Dear Ms. Simpson,
I just finished reading your book, Anywhere But Here, and I really enjoyed it! At times, it was difficult to read, but I
found it to be super interesting. The
amount of detail in your book was incredible, and at times I felt as if I was
in the same room as the characters.
The relationship between Adele and Ann is a central focus in
the book. How did you come up with the
idea for this rocky mother-daughter relationship? When they are traveling from Wisconsin to
California, they have an interesting ritual.
The two will fight, Ann will get out of the car, Adele will drive away,
wait just long enough for Ann to get scared, come back, and take Ann to get ice
cream. I feel like this shows a lot
about their relationship. What do you
think? Do you think that the road helps
demonstrate the nuances of their relationship?
Adele is running away from Wisconsin and her problems, but she continues
this ritual as they get further away; what does this say about her character? Were you trying to emphasize that even though
she was getting geographically further from her issues, she was not maturing in
a way that would help her in the future?
I am also interested in Ann and the reasons that you wrote
her to be such a strong character. I
feel like she proves that we do not have to be like our parents and that we can
become whoever we want to be. Was that
your intention? I feel as if it would be
very difficult to forgive my mother if she had emotionally manipulated me the
way that Adele treated Ann.
Lastly, I thought the way in which the narrator switches to
be very unique. The book is mostly
narrated by Ann, but there are other chapters with different narrators to give
background on Adele. Adele narrates the
final chapter; why did you have her only narrate the last chapter? And was there any particular reason that only
women narrate the book?
Thank you so much for writing a thought-provoking and engrossing
novel. I hope to hear from you soon!
All my best,
Selby
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