Ask the Author: John Thorndike
Answered Questions (2)
John Thorndike
I want to go back to the eastern end of Long Island, as described by James Salter in his novel “Light Years.” The book is set in the 1960s and 70s, and the odd thing is that in fact I was there, in Sag Harbor and Amagansett and Sagaponack, for brief stays in all those years and more. Of course I could go back and visit now—but no, because that world is gone. It’s been overbuilt and swept away, as irretrievable as my own childhood. I want the simplicity that Salter describes in the marriage and family life of Viri and Nedra. Simple but crushing. I want beaches one could cruise at dawn on foot with not another human in sight. I want the quiet streets of Sag Harbor, the empty potato fields, the mists churned up by the ocean.
One quote from Salter: “During the days, though, she was utterly at peace. Her life was like a single, well-spent hour. Its secret was her lack of remorse, of self-pity. She felt herself purified. The days were cut from a quarry that would never be emptied.”
And in case you haven’t guessed, I’d like to be ten or twenty or thirty years old when I go back.
One quote from Salter: “During the days, though, she was utterly at peace. Her life was like a single, well-spent hour. Its secret was her lack of remorse, of self-pity. She felt herself purified. The days were cut from a quarry that would never be emptied.”
And in case you haven’t guessed, I’d like to be ten or twenty or thirty years old when I go back.
John Thorndike
When I started A Hundred Fires in Cuba I based the main character, Clare Miller, on my mother. I set out to tell Virginia Thorndike's story, though in a highly-fictionalized way, and she was much on my mind as I wrote the book. Over time, however, Clare changed. She became her own woman, interacting with other people, raising her daughter, struggling at times with the Cuban Revolution. In the end, she’s not my mother at all—and because of this I’ve now started another novel, one that will stay closer to my mother’s actual history.
I know, of course, what will happen. Much will be made up. Fiction and biography will merge, and this character, though she’ll bear my mother’s name, will also be partly invention. My goal, however: to stay as close as I can to the emotional truth of her life.
I know, of course, what will happen. Much will be made up. Fiction and biography will merge, and this character, though she’ll bear my mother’s name, will also be partly invention. My goal, however: to stay as close as I can to the emotional truth of her life.
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