If you’d like to read an amazing writer AND thinker, then check out a novel by Marianne Wiggins sometime. I LOVE her because she is willing to step outside “the rules” as a writer, and paint some BRIGHT purple where no one would ever expect it. She also makes me think.
I discovered her first by reading her 1998 novel Almost Heaven. In an amazing piece of synchronicity, I connected up with this novel, “an intellectually dazzling, emotionally incandescent story of memory and the redemptive power of love,” back in 2003, when I was struggling with a personal loss of faith in love. This novel changed everything for me! It was one of the many therapies I employed to help me recapture that wonderful feeling that love would return soon, and stronger than ever before!
Then Marianne came out with Evidence of Things Unseen in 2004. Apparently Marianne and I share a strong interest in the history of radiation and its consequences. One of the reasons this topic fascinates me is because I believe my maternal grandmother died in her 70s from a massive radiation exposure in her 50s, back when we thought science and x-ray were the answer to any problem. Marianne covers a few decades of American history here in such an intelligent and illuminating way!
Last week I luxuriated in the pleasure of reading Marianne’s latest novel The Shadow Catcher, a book which at first might appear to be another creative non-fiction analysis of the life of Edward Curtis. But what is it really about? For me it provides some essential insights into the mind of a writer; how an amazing novelist puts together a story in a way that ignites the imaginations of her readers. I always learn so much from reading her books, new insights into the way we all comprehend our world and interact with it.
When I read a novel by Marianne Wiggins I always gain a new perspective on something important to me. I look at myself and my life differently. I feel changed.
Pingback: How does a novelist put a page together? | Stress management for writers