After spending years writing novels, short stories, and screenplays in her home office in Hoboken, Caroline Leavitt is about to begin a 16-city tour before her ninth book, “Pictures of You,” hits bookstores on Jan. 25, 2011.
Leavitt said she has not experienced such far-reaching promotion for a work of hers since she began publishing novels in 1981.
“It’s been so weird,” she said. “I have received critical acclaim before, and my books have sold okay, but suddenly with this book there’s been this astonishing buzz, and I’m not yet sure why.”
“Pictures of You” is a novel about two women running away from their marriages who collide in a car crash on a foggy highway. One of them is killed. The book details the struggle of the survivor, as well as how the families of the two women cope with the fallout of the accident.
Leavitt’s book “Pictures of You” will be available Jan. 25 wherever books are sold.
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Leavitt just seems thankful that her work is getting large-scale recognition, and is grateful to her publisher, Algonquin Books.
“They’ve been sending me to book conferences,” Leavitt said. “There’s been a ton of stuff to do, which is really new for me.”
Hoboken beckons
Leavitt lived in Manhattan for “many, many years” before she reluctantly first moved to Hoboken in the early 1990s.
“I never wanted to leave Manhattan,” she said. “But when I met my husband [writer Jeff Tamarkin] we both wanted to have writing offices at home, and we wanted to have kids. We looked in New York and everything cost $2 million.”
In 1990, a friend suggested that the couple look west to Hoboken. “Back then, you could get entire houses for $200,000,” she said.
Leavitt said she crossed the Hudson River “kicking and screaming.” However, it wasn’t long before Hoboken became home.
“I fell in love with the place,” she said. “I love our home; I love the neighborhood. I watched everything change. When we moved here there was one Chinese restaurant in town and that was it. Now, there are tons of places to go.”
In addition to becoming home for her and her husband, Hoboken also has provided her son with an opportunity to take part in the Hoboken Kids Theatre Company.
“[Hoboken] is a great place for a writer,” she said. “It’s a perfect place for me. I really love it.”
Hoboken influence
Leavitt’s writing is influenced by her surroundings. In one chapter, a character photographs a sign that spells sandwiches “sandwishes.” Leavitt said she got the idea from a sign in Church Square Park that made that mistake.
Also, her neighbors helped her with her research. One scene details the logistics of what happens after a car crash takes place, from a police standpoint.
“I talked to three cops,” she said. “One man lives on our block and is a detective. I also had to talk to lawyers, funeral directors, and other professionals.”
In addition to looking around her for inspiration, Leavitt also looks within.
“Sometimes I draw on people I know,” she said. “But almost always it comes out of my imagination.”
A car crash is a central event in “Pictures of You,” and Leavitt says that driving a car is a phobia of hers. Luckily, Hoboken is a very walkable city.
“[The character] gets all phobic about cars, and that’s totally me,” Leavitt said.
Another character, Sam, has asthma.
“I used to have bad asthma,” Leavitt said. “In the four years I was writing the book, the asthma went away. But as soon as I turned in the novel, I got sick again.”
Leavitt said the book took her approximately eight drafts before it was final.
The front cover, and title, feature a reference to photography. “A friend once said to me, ‘photos always lie,” Leavitt said. “You can photograph someone looking down and make them look evil, or change the way someone is perceived.”
Leavitt said the picture ties into the message of her book.
“We see what we want to see in terms of the people we love,” she said. “They could be doing terrible things, but we could choose not to see it. I thought the camera was a really good metaphor for that.”
Leavitt’s book “Pictures of You” will be available on Jan. 25 wherever books are sold.
Ray Smith may be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com