A Special Event with the Author
We are inveterate lovers of books. For 16 years, we've been reading and meeting, chatting and eating, arguing and agreeing. But our favorite moments are those times when we have the actual author of our book choice in our clutches. This gives us the happy task of grilling said author about inspiration, the creative process, and the ins and outs of launching a book into the world.
With Glenn R. Miller, the author of the soon-to-be-bestseller Doorman Wanted in our midst, our session took a different form -- part socializing, part milling around, part congratulating, and part Q and A. (Note: your blog writer has made up some of these questions so they are a match for Miller's comments).
Q: How long did it take you to write this book?
A: I started the first draft in 2010. But with my writing process, I need three or four days together to work. In the thick of a career and raising two teen boys, I didn't often have those chunks of time. The pandemic gave me that time, and I was able to finish it, polish it, and edit it.
Q: This book gives such a detailed sense of New York City. Did you live there?
A: No. I did graduate from high school in New Jersey, and I would go to New York City all the time, just walking around and exploring. I'd heard of the Upper East Side and was curious, so I spent a lot of time there. But it's not meant to be a travelogue of the Upper East Side. I use it as shorthand to let the reader know that it's actually about wealth.
Q: The book is so knowledgeable about the daily life and tasks of a doorman. Did you talk to doormen to gain this knowledge?
A: The closest I came was that I knew someone who has the title of concierge. I spent time in the lobby of his building and just observed the rhythm and the conversations. But that really came from observation as well as research. There is a book named Doorman that explains in great detail what doormen are exposed to in their work days.
Two rapt participants
Q: Where did this story in particular come from? What was your inspiration?
A: The story came from my walking one day on the Upper East Side. The street was empty except for two doormen who were talking. They were laughing, hooting and hollering early in the morning. And I thought "those guys must know so many secrets and have so many stories to share." And then I just reversed it. What if it were the doorman who had the secret? What if the doorman was extremely wealthy? What is his back story? Why would he feel guilty?
Q: Homelessness plays a strong role in this book as many of the characters are living on the street. Why was that important for you to write about?
A: I did want to explore the income disparities in our current society. And also the dirty money aspect. I knew I wanted it to be about dirty money, but I didn't know why it was dirty until the middle of the story.
Q: Franklin does such a good job of taking care of everything that comes up while he is functioning as doorman. How much of that is you?
A: Some writer somewhere said that every writer writes in some ways about themselves. Franklin is one character who shares some attributes with me but there is also a lot of me in Mr. Harrison. There's a lot of me in many of the characters.
Q: There are a lot of strong opinions about art expressed in the book. How did art become such a strong theme?
A: Mr. Harrison's love of art is pretty much my personal situation. I was never encouraged by my father to consider a career in art. He was a wonderful, successful sales person. I told him I might want to be an architect, but he pooh-poohed that. In all other ways he was incredibly supportive. It was my mom who loved art. She was very artistic herself and signed me up for all kinds of art classes. My parents entered an oil painting I'd done in the State Fair and I won first place. I won a blue ribbon at the age of six, and it became a big story on the front page of the metro section. So, when something like that happens to a kid at the age of six, you just find yourself thinking "I guess I'm an artist."
Q: One of my favorite passages is "there's no stupider creature to walk the planet than a 14-year-old boy's father." Franklin also remembers "he told me to watch for the sparks of life and build something." So, at the core, his father seemed supportive even though his son couldn't see it.
A: I wanted the father to be a sympathetic character. And I think Franklin expresses a lot of regret about the things he said to his father. Many of the father/son issues in the book are based on literature rather than my own experience. I wanted us to see the father through the eyes of a teenager. There was no demon here.
Glenn Miller holding everyone's attention.
Q: Did some of your characters surprise you as you got going?
A: I had so carefully outlined the book and so carefully populated it and it was all so schematically diagrammed that nobody really surprised me. But then I did realize that I had made one character funnier than I was expecting, so I did need to figure out how to bring him in more.
Q: I listened to you read the book on Audible, which was wonderful, You inhabited all of the characters so well. When it's the author doing the reading, you know it's right. It just felt right.
A: I've been recording books for years as a volunteer, but they are books of facts, without characters. So reading my own book was really challenging. I gave two characters raspy voices and, after an hour or so, my voice was shot. It took me a long time to finish it.
Selected Comments by Our Readers
Margy: All of the characters -- none of them were mean-spirited. It was a very generous portrayal of all of them and something I really appreciated about it.
Faith: A friend of mine said "I'm so tired of reading apocalyptic novels" and I said "Have I got the book for you!" It's like getting into the best warm bath. It's intelligent and fun.
Larry: It's almost like it's alive and it wants to continue.
Linda: Two of the things I loved: We learn that doormen open doors and that doors need to be opened.
Steve: It's not travelogue I know, but you get into the heart of New York City really so well.
Faith: When I read a book, without being conscious of it, I'm always looking for the mistakes because there are always mistakes. But there aren't any. (Here Glenn issued a great sigh of relief).
Liz: The phrase "mysterious female jangling" is one of my favorite phrases of all time. It says so much in so few words.
Shirley: I'm really impressed by all of the small stories about the people who live in this building.
Not only did he have to write the book, but he had to make this cheesecake.
Much to Glenn's horror, we made him pose for this.
In Support of Our Friends
+ Linda is gathering contributions to send from our book club to Marly Rusoff to honor Marly's late husband. You can send a check to Linda or directly to the Pat Conroy Literary Center in honor of Mihai Radulescu.
+ Jocey is gathering anecdotes and accolades about Joanne Von Blon for possible use at her upcoming memorial service. Please send any stories you'd like to share directly to Jocey.
Our Next Read
For July, we will be reading BOTH Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and James by Percival Everett. Despite some concern about being able to finish both by the July meeting, the enthusiasts prevailed and we will be reading both.
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