The Statistical Probability of Love atFirst Sight review, The Geography of You and Me, This is What Happy Looks Like…
unusual book titles that have caught the attention of readers worldwide. And behind these books is a very positive, unassuming
and humble author I was lucky enough to
meet a few days ago at the Writer’s Bar in Raffles Hotel
upon the invitation of my friends from The National Book Store.
Here
is Jennifer
E. Smith
Lyn:
Jennifer, welcome to the Philippines.
How are you?
Jennifer: Thank you. I am so excited to be here. It's so
funny to me that we've been here for a few days now and we haven’t met them
(fans) yet. It's incredible the outpouring of enthusiasm and passion...
Before this trip was planned a year or two ago, I was saying to somebody
"what is in the water over there? It's like a country of huge
readers". It's amazing.
L:
Have your author friends told you about their experiences here?
J: Absolutely. Jenny Han and Gayle Forman and Stephanie
Perkins. It was really fun to get to talk to them before I came over here
about what their experience was like, and everybody says it's one of the
highlights of their whole writing career. It's like coming over here has
become such a thing. Every other author who hasn't come over is like
"how do I get on that trip?" Because everyone wants to meet all
these really enthusiastic people, It's amazing.
L:
They are very enthusiastic, they would line up for hours
J:
It's incredible. There's been plenty of other book festivals that have
been nicely attended and had a lot of excited people but this just seems like
on a whole different level and I'm really excited to see what it's like.
L:
I have read all three books but for those who haven’t yet, what are they about?
Let's start with THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.
J:
STAT for short to save ourselves hours (laughs)
L:
Yeah why is it long? Why did you choose that title?
J: Well it's a line towards the end of the book. We were really
stuck for a title for a long time with this and we sort of said "maybe we
could use that line". And we went back and forth over on whether it might
be too long or unwieldy or whether people will remember it and I'm really glad
that though it's definitely long and people do mess it up sometimes, I've also
heard from readers who picked it up because of that, so I think there's
something to that. And now I feel like I've set up this long titled thing
and some have followed that pattern.
STATISTICAL PROBABILITY is about two teens who
meet on a trip from New York to London. Hadley is on her way to her
father's wedding to a woman she has never met before, misses the flight for 4
minutes and because of that ends up sitting next to a boy named Oliver who
comes into her life at just the right moment. They talk the whole night
on the flight and when they get to London they get separated at Customs and
have to find each other again.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE starts when an email goes
astray and connects two teens who live on the opposite side of the US.
They start this email correspondence. It turns out that he's a teen movie
star and gets his movie moved to her small town in Maine and it goes form
there.
GEOGRAPHY OF YOU AND ME is the newest and starts
when Lucy and Owen get stuck in an elevator together during a massive city wide
blackout in New York and they get out of the elevator and spend sort of a
magical night in NYC walking and talking and soon after that get pulled apart
by family circumstances and it's about seeing how long a brief connection and a
night like that can turn into a long distance relationship.
L:
Which of these books did you like writing the most?
J: I think STAT. I don't know if it
was the short time frame, but there is something about that book, it just
poured out of me which does not always happen. I don't like to glamorize
the writing process because most of the time it's like gritting my teeth and
muscling my way through but for some reason with that one, it was just.... I
think it was more I was writing it for myself. I had actually written two
novels before that were published and I'm proud of but that didn't sell very
well. When I got the idea for that (during a break), I wasn't under
contract anywhere, I didn't know who would buy it. I knew it was a story
I was writing for myself. I wrote it fast and I loved it.
L: How fast was fast?
J: I wrote it in probably 4 months, the first draft of it, and did lots
revisions, again not to glamorize the process. But there was just
something about it, it kind of felt like a gift
L: Are Hadley and Oliver patterned
after anyone?
J: I'm not above stealing great lines or jokes or funny quirks of friends
but as I write, they become their own three dimensional characters
L: They become real people
J:
Yeah, they become voices in my head
L: Based on the title, do you believe in love at first sight?
J: It has never happened to me but I am a romantic and an optimist and
I've heard stories of it happening to other people. The thing is the
title is a little bit tongue in cheek as you know since you've read the book,
it's not so much love at first sight with them as it is a connection and then
it develops in a relatively short time frame. But I do believe in it and
I'm a hopeful person
L: I've noticed in your books that
the romance slowly builds up. You just feel it getting bigger, deeper,
which I think makes it truer. Is this a conscious effort on your part not
to make it an "oh I'm so in love" a second after meeting?
