is sometimes kind of messy. Hm. Maybe I ought to just write the good stuff, though there may be some of that which would also bring denials amid the string of events I've hammered out in my life, and which stepped in my wiggly path.
Thank you, Tomato Mike. And thank you, Karen. I loved my trip to your beautiful city. -- Joyce
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Might have to get a copy of this book. If she does have a similar style to Salinger, she's got to be good I think. I haven't sat down to read a novel in quite a while, and the last one I read was a reread of To Kill a Mockingbird. Seems I don't make time, but perhaps when I am unable to even amble around I'll do that, though I imagine myself writing short stories and poetry a lot more often then, or writing that book about my life I keep saying I will. I've thought of the way I'd lay it out, and of clever chapter headings, and how many people will rush to deny something they read in it...heh...maybe I ought to write it and just leave it for possible publication after I'm out of the reach of upset individuals, sitting on a cloud with Jesus surveying the fallout. Truth is sometimes kind of messy. Hm. Maybe I ought to just write the good stuff, though there may be some of that which would also bring denials amid the string of events I've hammered out in my life, and which stepped in my wiggly path.
At any rate, thanks for the piece, good as always, and keep sending. I look forward to every one. Be well – Zozo
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I, too, will purchase the book. Thanks for the review and min-bio. Nice to see you back on the Times – Beaty
I, too, will purchase the book. Thanks for the review and min-bio. Nice to see you back on the Times – Beaty
