Frequently Asked Questions about Where People Like Us Live
What prompted you to write Where People Like Us Live?
First and foremost, I wrote Where People Like Us Live because I wanted to contribute to literature the voice of a unique and remarkable girl. It’s a book about friendship and caring about someone, and sometimes to do that means risking your heart.
I began to consider what it might feel like to be someone witnessing an unfolding crisis. What if you were a girl with first-hand information about a friend in trouble? How would you act on it, and what would be the outcome? I wanted to develop a girl character who found the courage to do something many adults are even afraid to do. Libby Gilbert emerged as the narrator of Where People Like Us Live because I wanted to address those questions from a young person’s point of view.
Were you or someone close to you sexually abused?
I did not experience what Libby and Angie do in Where People Like Us Live, but I am a survivor of sexual assault. Over the years, I’ve talked with many women from different walks of life about their experiences with sexual violence—things that happened to them, or how they knew “something was going on” with a friend—yet so often they never told anyone about it at the time, even though it is a common occurrence. One in six women and one of every ten men experience some sort of sexual violence in their lifetime. Teenage girls and young women are at the highest risk for being sexually assaulted. (Info from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, www.rainn.org.)
Chances are at some point most people have witnessed the impact on a person who has experienced sexual violence. It is my firm belief that our culture can do more to “see” the signs of sexual violence perpetrated on others, and to understand that coming of age in a culture where sexual violence is so common, affects everyone. I believe powerful stories can sometimes do more to break down societal barriers than a raft of laws and legislation.
You also write a lot about identity and class, and people who are searching for their place in this world. Why do you feel so passionately about that?
Other themes also emerged as I worked on the book, such as class disparity, and the father’s survivor guilt and its effect on the family. Placement of the novel in Racine, Wisconsin became primary, in part, because that is my hometown, but also because I think writing from the industrial Great Lakes is underrepresented in literature.
As a young person, I was deeply influenced by the writings of John Steinbeck, and one of my all time favorite young adult books to this day is Sounder by William H. Armstrong. Also, when I first read The Color Purple by Alice Walker it totally rocked my world. Those writers showed me what soul-stirring literature can do to raise a person’s awareness of injustice.
I like to write about the things that affect me as a person living in a complicated society. I find myself drawn to trying to answer questions that challenge me to understand humanity better. Even if I am writing fiction, my first impulse is to think about what feels true about situations and relationships. To me this means that nothing is ever really clear-cut, but I do think some of the most memorable characters in literature find their own inner compass.
Why the fascination with Bruce Springsteen?
When I came of age, a lot of my friends were really into Springsteen. I never really got the attraction until a loved one staged an intervention. He sat me down with the lyrics and pointed out that his music was about our lives. I can’t tell you how many times now I’ve listened to Darkness on the Edge of Town. My novel is practically an ode to that record.
How long did it take you to write Where People Like Us Live? Is this your first book?
It took me five years to write Where People Like Us Live. Part of the process of writing it involved coming to terms with a subject as difficult and personal as sexual assault. Even in the present day when these issues are more openly discussed, it is still a challenging topic.
What message do you hope readers will take away from the book?
I am hopeful that Where People Like Us Live invites discussion of complex social issues. Check out my discussion guide questions to get started.