Last Call (39 page)

L
AST
C
ALL

A Reader’s Guide

LAURA PEDERSEN

A C
ONVERSATION WITH
L
AURA
P
EDERSEN

Julie Sciandra
and
Laura Pedersen
have been friends and occasionally colleagues for more than twenty years. They walk each other’s dogs and also bowl together. Julie usually wins, but Laura insists that this is because Julie’s family owned a bowling alley in Buffalo, and thus she has had an unfair advantage.

Julie Sciandra:
Did you always want to be a writer?

Laura Pedersen:
I was a slow starter, basically a turnip in a sleeper the first few years of my life, and I didn’t come on strong academically until much later. Just learning to read was a huge accomplishment for me. I would say the prospect of telling stories first arose in seventh grade. An only child and pathologically shy I realized I had to do
something
to facilitate interaction. So I started telling a few jokes and funny stories, and found a positive response that led to friendships. After getting yelled at for talking during class, I was forced to start writing and passing notes.

JS:
When did you first receive recognition for your writing?

LP:
In middle school I won an essay contest for writing about Teddy Roosevelt. And then I won a prize in the declamation contest for a speech about Carrie Nation. But it wasn’t until high school that I really hit it big—I was sentenced to community service for a poem I’d written that contained a hidden message.

JS:
How do you set about writing a novel like
Last Call
?

LP:
I hear a lot of writers say they start with the seed for an idea, such as a character or one particular event, and they don’t know where it’s going to lead them. That could never work for me. I don’t start a book unless I have the beginning and the end. Only the middle is something I can work out as I go.

JS:
Do you write every day?

LP:
I definitely write checks every day. But I probably work on what will eventually become a book or short story about four days a week, usually between 10:00
A.M.
and 3:00
P.M.
, with an hour break for lunch and a few other breaks for running errands or playing with the dogs. I have a very short attention span and work best in spurts, then I need to do something else for a while, like go Rollerblading or play basketball with the kids.

JS:
How long does it take you to write a book?

LP:
That’s a real time-motion study, like how long between when a traffic light in Manhattan turns green and the cab driver behind you leans on his horn. But I’d say a book takes me a year, while doing other things. I suppose that if I sat down with a freezerful of burritos and a vat of chocolate, I could write a novel in eight weeks.

JS:
Where do your ideas come from?

LP:
From daily life. I live “hard” in the sense that I enjoy being on the go and having lots of experiences. For instance, I went to the floor of the stock exchange shortly after I turned eighteen. That environment created the foundation for my first book,
Play Money
. Journalism has taken me to exotic places like Russia, Turkey, and Cuba. If you want to tell a story but you don’t have an idea, I think it’s best to go out and do something and then write about it. There are a lot of things I’d love to do but haven’t had time yet, and so I’ll occasionally imagine a character doing them and use that in a novel. But at the end of the day, my stories are always about living, loving, and dying.

JS:
Are the characters based on people you’ve known in real life?

LP:
I borrow bits and pieces from different individuals and then create new people, sort of like a medieval dwarf going from house to house in the middle of the night and stealing the essences of the townsfolk. For instance, my friend Peter Heffley’s ninety-year-old mother, Mildred, is the patron saint of worriers and pessimists. We actually look forward to her negative pronouncements and often attempt to evoke them just for entertainment. (Hence the catchphrase, “Who put the
dread
in Mildred?”) I know if I say, “My, that’s a lovely orchid, Mrs. Heffley,” she’ll retort, “It’s just about dead.” Or if Pete says he has the Fourth of July party all organized, she undoubtedly replies, “There’s a storm heading this way.” So for the character of Diana in
Last Call
, who is unlike Mrs. Heffley in every other way, I borrowed the fretfulness along with some of her best lines. And many of my characters are built on a small slice of me that I then exaggerate. For example, in
Beginner’s Luck
Hallie plays poker, goes to the racetrack, and trades in the stock market. Gil likes plays by Tennessee Williams, Craig is an only child, Olivia is a vegetarian, and Bernard is optimistic and enjoys humor. Those are all based on my own experiences or personality. Plus, I’m a lazy researcher.

JS:
How does being a minister influence your writing?

LP:
I’m an ordained interfaith minister (we respect all paths), but I don’t have a congregation, and I don’t give sermons, except to the teenaged Michael. In the not-for-profit world it helps to accomplish things if you’re a minister or a politician. As for organized religion, I’m a lifelong Unitarian Universalist. Most Sundays you’ll find me sitting in a pew on the far right over at All Souls in Manhattan, reflecting on the UU Trinity—reduce, reuse, and recycle.

JS:
But there’s a lot of religion in
Last Call
, especially Catholicism.

LP:
I’ve always had an interest in religion, especially since it’s been the cause of so many wars and so much strife. Also, my earliest childhood memory is of my mother yelling, “Jesus Christ, is it
ever
going to stop snowing?”

One of my favorite stories is how in the late 1300s there were two dueling popes, Clement VII and Urban VI, both busily excommunicating each other. Finally, a council was called to decide between them. Pietro Pilarghi, who helped bring about the council, made
himself
pope and told the others to take a hike. Neither did, and so then there were
three
popes.

