We Meet the Author

The Intergenerational Book Club met today to discuss Guitar Notes by Mary Amato.  The time flew by.  We had a bingo game as an icebreaker.  We had to walk around the room and talk to each other in order to find people to satisfy a square on the bingo card: are you left-handed, have you been to Paris, can you whistle a song, etc.

We also had food, with pomegranates prevalent because they were important in the story.  While eating we conversed with the author, who was on live via video chat.

Mary Amato is a wonderful, fun, and open person.  She told us how she goes about writing.  Her method is more or less cloud gathering. She takes large easel size paper and writes her characters on different sections of the paper.  Then her ideas that go with the characters are written around the character.  That's what works for her.

It is not unusual for her to make 40 revisions, or to scrap an entire book.  She sometimes writes two stories at once.  Her work schedule usually is set but if the spirit moves her, she'll stop writing and grab an instrument for a break or write a song.  But she is a disciplined perfectionist, like Lyla, the character in Guitar Notes.

That was one of the questions we asked; "are the characters based on real people?"  The answer was mostly "no."  Although Lyla had that one trait of perfectionism.

The interviewing with the author flew by.  All too soon, Mary Amato said, "just one more question."  I think the author had a good time with us.  I know we all did.  It was great fun.

Personally, I enjoyed the book.  I thought the telling of the story was unique.  Mary Amato told the story through messages passed between two people, Tripp and Lyla.  So there were two points of view.  The characterization was well drawn.  Tripp and Lyla were real typical teens.  The storyline appealed to all ages.  We, seniors, were once teens and parents so we could identify.  The teens are living the same story, presently.  The book was a hit.

Intergenerational Book

The Intergenerational Book Club has called a meeting for next week.  This is a book discussion between high schoolers and senior citizens.  The book is Guitar Notes by Mary Amato.

It is a diary-type format.  But not as organized.  It started with a note from a cello player to a guitar player to pick up and dispose of his trash because he just left it on the music stand.  He responded with a snarky response of his own and the note passing took off.

He's a loner and she's stressed out.  He finds a friend and she learns to chill.  Before Lyla met Tripp her cello playing was mechanically excellent but had no soul.  Tripp helps her.  She helps him get better grades.

At first, I thought reading this "young adult" book was going to be a chore.  It was the opposite.  In fact, it was refreshing to read a book about love which had no sex.  It's a tale of true friendship.  The guitar diagrams were Greek to me but the song lyrics were good poetry.  And at the end of the book is a scan icon which I scanned and was able to hear all the songs!  Very different.  Very clever.  Very good!

At the meeting, we are going to meet the author.  I'll tell you all about it, next week!