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Peter Rock

Goodreads Author

Born

in Salt Lake City, Utah, The United States

Website

http://peterrockproject.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Short Stories, Young Adult

Member Since

March 2007

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Peter Rock was born and raised in Salt Lake City. His most recent novel is The Night Swimmers, which involves open water swimming, fatherhood, psychic photography and the use of isolation tanks as a means to inhabit the past. He is also the author of the novels SPELLS, Klickitat, The Shelter Cycle, My Abandonment, The Bewildered, The Ambidextrist, Carnival Wolves and This Is the Place, as well as a story collection, The Unsettling. Rock attended Deep Springs College, received a BA in English from Yale University, and held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University. He has taught fiction at the University of Pennsylvania, Yale, Deep Springs College, and in the MFA program at San Francisco State University. His stories and freelance ...more

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Peter Rock I found myself in a very uncanny moment, and I reacted to it.

This is actually a scene that is accounted for in the novel: Five or six years ago in…moreI found myself in a very uncanny moment, and I reacted to it.

This is actually a scene that is accounted for in the novel: Five or six years ago in Wisconsin, I was looking for something, both daughters in tow, and we went into the Red Cabin, an old 10 x 15 foot shack where I used to sleep. Once inside, I found myself surrounded by the artifacts of my life, twenty years before. An old bicycle, pieces of windsurfers, a Montana license plate from a favorite truck, but especially remnants of my attempts to be a writer. The old desk where I tried to write stories and, on the walls, personal but discouraging rejections from C. Michael Curtis at The Atlantic and Lois Rosenthal at Story, quotations from Camus (“It is only in order to shine sooner that that the author refuses to rewrite. Despicable. Begin again.”) and Hemingway, a photocopy of a picture of a handless blind boy reading Braille with his lips.

It was a pathetic tableau, an atmosphere of self-serious loneliness still lingering. I was fascinated and embarrassed at the same time. Also bewildered. I mean, there was no good evidence in those artifacts that my pursuits were anything but pretentious and delusional, that they might lead anywhere. And yet here I was, all this time later, having published books, being a kind of professor and—more surprisingly—having a family, these excellent daughters. It was uncomfortable to feel connected to that person, difficult to understand there being a continuity between him and me. I was standing there just staring at these pieces of my past in disbelief while my girls were shouting impatiently at me to do what they wanted me to do.

In my writing, I’ve come to understand “inspiration” as a reaction to something outside of me, something that I don’t understand but that fascinates me. (I tell my students, “If there’s something that you don’t know much about but that seems to be calling you, it’s because there’s something inside of you that is resonating with it—it’s your job to explore this connection.”) This goes back to my days as a museum security guard, where I passed time trying to make up stories for all the art works in my care. And then reacting, in books I’ve written, to a newspaper story of a father and daughter living in the wilderness, or the history and beliefs of an apocalyptic church in Montana.

This time the mysteries I was reacting to were once inside me, very close to me. So the questions of “What happened?” and “Why?” and “What was wrong with me?” all rose up. And I decided to look into that time, and the pieces of it that were available to me, and to see what possibilities would present themselves, and what I would do.

Because really the goal in all of this is to have something come out of me—in words—that I don’t expect, that surprises me.

I try not to start out with ideas or intentions.
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Average rating: 3.53 · 6,293 ratings · 1,188 reviews · 17 distinct works • Similar authors

	My Abandonment 3.59 avg rating — 5,026 ratings — published 2009 — 24 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Shelter Cycle 3.06 avg rating — 369 ratings — published 2013 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Klickitat 3.05 avg rating — 314 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Night Swimmers 3.60 avg rating — 162 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bewildered 3.34 avg rating — 98 ratings — published 2005 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Is the Place 3.42 avg rating — 60 ratings — published 1997 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Unsettling 3.69 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 2006 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Carnival Wolves 3.76 avg rating — 46 ratings — published 1998	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ambidextrist 3.30 avg rating — 57 ratings — published 2002 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Spells: A Novel Within Photographs 4.28 avg rating — 18 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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More about Diane Williams

Friends! A brief respite from my half-assed self-promotion; when I was writing a review of VICKY SWANKY IS A BEAUTY by Diane Williams, I remembered this tiny essay I wrote about a sentence of hers that has long bedeviled me:

http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/9325/the...

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Published on June 05, 2013 19:57

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Peter Rock is now friends with Catherine Habbie
Nov 06, 2019 09:50PM · like
Peter Rock wants to read Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 07, 2019 09:15AM · 7 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Rock rated a book it was amazing Women Talking by Miriam Toews	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Whoa this was a terrifying beauty. The background story itself is profoundly disturbing and fraught, but what is most impressive to me, here, is the narrative conception and control, the many voices and different dynamics, the way sympathies ebb and ...more
Jun 05, 2019 09:46PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Women Talking by Miriam Toews. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Women Talking by Miriam Toews <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Rock wants to read Tin Man by Sarah Winman	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 17, 2019 10:54AM · 3 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Tin Man by Sarah Winman. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Tin Man by Sarah Winman <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Rock rated a book it was amazing Proxies: Essays Near Knowing by Brian Blanchfield (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is such a brave book, and it's not afraid to be smart, either. Wow. I mean, read "On Owls" and then you're so in.
Apr 16, 2019 04:43PM · 2 likes · like · see review
Peter Rock rated a book it was amazing The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I loved writing this book! I hope it shows. For now I'll give it five stars, though that might change with time.
Apr 16, 2019 04:35PM · 17 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Rock rated a book it was amazing Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me by Adrienne Brodeur	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Loved it. Malabar, the mother, is the most complicated character I've experienced in quite some time. Her actions are so hard to accept, yet the writing itself demonstrates the love of her daughter, and this draws the reader in, too. This storytellin ...more
Apr 16, 2019 04:30PM · 13 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Rock rated a book it was amazing The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I loved writing this book! I hope it shows. For now I'll give it five stars, though that might change with time.
Apr 16, 2019 04:25PM · 17 likes · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Night Swimmers by Peter Rock <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Peter Rock rated a book it was amazing Carnival Wolves by Peter Rock (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 16, 2019 04:25PM · 3 likes · like
Peter Rock rated a book really liked it The Ambidextrist by Peter Rock (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 16, 2019 04:24PM · 2 likes · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ambidextrist by Peter Rock. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ambidextrist by Peter Rock <iframe id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Peter Rock

“It is important to always remember that at any time you think of it there are people being kept in buildings when they want to go outside.”
― Peter Rock, My Abandonment

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“Every problem I have comes from believing something to be true that is not true.”
― Peter Rock, My Abandonment

tags: problem-solving, problems

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“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will pass an invisible boundary. Don't forget this. Don't forget that thinking can get in the way. Forget the forgetting. We seek to forget ourselves, to be surprised and to do something without knowing how or why. The way of life is wonderful. It is by abandonment.”
― Peter Rock, My Abandonment

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The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2010-2011 Completed Tasks (do not delete any posts)	2589	993	Feb 28, 2011 09:05PM
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