Book Notes - Emily Perkins "The Forrests"

August 16, 2012 - large hearted boy

Book Notes - Emily Perkins "The Forrests"

In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.

In her novel The Forrests, Emily Perkins vividly shares the life of a New Zealand woman from birth to death, a masterful and intricate depiction of an ordinary life.
The Independent wrote of the book:
"Most poignantly, and entertainingly, Perkins' knowing eye and unerring hand showcase the way that familial dysfunctions are often writ large at family functions: Dorothy's engagement meal at a Chinese restaurant, where the in-laws are meeting for the first, time distils its relentless march of discomforts perfectly; the farcical elements of a dropped tray and unfortunate allergic reaction jarring beautifully with the spontaneous moment of a secret love publicly revealed. Like the rest of the novel, it is funny, painful and utterly mesmerising."

In her own words, here is Emily Perkins's Book Notes music playlist for her novel, The Forrests:

I fell in love with a bunch of music while I was writing this book – some I'd listened to long ago and some that was new to me – maybe all part of the same submerged mid-life crisis that flowed under the novel (it is hard to describe what this book is about – 'a woman in time'? oh god no but that's pretty much it). You can read The Forrests as a family story, about all the different phases in family life and what happens to the characters, but also I wrote it as a story about time and how it changes us or not – both the great sweep of a life and the sensations of intensely felt moments. I hope it opens up to the things that make ordinary living extraordinary.
So as part of my 'I'm 40 now what the fuck?' thing, and the reading I was doing about Time and Fiction and whatnot I was also dragging my husband along to shows at the Kings Arms, where we would stand not too close to the stage and not too close to the bar and lose ourselves for a few blissful hours. Things had changed since I last went to a lot of live music, mostly that no one now can smoke indoors so in order to get that cloudy atmosphere they puff dry ice or a diffuser across from backstage. It's actually a lot nicer, if somehow less authentic.
Anyway, my memories of writing The Forrests are a bit like memories of childbirth in that I only remember the fun stuff, the surprises and jokes and exhilarating moments when I stumbled onto something that felt new, and I've forgotten the tears and sweating and I-can't-do-this and the get-it-out-of-me and I-hate-you. A big part of the pleasure was all that great music I got to listen to.

Read Emily's list and notes at largehearted boy music blog