Saturday Read: Dune Road by Jane Green + Interview!

By Alex

When Penguin Canada contacted me about interviewing author Jane Green, I was ecstatic! Me, a lowly college student, interviewing a international best-selling author? A women who is considered one of the CREATORS of chick-lit?! Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.

After reading Dune Road (you can read the review after the interview), Jane and I chatted while she was in Toronto for a book tour. I knew I would love the woman behind some of my favorite reads, but I was surprised by how sweet and warm this uber successful writer was! And it doesn’t hurt that her English accent was totally posh.

A: Like Robert in “Dune Road”, do you find it impossible to prevent your life from appearing in your novels?
J: Uh, yes, I do. You know, when I look back at all the books (and “Dune Road” is my 11th book), they have all charted the course of my life. And I think one of the reasons why I have been able to write eleven novels is because I do draw upon themes that I notice in my own life. Never writing about me, but I definitely have always drawn upon situations that I’ve experienced.

A: You’re known as one of the creators of the chick-lit genre. Why do you feel it’s an important genre in literature today?
J: It really started 13 or 14 years ago with Helen Fielding’s “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and then my first book “Straight Talking” came out a couple months after that and the media coined this phrase “chick-lit.” And the fact is, for over 10 years they’ve been saying that it’s going to go away and the death of chick-lit and there’s clearly still a very strong need for commercial women’s fiction that is very real and very honest. The one thing I would say though is that it has come to be a pejorative and the connotations that come with the word “chick-lit” are not necessarily good. So I know when a lot of people hear chick-lit, they think of a young girl in her 20’s tripping down a street in her biggest high heels and swinging a designer handbag while she looks for her knight in shining armor. And the truth is, whilst I may have written that in my first couple of books, 14 years on I’m writing very differently. I’m writing about women in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. I’m writing about life, relationships and marriages and divorces and step-children and grief and death and everything in between. So, I’m not sure whether I’m even sure I fall into the category of what people think of as classic chick-lit anymore.

A: What is your favorite book and why?
J: My favorite book is a book called “Brother of the More Famous Jack”. I really ought to get a new one, but I just adore this book. It’s by Barbara Trapido and it’s a book that I read many years ago, probably 20, 25 years ago and for me it is just the perfect novel. The characters are so beautifully drawn and so real, I felt as though I were saying good-bye to good friends when I closed the last page of the book.

A: I’ve read your biography and you went to university for a bit. Because we’re all college girls at College Candy, did you want to share your experience and bit about what you learned?
J: Well, what I learned is don’t spend every night drunk as a skunk and then have to go introduce yourself to tutors at the end of the first year. It’s never a good thing if you want to continue and actually walk away with a degree.

A: Are you working on anything new right now? Can you give us some insider scoop?
J: I am. I can’t give you much because I’m terribly superstitious, but I’m getting very excited about the next novel and I’m coming up with the characters and it feels good.

As she said, “Dune Road” is Jane Green’s 11th novel. It chronicles the experience of Kit Hargrove, newly single mother of 2, dealing with her divorce in the small town of Highfield. She meets Edie, her wacky older neighbor and Tracey, the owner a yoga studio in town and maintains a friendship with Charlie and Keith, one of her and Adam’s (Kit’s ex-husband) “couple friends.” Bored, Edie suggests that Kit apply to work for Robert McClore, the famous, reclusive author who lives at his estate, Dune Road, in Highfield. Along with escapades with her ex, a visit from a long-lost sister and the economic crisis in the United States, “Dune Road” isn’t boring for a minute.

The novel follows Kit as she finds purpose in her work with Robert and explores the dating world once again. However, Green doesn’t forget about any of her secondary characters and paints vivid pictures of all of their lives for the reader as well. We get to experience Tracey’s anxiety about her yoga studio, Charlie and Keith’s panic as the economy crashes, Robert’s painful memories of his wife, Penelope, and Edie’s musings about Kit’s new love. What I enjoyed most about the book was how involved I got in the characters’ lives. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to each of them next, and with plenty of twists, Green always keeps you guessing!

“Dune Road,” as Jane said herself, deviates from the typical chick-lit. It’s an entertaining, yet thoughtful read for women of all ages. Whether starting out on their own in college or starting out on their own after a nasty divorce at 45, “Dune Road” possesses universal appeal. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it for anyone looking for a great beach read!