Give us your elevator
pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?
Forty-seven stories—from flash fiction to full-length works,
deeply felt, autobiographical fiction—unfold across the decades from the 1960s
to present day and reveal a family’s hopes and fears, truths and lies, and
love.
Which character did
you most enjoy creating? Why? And, which character gave you the most trouble,
and why?
Many of the stories are about this real character, Pop.
Murray Blech. Veteran of the Korean War. Jew from the Bronx. A guy who marries,
after a short tumultuous courtship,
Louise Garofalo, an Italian-American from Maspeth, Queens, and whose joy turns
quickly to tragedy. Even more so, Pop, in his heart is always running away, but
ends up staying, for his children, because that is who is. He’s also a very
good dancer. I loved writing Pop, I knew him well. In comparison, for Louise I
had to research the contours of her life, walk the streets in Queens and Greenwich
Village that I imagined she walked, listen to music from 1960s, practice the
mambo, the dance she loves, and I’m a pretty bad dancer. Of course, Murray
Blech and Louise Garofalo are my parents, and I am imagining their courtship and
what came afterwards.
Tell us a bit about
the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.
Many lows and one big high. I first tried to write this book
as a linked novel-in-stories. No one wanted to publish it. The agent that
represented my young adult novels (Lie
and Before My Eyes) didn’t think she
could sell it as linked short stories. I thought I could expand on the stories
that were set in the 1960s, and that are the heart of this collection, but I
couldn’t quite make it to a novel. The highs
began when I started writing flash fiction, (fiction 1,000 words and under). I started expanding outward with the
characters, even naming one recurring character, Caroline. Naming the character
after myself gave me permission somehow
to go deeper with the stories, to fill it what I didn’t know, or don’t, frankly,
want to remember. These shorter stories began to be published in literary magazines. A year and a half ago, I
decided as a goal to put the stories set in the 1960s with these flash fiction
stories and see if they “hung” together, see if they felt like a whole
collection—and they did. I decided to submit the collection myself to small
presses. And one day last spring, sprinting to teach a class, I received a call
from the wonderful publisher, Kathleen Wheaton. My collection had won The 2018 Fiction
Award from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House and that as part of the
prize they would publish my book.
What’s your favorite
piece of writing advice?
“Character is the very heart of fiction,” to paraphrase John
Gardner. I always start with a voice in my head and think: who is this person?
Why am I thinking about him or her? Why do I want to write about them, and by
extension, why should a reader, any reader, care? Of course, if I think too
much about this, especially the last
question, I don’t write. So my other self-generated advice is: Write. Write more.
Don’t think. See what happens with the words. Remember: you love words. Tempestuous,
heat-seeking, full-bodied words often save you, and your characters, from the void, from despair. Write.
My favorite writing
advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the
writing of this book?
I wrote the stories in Carry
Her Home over the last six years, and I was surprised that once I put the stories
together that there seemed to be an arc from beginning to end—even the stories
that are much less autobiographical, less personal, less drawn from my family,
since not all are linked by blood. The whole is more expansive than its parts.
How did you find the
title of your book?
Carry Her Home is
the title of one of the works—a story told from Murray’s point of view about
his wife, felled by tragedy, and how he wants, desperately, to carry her home
from the state psychiatric hospital. I had to go inside another’s head and
heart in this story. I broke apart writing this story. But it wasn’t the first title
for the collection. It wasn’t the title I submitted the collection under—I went
with a more neutral title: String Theory,
the title of another story in the collection that the publisher didn’t think
was the most resonant piece in the book,
and she was right. When I suggested Carry
Her Home, I knew it was the better, braver choice. I wish that I had named the
collection that from the start.
Inquiring foodies and
hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book? (Any
recipes I might share?)
I’m half Italian (Sicilian) and half Jewish, how could there
not be food? There are several stories in the collection in which Sunday
dinner, appetizing and noshes are central. There is also a story about cake
pans entitled, “Bundt Cake Pans.” So, here is the original recipe from my
husband’s Grandma Ray for the most delicious Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, which
can made in a Bundt cake pan. I have added in parentheses a few notes from the
times I have made this recipe. (Scroll to bottom for the recipe.)
READ MORE ABOUT CAROLINE BOCK: www.carolinebock.com
ORDER CAROLINE’S BOOK FOR YOUR TBR PILE: http://ww.politics-prose.com/
NOTE: Caroline will be reading at Politics & Prose (main store 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC) on Sunday, October 21 from 1-2 pm. All are welcome!
¼ lb butter or margarine (unsalted)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (not fat free)
6 oz. chocolate chips
Cream together butter, sugar.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Sift together all dry ingredients.
Alternate sifted flour and sour cream into butter mixture.
Stir in chips.
Pour into greased round tube or spring form pan. Can use
Bundt cake pan.
Mix topping ingredients then sprinkle topping over batter:
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a tester comes
out dry. Cool. (Enjoy!).