-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
How to pronounce Kiran Desai: ki-run de-sigh (ki rhymes with the first two letters of king)
Kiran Desai (winner of the 2006 Booker Prize for The Inheritance of Loss) talks about her first novel, Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard.
What was your process for writing this book--did you start with
the characters or with the plot?
I started with a very small idea, really. I'd read a story in the
Times of India and heard about a character from many people, a man who
was a very famous hermit in India who really did climb up a tree, who lived in a
tree for many, many years, until he died. He died last year, I believe. So I
began to wonder what it was about someone like this who would do something as
extreme as to spend his life in a tree. So it started really with that
character, and then the story built up around it.
When I started writing it I had no idea what the story would be; I had no idea
of the plot. It sort of gathered momentum and drew me along. It was an
incredibly messy process and I don't know if it was the smartest way to go about
it because this was my first book, so I had to teach myself how to write as I
was writing it, and I don't know if I went about it the right way but I
certainly had a lot of fun. It was very messy though--I had to throw out many
pages--about half the book I think I ended up editing. Once I was aware of all
the different ways to go, all the plot turns to take.
So how did you know when you were done, when the story was complete?
I think that's perhaps the hardest thing, to know when you've finished,
because it seems like you can always go on polishing and polishing and working
on it some more. But after a while I think I was so close to it that I couldn't
even see it anymore; it didn't make sense to continue on my own, and so I
finally showed it to my agent and wanted an editor to help me take it to the
next level. But, I also realized that after a point you can't go on perfecting
something and polishing it and making it better, because you lose something in
the process, the freshness of it, and I realized that even if it wasn't
completely perfect I had to leave it; it was enough--I couldn't work on it any
more. It's a balance; if you perfect one thing you lose something else, and
that's the stage where I think you have to know when to stop.
Which character or part was the most fun for you to write?
It was a fun book to write, certainly. I was so happy the entire time I was
writing it. I grew very fond of all the characters, perhaps Sampath and his
sister the most. The characters were what made me happy, what drew me to the
story in a way. What was difficult was the rest of it, balancing the complicated
plots and interweaving them; that was harder and less fun.
Some writers say that their characters continue to live in them after the
book is done--do you miss your characters now that you've finished writing about
them?
Yes, you know, you live with these characters for years and you live in the
settings--I lived in the little village that I created for so long that at first
I was bereft when the book was finished; I didn't know what to do. But now no,
now I have other ideas in my head; I've moved on. It's been over a year since I
last really looked at it.
Can you give a little background about your life and your education, how
you got to where you are today?
I was born in India, grew up in India, left when I was fourteen and spent a
year in England, and then I moved to the States and I have been studying here
ever since. I went to high school in Massachusetts and then undergraduate in
Vermont--at Bennington--and then to a writing program called Hollins, in
Virginia, where I really started writing this book. Then I went on to Columbia
but I took two years off to finish the book; I couldn't go to school and write
at the same time. I couldn't write a novel in the writing workshop environment.
Was your mother a direct influence on your writing?
I'm sure she did have a big influence, because all my life I've grown up
hearing her talk about writing and literature and books. It was wonderful to
have her around when I was writing this book, to talk to her through this whole
process. She was wonderful through the whole thing. It's a big risk to take,
spending years of your life doing something that you're not sure how it's going
to turn out, and she was very good through that whole time, not providing
critical support as much as emotional support. A very motherly role, really.
Who are some of your favorite writers, or some of your favorite works?
I read all different kinds of books, but I like Ichiguru's work a lot and
Kenzaburo Oe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Narayan. One of my favorite books is
Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo, which I read over and over again. I also read a
lot of poetry.
These days a lot of international writers are being published in the
United States and a lot of American writers are being published abroad--can you
comment on these developments in the publishing industry?
Yes, a lot of Indian writers are being published in this country, more than
ever before, which is very exciting for us, because it is a whole new world for
us to be part of. In England, of course, there's been much more of a tradition
of publishing Indian writers. It's interesting when you are writing in a country
where the publishing world is not as well-developed as it is in the west, and I
think it's changing now in India. Suddenly, publishing is growing much quicker;
they're publishing many more books than ever before and more people are buying
books than ever before, so it's a change over there as well. It used to be the
case that really you had to be published abroad in order to make a living as a
writer and to have access to this whole machine, this publishing machine of the
west--it's a big advantage I think for us in India who grew up speaking English.
It's very nice to have access to this of course, in terms of the publishing side
of things. But otherwise, in terms of the writing it's wonderful because it is
more exciting for writers and when more books are published from other countries
it's more exciting for the reader as well.
Are there American writers who have been influences on your work?
Yes, definitely. I love Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Flannery
O'Connor. I read a lot of American writers. The publishing world is growing
smaller, which is very nice.
