Whenever I see someone reading in public, I’ll ask them about the book if it doesn’t seem intrusive (I mean, they’re reading, so I try not to bug people). This week, I thought I’d share one of these conversations, which took place at a movie theater.
Here, in a conversation edited for length and clarity, Lynn in Pasadena talks about “The Wall,” by Marlen Haushofer, translated by Shaun Whiteside (New Directions).
Q. Can you tell us what the book is about?
It’s about a woman who one night wakes up, and she’s divided from the whole world by an invisible wall. She’s just trying to cope with her loneliness.
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Q. What made you choose this one?
I’m reading it because I thought the concept was super-cool, just discussing isolation. I feel like we’re in a society of just constant stimulation and social connection. And so for her, she has to grapple with what femininity means to her now in a world with nobody else, what loneliness means to her, what companionship means to her.
She has animals. She doesn’t even really know why she’s trying to keep going when there’s nobody else, but she keeps on reminding herself, “I have these animals to take care of,” and a part of life is loving even if it hurts to love, because these animals inevitably are going to pass.
Q. Would you recommend it to others?
It’s very repetitive in a lot of ways, but in an interesting way. I think it’s very intelligent in how it’s written: She’s just writing a report to keep her sanity. I think it’s a great critique of loneliness and isolation and what it means to be a person, especially in the 21st Century.
Q. How do you find your books?
My cousins and I all have Goodreads, and we’re constantly trading, but I think I’d seen a critique of this book on Instagram, because I’m part of a book challenge. So there was this and a couple of other books that I was super-interested in. I saw the review, heard what it was about and I just instantly ordered it on Barnes & Noble, and I’ve been reading it ever since.
Q. What other books have you liked?
Lately, I’m into things that make me feel things to the point of just crying, so I’ve been reading “Babel” and “Yellowface” by R.F. Kuang, “A Little Life” by Hanya Yanagihara, “Demon Copperhead” – really, really good.
I’m also reading “The Anxious Generation” and how the emergence of phones has rewired our brains. I’m always reading one fiction and one nonfiction, normally. I just like the balance.
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