As for making Rosamond a Catholic, when I was growing up outside of Buffalo in the 1970s, eighty percent of the population was Catholic. As James Joyce famously said about his faith, Catholicism means “Here comes everybody!” Catholics live out loud in a terrific way. So everywhere you turned there was a big church, battalions of habited nuns, outdoor celebrations on feast days, and of course the Friday fish fry. (Word of the Vatican II council that ended in 1965 apparently hadn’t yet reached Buffalo. Cowboy comedian Will Rogers once explained that he wanted to be in Buffalo when the world ended because it would happen there five years later.) So my friends were constantly dashing off to Mass, confession, religious instruction, and CYO (Catholic Youth Organization). Having had so much exposure to that particular faith, I thought it would be interesting to set up a sort of fictional showdown between an atheist and a Roman Catholic. Also, if Rosie had been a Theosophist, I don’t think the story would work as well because there aren’t the lifestyle constraints and concept of an afterlife to work with. And worse, I would have had to do research.

JS:
I notice you have a pair of snazzy new red-and-blue bowling shoes. Is there a big game tonight?

LP:
Not tonight, but I haven’t given up on my idea of bringing about world peace through bowling. It’s a sport that allows almost everyone to play, regardless of race, religion, economic background, and body type. You can wear a sombrero, burqa, kilt, saffron robe, or whatever you like.

JS:
So what’s next? I’ve seen you scribbling on your jeans, which usually means a new book is in the works.

LP:
After
Beginner’s Luck
came out people asked, “What happens to Hallie?” It was open-ended, so I’ve written a sequel called
Heart’s Desire
. Hallie has finished her first year away at college and returns to the Stockton household for the summer, which is in a greater state of chaos than usual, if that’s possible. Gil and Bernard have broken up, and Ottavio is pressuring Olivia to marry him. Meanwhile, Hallie is contemplating that age-old teenage dilemma: Should she or shouldn’t she?

R
EADING
G
ROUP
Q
UESTIONS
AND
T
OPICS FOR
D
ISCUSSION

1. Have circumstances driven Diana to become more overprotective and fretful than she might be if life were easier at the moment—if she had more money and a nice husband, and if her father wasn’t ill? Have you ever gone through a rough period when you felt like a person on the verge of a breakdown due to events beyond your control—when life temporarily eclipses your true personality, or at least the person you want to be?

2. Is Hayden a good or bad influence on his grandson? Is Hayden helpful in counteracting Diana’s coddling of her son, especially now that he’s almost a teenager? Or is Hayden the one making Diana anxious in the first place?

3. Does Hayden’s appreciation of the freedom and opportunity he’s found in the United States, combined with fierce pride for his homeland, bring to mind the mixed attitudes shared by immigrants you know?

4. Does it matter what religion, if any, Joey becomes when he’s older? Or have Hayden and Rosamond imparted other valuable lessons?

5. Do you know people who have fallen out over religion, or decided not to marry because of the issue? Would you agree or disagree that there are certain situations where the differences and difficulties just can’t be overcome?

6. Has Rosamond truly lost her faith, or, as a woman coming to the end of her childbearing years, is she suffering from a vacuum of human affection? Is it possible to live a rich and full life and not know physical intimacy?

7. Why does Diana suddenly allow Joey to play baseball after her sister’s stepson dies in a freak accident? Shouldn’t this event serve to make her more fearful that Joey will be injured?

8. Is Hayden really an atheist or does he have his own spiritual program to live a good and full life—perhaps “Haydenism”? Would you say that you subscribe to all the tenets of a specific faith or that you’ve assembled your own guidelines?

9. Is it possible that any events in the book were meant to be miracles? Or are they just life’s typical accidents and coincidences?

10. If you wanted to find biblical equivalents for the characters in
Last Call
, who might have the most in common with Bobbie Anne?

11. Being a good parent often involves making difficult choices and personal sacrifices. What are some real-life examples of this made by people you know?

12. Rosamond lost her mother when she was young. Hayden lost his father and had a difficult youth because his family lost their farm. Joey’s parents are divorced and he no longer sees his father. Do you think such childhood events forever change the way we see and react to the world? When you look back, is there anything you experienced early on, good or bad, that you’d say has had a tremendous impact on later decisions, or the way you’ve chosen to live your life or raise your family?

13. Diana and her sister, Linda, appear to have had a pleasant childhood, complete with two parents who love and provide for them. Yet the sisters don’t get along. Why do family tensions often arise even when there’s no apparent reason for it? Are there siblings in your family who aren’t close and it’s hard to determine when or why it all started?

14. By the end of the story has Rosamond converted Hayden or vice versa? Or are they both able to love in their own way and stay true to opposing belief systems?

15. Is it possible to overcome some religious differences by focusing on the similarities between religions?

16. Why does Rosamond return to the convent at the end of the story?

17. What do you think Rosamond and Hayden would say about I Corinthians 13:13: There are three things that will endure: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love? Is it true that love can transcend everything, including religion and even death?

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Ballantine Book

Published by The Random House Publishing Group

Copyright © 2004 by Laura Pedersen

Reader’s Guide copyright © 2004 by Laura Pedersen and The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.

Excerpt from
Heart’s Desire
copyright © 2004 by Laura Pedersen

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by
The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random
House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION
^®
. NIV
^®
. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.
All rights reserved.

Additional scripture quotations are taken from the
Holy Bible
, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Ballantine and colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.

Ballantine Reader’s Circle and colophon are trademarks of
Random House, Inc.

This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming edition of
Heart’s Desire
by Laura Pedersen. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.

www.ballantinebooks.com/BRC

eISBN: 978-0-345-47195-6

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