It\u2019s Jonathan Franzen for people who don\u2019t want to feel that queasiness down in your gut when you finish reading Jonathan Franzen (no matter if you like him or despise him).<\/p>\n
Sure, Dawg Towne<\/em> is all that suburban angst and ennui, but it\u2019s also got a beating heart.<\/p>\n Kaltman manages to pull off that most difficult literary feat: she writes unflinchingly about largely unlikeable characters but with an eye for the tiny moments that might make them redeemable (and more importantly, human<\/em>).<\/p>\n It is no wonder that Kaltman\u2019s day job is marriage counseling. She knows these characters at their best and worst while withholding judgement.<\/p>\n Told from the perspective of six different characters (as well as several vignettes narrated by Towne itself), Kaltman\u2019s novel is a juggling act making each section\u2014each character\u2019s arc\u2014stand alone, but also weaved together seamlessly in a way that makes us keep reading to see how Kaltman will bring all these lives together.<\/p>\n Extensively about a small suburban town called Towne, Kaltman\u2019s novel is a treatise on the existential crises of the inconsequential.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about an awkward former child prodigy turned dog thief.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about a mediocre novelist turned stay-at-home dad only to ignore his writing and often his son in favor of masturbating and watching soccer.<\/p>\n There\u2019s the broke-down celebrity having moved out of Hollywood looking for redemption in a homely middle-aged divorcee\u2014the complete opposite of the barbie doll sexpots he usually hooks up with.<\/p>\n Meanwhile there\u2019s said homely middle-aged divorcee who uses sex with said broke-down celebrity to get the job redecorating his house.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, meanwhile, there\u2019s the kid of said middle-aged divorcee who is trying to figure out if he\u2019s gay or straight, male or female but is for certain that neither of his parents gets it or gets him.<\/p>\n Dawg Towne<\/em> is about the shame, guilt, depression, humor, humiliation, and frustration of living every tedious day under the confines of Every Suburb, USA.<\/p>\n Oh, and by the way, Kaltman writes the shit out of these characters. Imagine Franzen at his best, but then imagine he\u2019s not a complete dick, and that\u2019s Kaltman.<\/p>\n With Dawg Towne<\/em>, she proves that even largely irredeemable people can be redeemed under the right circumstances and from the right point of view, which is something that we all need these days in these times.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n BKD: <\/strong>So you\u2019ve spoken about your background in professional dancing before, but I was wondering how you would compare the feelings you get from writing versus dancing?<\/p>\n I spent most of my youth playing basketball 24\/7 and wanting to do nothing else but play basketball. My playing days long gone, I find that it\u2019s taken me a very long time to come to terms with the idea that writing can be emotionally fulfilling\u2014even addictive at times\u2014but it\u2019s never quite the same as making that shot or winning the game.<\/p>\n AK:<\/strong> First off, I can\u2019t tell you how much I love this question. I think about the similarities between choreography and writing all the time. One of the things I\u2019m most drawn to in other people\u2019s work is the innate rhythm of their passages. I want each sentence to do its own little jig. I want each paragraph to be a tango. Plot and character and flow need to be there too, but for me, it don\u2019t mean a thing if it ain\u2019t got that swing. It\u2019s what I strive for in my own work. Cobbling together steps, cobbling together words.<\/p>\n I totally relate to what you\u2019re saying about not getting the same charge from writing as from playing basketball. I think any writer who\u2019s had or has a deeply engrossing physical life via sports or performing arts would agree. That instant connection with an audience or teammates, the mind-body connection, the endorphins, the oneness. There\u2019s nothing like it. But so ephemeral, yeah? Writing is much more of a slog. An engrossing and deeply meaningful pursuit with lasting impact, but still, a slog.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n BKD: <\/strong>So no shade to cat owners here (and I grew up with cats along with dogs), but it seems to me that dogs tend to end up in literary fiction much more than cats.<\/p>\n As one author who constantly writes about dogs to another author who constantly writes about dogs, what do you think it is about dogs that lends itself to great fiction?<\/p>\n AK:<\/strong> Another question I love. And no shade thrown here either, but as sexy and furry and graceful as they can be, I see most cats as cool observers lurking on the periphery, watching us flawed and stupid humans. If they could use their paws effectively on a keyboard, we would be characters in their tell-all memoirs and scathing novels. I\u2019ve met many a cat I\u2019ve admired, even loved, but fuck if I know what they\u2019ve really thought of me.<\/p>\n If cats are our judges, dogs are our accomplices. Dogs are more transparent in their emotional states, and so human-focused. Impulse driven, goofy, slobbering fools. Cuddly little weirdos. Growling, scary beasts\u2014when often really just scared themselves. Can you tell I love dogs? Even if we don\u2019t really know exactly what they\u2019re feeling, we get the gist. They need us and we need them, which makes them super interesting subjects for our fiction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mrbullbull.com\/newbull\/wp-content\/uploads\/dog-towne.jpeg\")
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