a very pleased to be here today talking
with Jonathan Tropper about his new
novel one last thing before I go
Jonathan thank you for coming to talk to
us thank you for having me I'm glad to
be here so tell me a little bit about
this novel this is your sixth novel yes
and I've you know I've heard some of
your earlier books I think this one is
very was different for me it had a
gravity to it that that was that's
different from some of your earlier
books so how did you arrive at the
subject here and this particular
character the gravity kind of took me by
surprise I generally set out you know to
write novels that are you know that do
deal with pretty heavy issues generally
death and relationships family dynamics
and I but I do try to do it in a
light-hearted way and that that was my
intention when I started writing this
book but gradually as I got into the
head of this character who really had
had so much regret in his life and so
many things he couldn't so many mistakes
that he could not correct I had never
really written about someone who so past
the point of redemption most of my
characters things go terribly wrong but
the book is about them correcting that
and and this guy we were meeting him at
a later point in his life where those
mistakes had been made years ago and he
couldn't correct them and I guess once I
got into his head I started feeling that
kind of regret and so it became a deeper
and more textured study of this kind of
character so you know while there's
still a lot of comedy in the book his
journey is definitely a darker journey
and and I think that's what I used the
book with a little more gravity than the
others and it's very interesting
portrait of a man sort of at that
midlife point who's very you know he's
very honest with himself and honest
about what he how he's feeling and where
he's at and I think it makes him very
real and in spite of the fact that you
know the sort of the burden of his of
his past and his choices so weighs so
heavily upon him I think that
he he stands up to it in a way that I I
think makes the novel very interesting
you're one of the things that I found
appealing about writing this character
of silver is that he's reached a point
where he doesn't even have pretensions
anymore it's so clear if you just look
at him and you know there's this crappy
apartment he lives in this the the fact
that he was lunch uh you know something
of a rock star now he plays in a
third-rate wedding band the fact that
he's estranged from his daughter he's
estranged from his ex-wife he's he's
lost touch with his family even it's he
really has nothing and when you reach
that point there's no longer any denial
there's no longer any posing and trying
to seem like you have more than you have
he he's just he's one of the lonely
people and that's who he is and that's
how he identifies himself so there's no
there's no there's no delusions and you
know how do you know when we meet him at
that point where he's you know he's just
sort of it at the baseline he has in
fact a life-or-death decision yeah
before him and he he he goes against the
grain did you see that happening with
him I mean is that that was always the
plan of the book was you know it's
always just assumed you know that you're
going to fight for your life whatever
whether it's cancer whether it's a heart
defect whether it's a bullet you know
whatever it is that no matter what's
going on in your life you're going to
just fight to keep living which to me is
is a very human train and it's both an
instinct and it has to do I think with
hope that you know we all no matter
what's going on in our lives we all
believe our lives are worth living and I
wanted to deal with a guy who actually
may not believe that and none of his
family and none of his friends can
believe that he really doesn't believe
that but here's a guy who really isn't
sure he wants to save his own life and
the idea that he makes this decision not
to have the life-saving operation and
nobody else can understand it but but
we're in his head and we do understand
that he might be ready to check out now
rather than
continue living this empty life and what
do you think about that I mean is he is
it brave to you or is it is it I don't
thank for it well I don't think it's
brave because the brave thing is to you
know to keep going and to try to fix
your life and try to do better to me I
think what it is is he's giving himself
a deadline he's saying these are the
things I've done wrong these are the
things i need to be better at and if I
die before I get them done and I don't
deserve to live and if I get them done
then maybe I'll consider the operation
but he's basically saying you know this
is my wake-up call and I'm going to look
death in the eye while I try to fix
these things how do you kind of process
how that decision impacts the people
around him the people that you that he
feels sort of a drift from that he's
that he's people he failed in his life
his wife and his daughter like that
decision kind of lights a fire under
them and it in a unique way yeah I mean
and that that's the whole thing is no
matter how a strange you are from
somebody we all kind of throw all of our
our personal issues aside when it gets
to life and death I mean there's very
few family members who won't show up for
you in a time of crisis regardless of of
what you've been through so they do show
up for him because they feel connected
to him but they're also deeply
frustrated by his behavior over the last
seven years and now his refusal to to
sort of save his own life and so it's
this weird tension that exists in this
family where they've all come together
to try to help him but he's not
