Today, I am delighted to play host for Lisa Burstein, whose novel Pretty Amy I reviewed recently. Lisa has written an interesting piece on the books that helped inspire Pretty Amy - and as a Literature major with a penchant for "story," I find this super cool. But I'll let you read it for yourself...
Pretty Amy started as my thesis for my Masters of Fine Arts
in Fiction, so well, I had to read some books along with it to inspire
and inform my writing. These could be chosen based on subject and also
writing style. Below are the some of books that helped inspire Pretty
Amy and a few of them are still some
of my all time favorites.
Cruddy by Lynda Barry: Roberta
Rohbeson begins her book in
1971, in what starts out as a drug-fueled teenage rant that gradually
fades into the story of two cross-country trips she made with her father
five years earlier -- a story she has kept to herself since she was
found wandering the desert covered with blood.
Youth in Revolt by C.D Payne: The hilarious, take-no-prisoners novel about a cynical, sex-obsessed teenager's pining love for an intelligent girl.
Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov: Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel,
which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive,
devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores
Haze.
The Bell Jar by
Sylvia Plath: Chronicles the nervous breakdown of Esther Greenwood:
brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, successful, but slowly going
under, and maybe for the last time.
Portnoy's Complaint by Phillip Roth: Roth's
masterpiece takes place on the couch of a psychoanalyst, an appropriate
jumping-off place for an insanely comical novel about the Jewish
American experience.
The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll: The original
classic story about growing up with drugs and sex and about learning to survive on the streets of New York.
Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel: A
harrowing story of breakdowns, suicide attempts, drug therapy, and an
eventual journey back to living, this poignant and often hilarious book
gives voice to the high incidence of depression among America's youth.
You can see there
is a the words hilarious, comical. cynical up there, but also books
that deal with deep, tough issues. That is Pretty Amy and I hope I did
these authors proud.
If you want to learn more about Lisa, and Pretty Amy, check out the links below:
twitter: http://twitter.com/#%21/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/
twitter: http://twitter.com/#%21/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/
I really enjoyed Pretty Amy -- I was expecting a "Crazy Antics At The Prom" book and instead it was an insightful, heartbreaking, hilarious story about the consequences of going along with a friend's really bad idea. I'm looking forward to the companion books!
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