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Ask the Author: Ayelet Waldman

“Hey folks! I'm here and available to answer questions. Hoping to log on every few days. ” Ayelet Waldman

Answered Questions (11)

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What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Ayelet Waldman Don't worry about being a writer. Just do the work!
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What’s the best thing about being a writer?
Ayelet Waldman Working in my pjs! Oh, yeah, and doing something I love. There's that, too.
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How do you deal with writer’s block?
Ayelet Waldman I don't believe in writer's block. You can always write something BAD. Just sit down and focus on writing something shitty. That's what rewriting is for.
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Hi This is not so much a question but a remark. After reading "Love and Treasure" you have become my new favourite author. I recently purchased "Red Hook Road" and have been working my way through the Mommy Track Murders. You are a real talent. Thank you. Nancy Schuchman Smith
Ayelet Waldman Nancy, I can't believe I never checked my messages! This made me so happy! You've turned a rainy gloomy day into sunshine!
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Just finished your book Love and Treasure. Loved it and will be buying it for everyone for Christmas! Just wondered whether Gizelle was real or was based on a real person? Have read about the Lilliputs in Auschwitz and wondered if there was a connection? I.e Giants the Dwarves of Auschwitz. Now am off to look at your backlist!
Ayelet Waldman I'm such a loser and didn't even check these for a YEAR. Gisela
is entirely made up, but I did steal her bio from the Lilliputs!
Ayelet
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I just finished the book and absolutely loved it. I have a question about Nina and Gizella. In his Freudian fog, Dr. Zobel hypothesized that Nina had sexual feelings for Gizella. Was there a romantic element to their relationship at all or was it simply an intimate friendship? Either way, their friendship was one of my favorite parts of the novel.
Ayelet Waldman Well, you have as much a right to decide as I do, but in my mind they love each other but are not lovers. Their friendship is profound and deep the way many women's friendships are -- the most meaningful relationship in either of their lives -- but it isn't sexual.
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What questions or thoughts do you want the reader to keep in mind/take-away from your story? How should "Love & Treasure" be read? (P.S. You're a great writer and person. I love following you!)
Ayelet Waldman Gosh. I have no idea. I mean...it should be read however you enjoy reading books. Are you a gobbler-upper? Then gobble it up. Are you a lingerer-over-every-line? Then linger. I think the writer has to let go once the book is published and let the reader make of the book what he or she will. Our job is done. The rest is up to you!
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Just devoured Love and Treasure after hearing your phenomenal book talk at Adat Shalom a few weeks back. The story will stay with me for a long time -- the best kind of stories always do. Two questions: how did Nina come to sit for the picture? And what do you envision happened to Ilona?
Ayelet Waldman I imagine Nina and the young artist having a torrid love affair, one that even made her consider leaving her husband, but then the war intervened and turned everything to ash.

As for Ilona? I think she went to Israel and spent her life in silence. Never telling her story. I hope she married. I hope she had children. And I hope she had a grandchild who asked her what happened in the war, and that was the catalyst for her unburdening. Wouldn't that be lovely to imagine?
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Is there a physical, extant version of the necklace? Is it too cheesy to hope that I could get my hands on one? Or is merchandising/licensed product just not part of publishing?
Ayelet Waldman Wouldn't that be cool? Alas, it doesn't exist. I wonder if I could have one designed. Wouldn't that be cool?
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Several characters in Love & Treasure believe themselves to have fallen in love. As a reader, I enjoyed the freedom to imagine how those relationships would have fared in future or under different circumstances. As the author, did you have very clear views on all of the relationships you described? And how sympathetic did you feel towards Dr Zobel in his struggle to retain professional distance?
Ayelet Waldman I love Dr. Zobel, even in his narcissistic self-delusion. Maybe especially in his narcissistic self-delusion.

I suppose I sort of have an idea how the various love stories resolved themselves. But I enjoy the ambiguity. I like imagining different endings. Or at least different possibilities. What do YOU think happened?
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Love and Treasure is the first historical novel I've read by you, and I loved to attention to details. How much research did you do while writing the book?
Ayelet Waldman Vast amounts. Research is the fun part. You can tell yourself you're working, without having to put words on the page. I traveled to Budapest, Salzburg and Dachau. I had research assistants in Budapest and Salzburg pulling documents and searching through archives. I read tons of nonfiction books and articles, and I read novels written during the period. Eventually I had to force myself to stop researching and just write.
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