Aoife answers “can anyone grasp the years it took place...”

Good Book Fairy asked this question about A Little Life:

can anyone grasp the years it took place between?

Aoife After listening to an interview online with the author, she commented briefly on this.
She said she deliberately didn't have a specific time included b…moreAfter listening to an interview online with the author, she commented briefly on this.
She said she deliberately didn't have a specific time included because she wanted the book to be about the characters, their friendships, their struggles, and she didn't want any defining period of time to distract from that.
She spoke about reading literature herself set in New York where an author would sometimes insert a sentence like 'and then 9/11 happened' and how she as an author found this to be lazy writing as the expectation is then placed upon the reader to fill in the blanks about how this event would affect the characters and their lives.
I think it was a brave move.
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Liz Hi Sandy, the opposite. I meant the book. Your criticism is entirely justified. What is pretentious is the author saying she "didn't want any defining ...more
May 20, 2016 10:06PM · flag

Jc I had no issues with the deliberately vague time period. Didn't detract from novel at all. ...more
Jul 13, 2016 03:56PM · flag

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