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Show IsNsTaMtavaiaEaW L Making believe: Alice Hoffman takes her practical magic to the river INTERVIEW BY ELLIN RANKER The Rier King, ghosts appear in photographs and people are knocked out by an overwhelming smell of roses though the weather was dismal and no flowers bloomed. This isn't the real w orld, it's the w orld of Alice Hoffman, whose 13 novels sparkle with enchantment. In "There are people who write fiction to come to terms with their own lives. I'm much more interested in creating alternate universes, not ever) day reality. said the author, speaking from her home outside Boston. Hoffman, who has peopled her novels w ith w itches (Practu al Magic. 1995) and giants ( Illumination Sight. 1987) and armed her merely mortal characters with charms and spells, never outgrew her love of fairy tales. She thinks at heart, no one has. Everyone wants to believe. As a girl. Hoffman adored Mary Poppins and stories by the Brothers Grimm and Ray Bradbury, but more than that, she believed in them. "I believed anything can happen. It was a huge escape for me as reader I loved anything that could remove me from reality and make me see possibilities, she said. Fiction in general gives you the freedom of exploring the truth w ithout boundaries, to get to a deeper truth, and fairy talcs have always been my model. The River King, with more than a whisper of fairy tale to it, takes place in Haddan. Massachusetts, al a school haunted by the ghosj of Annie Howe. Most newcomers are The River King Though Hoffman may have the most in common with the Fiction gives you the freedom of exploring the truth without boundaries, to get to a deeper truth. apprised of Annie's fate as soon a they come to Haddan. . . . The hmse is called St. Anne's, in honor of Annie Hwe. who hanged herself from the rafters otic mild evening in March , . . envisioned this gothi, Once image, the rest of the story unfolded It's a strange px'xe-v- . writing fiction " s!ie said Here, the town kind of me. then the vbool and appeared the roef. and people moved in and filled it up " Among the people filling up Haddan are new students Carlin Lcandcr and Augustus Pierce, new teacher Betsy Chase, and AM Grey, the loan policeman who has lived there all his life They meet as strangers, but If tc mvsicrious death o( one unites the other three W hi lc uncovering the truth, thev each discover some truths about ft themselves. Hoffman writes. "It was the truth that was always as clear as water until it had been broken: shatter n and all that's left is a he More important than the story you tell is the voice you have. said the author, w ho achieves that voice by not thinking about it too much. Tve always tried to go directly from sleep to the computer, before I have the time to start censoring myself. I like to get up at 5:00. 1 do my best work early in the morning before the world's awake. For the kind of fiction I write, w hich is emotional fiction, you have to let go. Let the walls down, the defenses down. Don't worry about what people are going to think. She tries to work quickly and never looks over her first draft until she has told the whole story. Then she burnishes her prose. "1 rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. she said. It mA three years before she was satisfied with txxA's impulsive, exotic Beley Chase, she feels the mosi protective of the teenagers. Carlin and Gus. The author's children are 12 and 17, but Hoffman didn't u their behavior for the ho4. She didn't have to. Her (wn teenage years Still feel achingly It stays with you like no other time does falling in love for the first fre-- h time, succeeding for the fiM time, failI ing for the first lime its intense remember how important, how dire every ihing seemed I very thing seemed o lde or death I thud, it s still that way Adolescent angst may be eternal, but some things have changed since Hoffman's high vIxMit years The killings at Columbine II. gh School occurred while she wjs writing The River King "I lelt like changing tlie bo4 because ot Colombme. but decided to leave it the way it is Tlterc seems In be so much intolerance aMul sexual orientation, so much bullying, more people getting guns. said Hoffman. It's harder to be a teenager now." Harder, even than w hen she w rote about New York gang life in her first novel. Property Of. The hook came out in 1977. when Hoffman was in her early 20s. barely out of her teens, herself. w as a baby. I knew nothing. I had never heard of Farrar Straus (her first publisher when I started." she said, laughing. "Back then, you got no money, no publicity, hut they took more chances. It was much easier to get published. Her current publisher Putnam's stayed with me in a way I'm not sure publishers do anymore. If you're not having huge sales, they don't want to see you. Hoffman doesn't think about sales, huge or otherwise, when she works. "I always feel youre writing the fxxA you couldn't find, so you have to write it yourself. Though she confessed. Some people pressure you to write the same boA over and over again. Hoffman doesn't pay much attention. She'd rather stretch herself as a writer and keep her own council, something she learned to do as a girl. Back in elementary school, her "very, very smart" older brother was the teachers' darling Hoffman, who was not. wasn't above filching his old papers and resubmitting them under her own name. His would gel an A and mine would get a C or D I realized it didn't matter what anyone else thought and whatever judgment I got was going to come from myself You have to have faith in " yourself The author ot 1 c The River King also has faith in the power of myth and the power of lit erature. Though reading and writing may seem like solitary acts, she believes books bring people together, providing that feeling of community, of what feels true lor you (eels true lor me. the sense you're not ilone and somebody knows how you feel I believe literature can change ihiiigs.'' Hoffman said. She believes it the way she used to believe in fairy tales with all her heart. Ellen Kannc writes fiom Miami The River King Putnam, $23.95 ISSN Audio, 0399145990 ISBN 1567403786 $3235, HBUBNBNaY A fairy tale for mature audiences Dost be deceived by a quick glance at The Very Persistent Cappers of Flip (Vfflard Books, $23.95, ISBN 0375503838; Audio, $32.95, ISBN 1567403786). This may appear to be just another charming children's book, but a clever subtlety g and story kirk within. Growing I at same the jokes my parents did up, laughed when watching television shows like Rocky and BuBwinkk or, later; The Simpsons. As an adult, I understood why they were laughing, and the jokes became much funnier: In other words, while children will enjoy The Very Persistent Cappers of Frip, only adults will fully appreciate it writer George Saunders and illustrator Lane Smith The Stinky Cheese Marti have created a beautiful mix of story and art Their tale is set in Frip, a fictional seaside town plagued by persistent gappen pests who crawl from the ocean at night to suck on sheep. The story examines how the town's three families deal with this unique c ha Benge. For the most part, they handle ft by forcing their children to work aft day plucking tappers, though it's really not that simple. Right below the surface are issues like parental responsibility, abandonment, and the absence ot a social safety net, to name a few examples. As you turn the pages, youB discover the real magic of the book: characters that make yon smile, because you know someone exactly Eke these fascinating residents of Frip. thought-provokin- Short-stor- y Andrew Lis |