interested in being helped and they're
not really interested in being there
it's just it's it's just weird dynamic
where they were all sort of thrown
together by this you know this sort of
radical decision he's made to to not
save his life and to me I mean at
certain points and I think some of the
humor of the story helps drive this home
for me
he is on this he's done this weird sort
of George Bailey trip like he thought
George Bailey but he's in that crisis of
you know what if I you're the second
person who said George going to be an
end I'd never occurred to me I mean he's
not that's why I mean it's sort of a
slant connection right because he's not
he's not that guy but in certain moments
and certainly in the desperation of that
he's staring down the barrel of it but
the way that you treat his journey is
really clever and I think that it raises
the him up from where we first meet him
and you know when I started reading a
psycho my goodness like how are we gonna
come out of this and he really he really
does have an interesting path well
there's an honesty to him that I enjoyed
writing that you know he's like like I
said before he's reached this point
where you know we all lie to ourselves
we all tell ourselves if I can just do
this things will get better if I could
just do that things will go better and
he's just past the point of lying to
himself and he's just he knows this is
what his life is and then as he starts
having these mini strokes because of his
heart situation that forces him to be
not just honest with himself but honest
with other people and and it creates
this dynamic where this is what happens
when we actually tell the truth to each
other which we don't generally do so I
was interested in that what do you think
he was like you know at 24 like where
did he go wrong like well I think where
he went wrong in this particular case
was you know he was a drummer he was a
rock star and he he tasted Fame I mean
his band had this one hit that made them
superstars and then the whole thing fell
apart really quickly and once you've
been there nothing else seems good
enough again and and he just always
believed he was going to get back there
but of course he never did and so his
whole regular life where he had so many
things to appreciate he just stopped
appreciating them because he had once
been a rocket and and he never recovered
from that it's like the thing that he
can't let go up yeah and it's it's just
like yeah he just he lost the ability to
appreciate things like a wife and a
daughter and
and a family and it was all about being
a superstar and he was a superstar so
briefly was just like one second but
that one second colored everything
afterwards how do you think that male
readers will react to true and the way
that he I think they'll appreciate the
reins I think they'll appreciate some of
the stuff he says I mean he's really
sort of I was uncomfortable writing some
of the stuff he says I mean he says this
stuff many men sometimes think without
saying and you know the way he assesses
those college girls who hang out at the
swimming pool the way he assesses his
own sexuality the way he assesses his uh
his place on the flick on the dating
food chain and you know he's he's
brutally honest with himself but he's
also brutally honest about the women and
about the people around him and and
there's something really fun about being
with somebody who has no filter and I
has absolutely no filter so you've done
I just wanted to switch topic just
quickly you've done some writing for for
TV and film and you're just developing a
news a new series yeah we're shooting it
actually it's it's developed its
developed so tell me tell me a little
bit more about that our television show
is for HBO cinemax it's called banshee
and it's very different from my books
and say it's a one-hour drama very much
in the spirit of david cronenberg er the
Coen brothers uh Bob's you know a lot of
a lot of violence a lot of sexuality
gangsters that kind of thing set in
modern-day Pennsylvania and that's
something we're shooting 10 episodes now
for Cinemax produced by HBO and just
using a different muscle there's a lot
of fun and I recently finished adapting
my last book this is where I leave you
for Warner Brothers and that's actually
scheduled to start shooting this
September in New York and I'm very
excited about that how was that
experience writing for screen versus oh
it's just a different like I said it's a
way to diversify your mind creatively
it's a very different kind of writing
this book one last thing before I go is
just an option by paramount and I'll be
writing the screenplay for that as well
and
it's a way to kind of take the story
you've written as a novel and tell a new
story on film it's a it's different and
it's just it's if you just sit and write
prose all day at least I I'll just I'll
burn out from that it's fun to be able
to put that aside and then open up final
draft and start writing scenes yeah do
you get to write more female characters
like it when you're working in this new
shower yeah we have it we have a really
strong female lead and yeah i mean my
books do tend to generally have a male
protagonist only because that that's
what comes naturally but but i do try to
spend a lot of time on the female
characters in the book and make sure
that they're that they're real humans
and not just there to be the female
character and right you know I've been
told sometimes I've been really
successful I didn't i've been told
sometimes I haven't been and you know
you just keep trying right in 601 some
people yeah get it some people tell you
how you just keep going well thank you
for being here today I'm sorry good cock
thank you for having me