Q&A with Mary Kay Zuravleff
Mary Kay Zuravleff’s latest novel, “Man Alive!” tells the story of a Bethesda psychiatrist who is struck by lightning and now only wants to barbecue. The Washington Post called it “a family novel for smart people,” and named it a 2013 Notable Book. People Magazine praised her “intelligence and sly humor.” Her earlier novels, “The Bowl Is Already Broken” and “The Frequency of Souls,” won the James Jones Award and the American Academy’s Rosenthal Award. Mary Kay lives in Washington, D.C., where she serves on the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and is a cofounder of the D.C. Women Writers Group.
What’s the funniest/scariest/best interaction you’ve had with a fan?
My book tour for “Man Alive!” included an adventure in every town. In Ann Arbor, one woman approached me excitedly: “I’m here! I made it!” I had no idea who she was, so I just agreed wholeheartedly with her: “You made it!” Turns out, I last saw her in 1969! She is the oldest child in her family, I’m the youngest, and our fathers worked together in three different locations (back when companies transferred men to where the work was). Soon after that, her whole family came to D.C. for a wedding, and my husband and I met everyone for breakfast. I was reunited with her little brother, my playpen pal of yesteryear, who is now a videographer. A few weeks later, he sent me a book trailer he’d made of my novel! His attached email said, “You never know when you might need an HD-quality, permission-free movie of your book.”
What one book do you wish you’d written?
I wish I’d written “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchell. The architecture of that novel is as astonishing as the storytelling. Although he’s got a half dozen partial novels going on in the past, present, and future, they’re all ultimately about what it means to behave humanely.
Share one of your rejection stories.
A rejection I relish relates to my second novel, “The Bowl Is Already Broken.” The book takes place in an Asian Art museum and opens with a Chinese bowl tumbling down the museum’s marble stairway, landing in pieces at the bottom. I was invited to speak at one art museum, but after the director read my book, she rescinded the invitation. First, she said my book reinforced people’s stereotypes of Asian art curators. Hmm, does anyone have a stereotype of an Asian art curator? And second, she objected to the bowl breaking–after all, museums are dedicated to caring for art. One week later, a visitor tripped on his shoelace at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, where three Chinese vases were displayed on a ledge near the staircase. Flailing as he fell, the man swept all three vases off their perch and they tumbled down the stairs!
Why should people come listen to you talk about your book?
People should come hear me because “Man Alive!,” folks tell me at every gathering, is language-rich, spit-take funny, painfully true and hits extremely close to home.