J: Absolutely, I almost have to play against the title and what
people call Insta love and I try very hard not to have it be that way because I
think that if you're gonna be in a random situation and you meet a random
person like that, the odds that it's going to be an everlasting love is lot
lower than having someone cross your path who is interesting to you or seems to
have come into your life at just the right moment. I'm sort of interested
in the idea of fate and serendipity and timing and chance really
L: Your books do have romance but
it also has a lot of family elements particularly parental issues like Hadley's
dad essentially abandoning them, Oliver's cheating dad having, Lucy's absentee
parents, Owen's mom’s death, Graham's absent parents and Ellie's non existent
dad. Issues that your readers can relate to.
J: I hope so. That's a very conscious thing. I'm so thrilled when
people talk about them as love stories because at the heart of the book it is a
love story. But there is no time in a 16 year old's life or anyone's life
where it's only about the romance. In my head they are three dimensional
characters with full lives and that means parents and siblings and school and
college. When I was writing STAT, honestly the primary story was actually the
family story but the balance shifted a little because of the way it has been
marketed, the love story has become more prominent but I really enjoy exploring
the family side too
L: And I like that in the end
there's always a solution, or if not, then they are on their way to one
J: Yes which is sort of the key to my endings, they are on their way to
something and it's not tied up with a bow situation
L: Yes, it's not an ending with a
kiss
J: I always joke that my endings are dot dot dot instead of like a period
or an exclamation point, they're a little bit open ended
L: That's why some fans are
wondering if there will be a next book
J: Yeah I like torturing the fans (laughs). I like endings that are
still open to the readers' interpretation. I feel like it's sort of a litmus
test, if your glass is half empty or half full in a way, whether you think in
your head that the characters are going to be fine or not in spite of the
various challenges at the end of these books.
L: The characters are pretty
chaste that even tweens can read them and moms don't have to be afraid when
their daughters read your books
J: The book that I'm finishing up now, they're a little bit older but I'm
not a writer who’s just gonna write anything too intense or too crazy. In
these cases, these are characters meeting between a relatively short time frame
and that's as unrealistic as Insta love that goes from 0 to 60 within 24 hours,
at least that's not the kind of teen I was. I think it's sort of organic
to the story that that's the way it happened and the nice side effect that it
has made is I've had a lot of teachers and librarians thank me for that and
moms with kids as young as 10 or 11 have come to the books that way
L: Because a lot of kids nowadays
believe in Insta love, instant everything, instant gratification
J: Yeah. You gotta earn it a little bit
L: Touching on GEOGRAPHY, have you ever received a postcard that said WISH YOU WERE HERE
J:
I definitely have. My family was really big on postcards for some reason
and I don't even remember how I decided to use that as a part of this book
L: It's a huge part
J:
It's a huge part and it's been fun to hear.... Someone recently asked me why
don't include in my books more about texting and I'm like “Oh my god, I'm the
person including postcards, how old am I?” But I think there's something sort
of charming and nostalgic about it and it certainly is for them. We
used to go on family vacations and I remember just picking out all the
postcards we'd send to our friends. It's so much fun
L: Of the quotes in your books,
which one do you believe the most?
J: The quote that is by far the most popular and has been quoted back to
me the most often is one that I almost cut from STAT. It's the 'in the end it's not the
changes that will break your heart, it's that tug of familiarity'. I
remember reading that line and thinking it’s too cheesy, maybe I should cut it
but I didn't and it's constantly quoted. When I wrote it, it was very
specific to the book and the story
L: Fans would love to see happy
endings and though they are implied in your books, for the sake of those who
want to have a concrete ending from the storyteller herself, can u tell us what
happens to them
J: You know I can't really. For me the books really end with the
last page. I get a lot of sequel request for all of them. I don't
think I would revisit STAT only because I really love where I left them. HAPPY I've been toying with
doing, maybe not a whole other sequel but maybe a story continued a little bit,
I get a lot of request on that one. But I am a generally optimistic
person and I wish all my characters the best so take from that what you will.
L: Would you ever consider writing
a duet
J: Maybe. It's certainly popular. The problem is I don't
really plot my books ahead of time so I think if I did it would probably happen
in an accidental way where I write a book and missed the character and felt
like there could be more to their story in a way that I haven't necessarily
felt with these. But I don't even plot one book so the idea of plotting a
series where you need to think ahead of time, that's not my strong suit as a
writer, I kind of wing it, but never say never
L: Alright, let / have a quick
Q&A
J: Yes
Would
you rather go on an airplane or a boat?
