LitMinds Blog and Interviews

Something's abuzz...  A "debut" author receiving rave reviews, flying on a book tour which extends from Australia - San Francisco - New York - Amsterdam - Milan must mean only one thing... a great new talent is on the rise. 

Jerry Stahl in the LA Times had this to say: "[I was] predisposed to dismissing Phil LaMarche's "American Youth" as your basic backwoods, teenage-accidental-shooting, hicks 'n' fascists saga. Happily, I could not have been more wrong. This is one of the most savagely beautiful, emotionally devastating and accurate readings of what it means to grow up in our soul-starved homeland that I've ever read."

Release party for Phil LaMarche & Julian Kudritzki

 

at The Hive, 1392 Pacific Ave, San Francisco

a brand new private art salon owned/operated by local musician/ artist, Rykarda Parasol. Art and video by new artists will be on display.

 

Saturday, May 26, 8pm

 

Doors open to the public at 8pm with suggested donation. The reading at 8:30pm will be followed by a book signing and party.

In this LitMinds interview we asked Phil to tell us more about his new book, his writing and outdoorsman's life:

1.  Your novel, American Youth has been identified by some as a coming-of-age story for the post-Columbine era, but this classification alone does not capture the nuances of your writing, the characters, and many other elements of the novel.  What would you like readers to know about American Youth?  How do you want your novel to be understood?

American Youth is very much a story about redemption, in my mind. Theodore LeClare makes a mistake, a simple mistake that has dreadful consequences—a boy dies as a result of his actions.  The novel follows his path—frought with tangents and dead ends—to the truth and inevitably to forgiveness.  While the story is about a teenager, firearms, and a rural town, I believe Ted’s journey is a much more universal tale of the passage from deceit to truth, from darkness to light, from pain to the early stages of healing. 

2.  You elected to have the novel’s protagonist referred to as “the boy,” and the notorious group of boys he befriends call themselves “American Youth.”  Why did you choose to use these names?  What universal ideas and themes do the characters in this story represent?

In one of the earliest drafts of American Youth the narrative was told through multiple perspectives.  The grandfather always referred to Teddy as “the boy” and I liked the way it sounded and the tone it set.

In earlier drafts the American Youth gang was known as the Republican Youth, but readers kept saying, “They aren’t really Republicans.”  I thought the discrepancy was amusing, but I guess I was the only one getting the joke. 

I like how the American Youth cob together such an odd conglomeration of beliefs and opinions.  I like that they are hypocritical.  That feels very real to me.  I wanted to capture that amazing energy that teenage boys can so often bring to a cause.  I like how logic and rationality get lost in the fervor, how the individual is lost in the group, how critical thought is sacrificed for feelings of belonging, safety, and security.  Again, this rings true to me not only in the context of teenagers, but also in the realm of much larger political and social formations.

3.  Reviewers and other authors have already tied your writing to the likes of Cormac McCarthy, Hemingway, and even Mitch Albom.  In the LA Time review, Jerry Stahl suggests, “If "American Youth" were a MySpace page…its friends might be Kevin Canty, Joyce Carol Oates, Gus Van Sant and Russell Banks, along with Kurt Cobain, the Raymonds Chandler and Carver, Craig Nova and those brothers in bildungsroman, Tobias and Geoffrey Wolff. With comments from Flannery O'Connor and Nick Cave.”  What do you make of connections being made between these folks and your novel?  Have any of these people been influences in your writing?  Who has shaped your work as a writer that might be unexpected and surprising to us?

I feel very honored to be compared to those writers and artists.  I’ve long been a huge fan of McCarthy, Hemingway, Wolff, and O’Connor—to even be mentioned on the same page is incredibly flattering.  Nick Cave and Kurt Cobain, certainly very cool and interesting connections.  Russell Banks is someone whom I would like to read more of, we have some striking geographical similarities. 

Being a graduate of the Syracuse Writing Program, I feel I’ve always been working in the shadow of Carver and Tobias Wolff, and more recently George Saunders and Mary Karr.  I would feel very proud to be considered a part of that lineage.   

At a time when I was stalled on American Youth, in the winter of 2003/04, I came upon James Elroy’s novel, American Tabloid, and it was a book that I could not put down.  I wanted to know what made it such a compulsive read for me and in my study of the book I learned a great deal about dramatic structure and plot which helped me in my own work. 

4.  This is an exciting time in your career as a writer.  You have published several short stories, including the acclaimed “In the Tradition of my Family.” American Youth is your debut novel, came out this April, and has already received positive reviews from a number of publications.  How do you feel about being an emerging author?  How has the increasing acclaim and recognition of your writing affected you? 

At one point I remember thinking that once I published a short story, I would feel better about myself as a writer.   And when that belief failed me, I thought that publishing a novel would be the solution.  I’m not going to say that the success of American Youth hasn’t been amazing, gratifying, and mind blowing, but each day I still have to wake up in this oil can of a head and my reality can be as serene or tortuous as I make it.  I’ve known for a while now that external rewards don’t always result in internal happiness—if they did, we wouldn’t have nearly as many cultural icons blowing their brains out and drinking themselves to death.   

5.  You recently started traveling and making appearances about American Youth.  In the next couple months, you have plans to travel to Australia, the Netherlands, and Italy for author readings.  What have your experiences with these events been like so far?  What have you enjoyed about them and what do you look forward to doing? 

I’m actually sitting in a hotel room in Melbourne, Australia as I write this.  I flew in this morning and immediately did a handful of different publicity events.  It can be exhausting, but it’s a great chance to meet other writers and folks who are excited about writing. 

I have to be careful about my expectations when I go into this kind of stuff—in one week I did readings in Toronto and Denver and probably sold five books between the two events, several of them to friends.  If I looked at it only as a chance to sell some books, it could’ve been a real let down, but in the end it was a great opportunity to hang out with some really cool folks.

6.  You are also a whitewater kayaker.  Tell us a little bit about this passion – how did you get started and what drives your interest in this activity?  Have you ever written about your kayaking experiences? 

I was brought up with a real love of the outdoors—hunting and fishing were and still are a big part of my relationship with my family. After college I lived on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and there a cousin turned me on to whitewater kayaking.  Since then I’ve been hooked.  It’s a very physical sport with its own vibrant culture and it’s taken me all over the world, introducing me to some amazing people and places.  It’s a great escape from the realm of writing and it provides a balance in my life.  A great day is when I can have a good morning of writing and then get in an afternoon run on a local river or creek. 

 You can read an excerpt of the book here and join us in a discussion of American Youth on LitMinds.org