Do you have any private rituals or special environments that you need to
create in order to write best?
Well, I carried this book around all over the place when I was writing it,
just took it with me everywhere--I was writing in India and in this country and
in Mexico and in different environments and different rooms everywhere. I had to
be quite adaptable, I think, to try and work wherever I was. But now I live with
all these roommates, a house full of people, people coming and going, and I find
it impossible to write and I'm becoming really neurotic where I have to just
shut myself in and try to get some work done.
I really like working in the kitchen; I find that wherever I am I work near the
kitchen or in the kitchen itself. I can constantly make myself little things to
eat or cups of tea; I find it's the perfect balance, in that I can write a bit,
eat a cookie, and then I write a bit more, eat some ice cream. Reward myself--
it's constant rewards. And I work best in the morning, as soon as I get out of
bed I start writing, and late at night. I have dead space in the afternoon,
which I think comes from growing up with an afternoon siesta; my brain just
shuts off from about two to five.
I loved the role that food plays in the book--Kulfi, the mother's
obsession with food, for example--is this a fascination of yours?
It's a great interest of mine; it's so much a part of my life. I'm always in
the kitchen, cooking and experimenting--I love it. And every now and then I
think, "I should write a cookbook" or, "I should write for food magazines. And
then I get drawn back to writing fiction again. But yes, food is a big part of
my life.
Your characters are so well-rounded--quirky, diverse--were they figments
of your imagination or did you write people you know into the story? Did you
write yourself into the book?
They're made up of bits and pieces of people I know--the main characters
are--and other characters are totally imagined. But of course I'm sure they all
do have bits of me in them as well, different parts of my personality.
Are you the narrator?
Yes, I would say so. I do feel very close to this book in one way, but the
book is very much a product of my imagination as well.
How would you classify this book--a comedy, a fable, a combination of
styles?
I wouldn't really--it is a comedy and it is satiric in many ways I think,
and it's fantastic. It reads very much like a folktale or a fairy tale so I
think it has different sides, different words can be used to describe it. It
depends on how you read it, I suppose.
What type of audience would you like to read your work?
You know, I never thought of the audience; it was written very much for
myself, very much for selfish reasons, I think. But I think anyone with a sense
of humor would enjoy it--I hope. That's one of the basic requirements.
In writing classes one's often taught to flesh out every character and
plot twist well in advance, and you're proof that that's not always the
necessary formula. As you said, you had an unconventional method for writing
Hullabaloo; this being your first book, do you have any advice for aspiring
writers?
There are all kinds of theories that you get told in writing
workshops--"Write what you know," and that sort of thing, which I don't believe
at all. I think one of the great joys of writing is to try and explore what you
don't know, that's exciting to me. There are all kinds of little things--show,
don't tell--I just wouldn't pay attention to any of that really. I don't think
you can write according to a set of rules and laws; every writer is so
different. I can't imagine how they come up with these rules--they're really
ludicrous. You can't learn to write in that fashion. What inspired me really was
reading, reading a lot and learning from other writers. Learning how they are
going about something--I was very aware of that when I was writing this book.
Every book that I read at the same time I'd think, "Hmm--how do they do this?"
Looking at it in that way, from a technical point of view, which we don't
usually do as a reader. But really I think that's for me what was important; I
was training myself to look at my work with a critical eye.
How much research did you do for this book? Is that important for your
writing?
Pretty much none for this book--it was all made up. But I can imagine it
would be fun to write about another place and time and do something different.
I'm trying to do some research now for the next thing I want to write. I imagine
it's a difficult balance--I'm sure you can over-research something and have your
fiction not really be fiction anymore. It would be hard to know when to stop.
What are your future plans?
I finish university in May, finally. And then I hope I will be able to go
away and write, because I miss it dreadfully.
Interview by Catherine McWeeney. First published in Bold Type 2000. Reproduced by permission of Random House publishing.
Unless otherwise stated, this interview was conducted at the time the book was first published, and is reproduced with permission of the publisher. This interview may not be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the copyright holder.
Monica Ali is the daughter of English and Bangladeshi parents.
She came to England at the age of three, and her first home was Bolton in Greater Manchester. Ali later studied at Oxford University.
Her first novel, Brick ...
(more)
If you enjoyed:
The Inheritance of Loss
Try:
In the Kitchen
by Monica Ali
Tahmima Anam is the recipient of a Commonwealth Writers Prize, an O. Henry Prize, and has been named one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and was recently ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Inheritance of Loss
Try:
A Golden Age
by Tahmima Anam
We recommend 18 similar authors
 (1).gif)
A library, to modify the famous metaphor of Socrates, should be the delivery room for the birth of ideas--a place ...
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