Airplane
Postcard or email
Postcard
Anonymous note or accidental email
Accidental email
Love at first sight or friends to lovers
Friends to lovers
Cute and nerdy or handsome and hot
Cute and nerdy, come on
Cupcake or chocolate
Cupcake
Paperback or ebook
Paperback
Travel or stay home
Travel
Gym or couch
Couch if I'm being honest
Better driver or better passenger
Passenger. I live in New York city and I don't drive that often
Stand alone books or series
Stand alone
Hunger Games or Divergent
Hunger Games
Favorite book
The Great Gatsby
Favorite author:
Charles Dickens
Favorite book you wrote
I'd say STATISTICAL PROBABILITY, but that's like making me
choose a favorite kid
Favorite song
That's a really good question...
Or favorite singer
Bob Dylan
Favorite movie
Before Sunset and Before Sunrise. You can tell (from my books) that
they've influenced me heavily
Favorite actor
Tom Hanks
Favorite actress
Meryl Streep. How old am I by the way (laughs)
Dream job
Writer
Dream destination
So many...... Philippines!
L: Thank you so much!
J: Slightly pandering (laughs)
Dream event or experience to happen or
attend
Premier of a movie of my book
Best fan experience
I've had so many lovely ones but one of those that stayed with me the most is a
17 year old boy, which is weird because I have mostly girl readers, who once
emailed me this really amazing story about how his father was getting remarried
to a woman he had never met and he wasn't gonna go to the wedding and they
haven't spoken in years. He read my book and reconsidered the
wedding. He went and now he has a relationship with his father. So yeah
it's things like that that make me realize the reach that a book can have and
it's so humbling to know that your words affected someone's life in that way
L: You've mentioned your dream of
attending a premier of your own movie so speaking of, if these get turned into
movies, which actors would you like to play the characters?
J: Being that I already told you my favorite actors are Tom Hanks and
Meryl Streep, that would give you an idea of how few young actors and actresses
I actually know. I'm either really old or really out of touch or
both. But STAT is actually in development right now
L: Congratulations
J: Thank you yeah, it's an uncertain road...
L: Have they chosen the actors?
J: Ah, I can't say.... (Laughs)
L: Maybe off the record?
(Laughs). Okay top ten books you would recommend.
J: I'll give you a list of books that I've recently read so THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John
Green, the HARRY POTTER series, ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell, WONDER by RJ Palacio, I'm obsessed with
that right now. TWO BOYS KISSING by
David Levithan, THE GOLDFINCH by
Donna Tartt, TELL THE WOLVES I’M HOME
by Carol Rifka Brunt which is an adult book but it has a lot of YA crossovers
and I'm totally biased coz I'm her editor but you will love it, it's just the
most amazing book. LIFE AFTER LIFE
by Kate Atkinson, THE INTERESTINGS
by Meg Wolitzer. And hmmmm.....
L: Maybe something you've loved as
a kid
J: WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by
Wilson Rawls. Have you read that? It's really sad but it's really
good
L: I like asking authors books
they like because those are the books I try to look for after the interview and
so far Rainbow Rowell is always mentioned
J:
Yeah all her books are great
L: Lastly, what does happy look
like to you?
J: It's actually the description of what happy looks like to Ellie.
In that sense Ellie is me. You know sunrises, ice cream, thunderstorm... all
those things...and that is more or less what happy looks like to me.
Jennifer E.
Smith along with fellow author Lissa Price are here upon the invitation of The National Book Store.
Line up for their scheduled book signing events at the following:
September
20. Saturday. 2pm at the Level 1
Atrium SM Aura Premier
September 21. Sunday. 2 to 4pm (200
slots only) at the Manila International
book Fair, SMX Convention Center.
Registration
starts at 10am for both events
Only books bought at the National Book Store, Powerbooks and NBS will be signed.
Follow National Book Store on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @nbsalert
You may visit Jennifer E. Smith's site at:
www.jenniferesmith.com and follow her on Twitter @JenESmith
Book:
Falling For Max
Tori Burns has found happiness in Maine, thanks in large part to her
shifts at the Trailside Diner. She likes the work, and she
loves the local gossip. When
shy, geeky Max Crawford becomes a regular, she's intrigued. When she finds out
he's in the market for a wife, she's fascinated…and determined to help.
Molding Max
into every woman's dream turns out to be much easier than expected. But has Tori's
plan worked a little too well? As she turns his comfortable life all
sorts of upside down,
she'll have to find a way to show just how she's fallen for him…the real him
Tori on the other hand I wasn’t really aware of. Her
character in the books prior never really left an impact on me. But here she is with her own story that
I can only describe as sweet.
This is a typical
Stacey book: well written and nicely paced. A nice addition to the Kowalski series. Though since this is technically NOT a Kowalski story, don't expect
the crazy and funny family members in full force. There are very nice Kowalski family
cameos here and there, just
enough to keep us updated on their lives, especially that of Sean and
Liz story 
