Q: Nan's relationship with her mother is highly charged. At times her mother appears cold and critical, while at other moments Nan and her mother share laughter and intimacy. Do you think the mother-daughter tension in Becoming Ruby is typical or is Nan's mother especially troubled as a parent?
A: I think the relationship between most mothers and their teenaged daughters is pretty highly charged, though to what extent depends, of course, on the individual personalities involved. The dynamic between a more easygoing mother and a less curious daughter would certainly be less highly charged than the one between Nan and her mother.
There may be ways in which the tension between Nan and her mom is typical; for example, despite best intentions, what mother doesn't offer her daughter opinions — almost always unwelcome — about her clothing? But I think the fact that Ruby's mother is not a very happy person who tends to be closed off to her own feelings, whereas Ruby is almost driven by her thirst to experience what life has to offer, exacerbates the tensions between this particular mother and daughter. |
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Q: Just before the summer of love in the 1960s, Nan blossoms into a new identity as Ruby, a slowly awakening sexual being. What do Ruby's experiences offer to young women growing up in 2003?
A: That's a question I'd love to see answered by young women growing up in 2003. But I'd say that they can count on Becoming Ruby to offer them an honest portrayal of what it was like for one young woman, albeit fictional, growing up and waking up sexually. Beyond that, I'd say it's up to readers to draw parallels themselves, or not, between Ruby's experiences in the 1960s and theirs.
Q: Becoming Ruby is quite forthright about the trials and tribulations of growing up. Do you feel it's important to "tell it like it is" to teens? What piece of advice would you offer to readers of Ruby's age?
A: I'm sure there are some adults who like to think that if one doesn't mention to teens certain aspects about growing up, especially as they pertain to sexual awakening, that maybe the teens in their lives (their students or their own children) will remain unaware, "innocent." They won't. They know the urges and sometimes confusing feelings they're experiencing. They don't need someone like me or Ruby to tell them what that's like. Just as many teens know what it's like to feel that a parent doesn't understand or honour their wishes, and what it's like to experience a shift in the dynamics of a relationship with a brother or sister.
So why do people — people of any age — read fiction about people in some ways like them? (And really, aren't we all more alike than different?) I think it's to enter into another person's experience for a while, partly in order to expand upon one's own, but also to validate it. I think this is especially true of people experiencing turmoil of one kind or another, and the teen years for most people abound in turmoil. I hope the reader whose experience is (or was) anything like Ruby's will find validation — that sense of not being alone with their experience — in what I've written, because, you're right, I didn't shy away from portraying Ruby's experience as honestly as I knew how.
Q: What was your favourite book at 15? If you were 15 today, what kinds of activities and culture would engage you?
A: There have always been too many wonderful books for me to have had one favourite at any age. But I remember discovering books by Fred Bodsworth when I was in high school and being quite thrilled by them. Bosworth is a Canadian writer who recently won the Matt Cohen Lifetime Achievement Award, and while most of his books are out of print now, many will still be found in public libraries. I also liked a novel called Christy. I don't remember who wrote it, but I gave it to Ruby to read in Becoming Ruby, and she liked it too.
As for activities and culture I'd like if I were 15 today? It's hard to imagine I'd be any different than I was when I really was 15. I'd probably like listening to my favourite radio station, my favourite records (only now they'd be on CD), hanging around with my friends, playing cards, going to dances, reading. Pretty exciting, eh?
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