Psychtember Interview: Mary O'Connell

Mary O'Connell, author of The Sharp Time, is dropping by the blog today for a Psychtember interview!

A bit about the book:

"Sandinista Jones is a high school senior with a punk rock name and a broken heart. The death of her single mother has left Sandinista alone in the world, subject to the random vulnerability of everyday life. When the school system lets her down, her grief and instability intensify, and she ponders a violent act of revenge. 

Still, in the midst of her crisis, she gets a job at The Pale Circus, a funky vintage clothing shop, and finds friendship and camaraderie with her coworker, a boy struggling with his own secrets. 

Even as Sandinista sees the failures of those with power and authority, she's offered the chance to survive through the redemptive power of friendship. Now she must choose between faith and forgiveness or violence and vengeance." (from Goodreads)

And a bit about Mary (from the Random House website:

 

MARY O'CONNELL is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop and the author of the short story collection, Living With Saints. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in several literary magazines, and she is the recipient of a James Michener Fellowship and a Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award. The Sharp Time is her first novel.

And now the questions...

 

- Throughout the novel, Sandinista continually refers to her ability (or inability) to pay attention, and mentions ADD briefly. What role does her attention span (and perhaps more importantly, her perceptions of it) play in her actions?
 

I HOPED TO CONVEY THAT THE  DREAMINESS THAT HAD BEEN A PROBLEM FOR SANDINISTA IN THE PAST IS ACTUALLY A GIFT, ONE THAT EVENTUALLY ALLOWS HER TO ENVISION HER LIFE IN DIFFERENT WAYS, TO DAYDREAM A DIFFERENT FUTURE FOR HERSELF, WTH A LITTLE HELP FROM HER NEW FRIENDS. SHE'S DEFINITELY VIEWING THE WORLD THROUGH THE LENS OF FRESH GRIEF, WHICH MAKES EVERYONE A LITTLE MORE SCATTERED AND DESPERATE.
 
- Sandinista's a very distinctive and unusual protagonist, and her reactions and behaviour are often unpredictable. How did you write Sandinista to ensure you remained true to her character and the challenges she's facing while still allowing the reader to identify and sympathize with her?

WHILE WRITING SANDINISTA, I TRIED TO FOCUS ON HER (VERY REAL)  SENSE OF BEING WRONGED, ALONG WITH HER LONELINESS AND GRIEF. I THINK, I HOPE, THAT READERS WILL IDENTIFY WITH HER SUFFERING, AS NONE OF US CAN ESCAPE FROM HEARTACHE. SANDINISTA ALSO HAS THE MEMORY OF HER MOTHER'S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, WHICH SUSTAINS HER, ALONG WITH THE CAMARADERIE OF HER NEW FRIENDS. I DON'T EVER REALLY WRITE WITH A THEME IN MIND, BUT THE THEME THAT EMERGED FROM THE SHARP TIME IS, FOR ME, THE REDEMPTIVE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP.

- A particular incident leads Sandinista to contemplate violence against one of her teachers, rather than taking a more typical course of action. How large a role does her mother's death play in triggering this response? Are Sandinista's feelings of grief and loneliness the greatest contributors to a reaction like this, or is something more going on with her?

SANDINISTA'S THOUGHTS ABOUT HER TEACHER ARE CERTAINLY SHADED BY THE FACT THAT SHE FEELS SO ALONE, AND THAT SHE'S GRIEVING HER MOTHER'S DEATH. ALSO, SHE'S AT THAT AGE, 18, WHEN YOU REALIZE SOME OF THE THINGS YOU THOUGHT AND BELIEVED ABOUT LIFE ARE NOT QUITE TRUE; SHE'S EXPERIENCING THE REQUISITE DISGUST AND DISAPPOINTMENT WHICH ACCOMPANY THAT. IT WAS MY INTENTION TO WRITE THE JOURNEY OF AN ORDINARY PERSON IN AN EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCE, AND TO GIVE SOME HOPE AT THE END OF HER STORY, HOPE THAT SANDINISTA WILL BE ABLE TO MOVE ON FROM HER GRIEF AND HELP SOMEONE ELSE. THERE'S A BEAUTIFUL SONG BY LEONARD COHEN THAT GOES:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
THAT'S WHAT I WANT  FOR SANDINISTA, AND FOR ANY YOUNG PERSON GOING THROUGH A TROUBLED TIME: THE KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN REBUILD YOUR IMPERFECT WORLD. ILLUMINATION CAN BRING COMPASSION.

Thanks very much for taking the time to answer my questions, Mary!