The Marisha Pessl book signing was awesome! It was incredible to meet her – she’s so young and talented. Very inspiring. How amazing to be so successful with a first novel, and so young!
She told us the reader’s digest version of how she became a writer, and then read 4 passages from the novel. The passages were: the first part of the introduction, the part where we’re introduced to Blue’s father, the first time we meet Hannah in the grocery store, and the scene in the woods with Hannah – after they wander off from the group.
Marisha told us about how she grew up in a book friendly home; she was always reading. She grew up with Dracula and Catcher in the Rye, among many others. In college she wrote two failed novels. The first was a Who Dun It murder mystery, that she says was way too obvious – it was very clear from the beginning “who dun it.” The second was a southern novel that had no plot. It wasn’t even a stream of consciousness, it was more like a “stream of unconsciousness.”
She graduated from college and took an entry level job at Price Waterhouse Coopers. It was there, under the florescent lights, in her tiny cubicle her co-workers called “veal fattening pens” she thought of the idea of a novel about a father-daughter relationship.
Marisha was extremely warm and friendly to the crowd, and talked to each of us as she signed our books. Along with personalizing it and signing, she wrote a quote from Blue’s Father: “Always live your life with your biography in mind.” I love it! Here is my book:
