Novelist Jim Gladstone felt it was appropriate to celebrate the release of “The Big Book of Misunderstanding” — his heartwarming tale about people who love “so much” they almost destroy one another — aboard a péniche docked on the Seine a couple of months ago. Says Gladstone,”the writer who most inspires me, William Wharton, lives in Paris, on a houseboat.”
“Misunderstanding” chronicles Josh Royalton’s road to self-discovery, focusing on the constant push and pull between his desire to be loved by his parents — especially his father — and the need to discover himself and become independent. It also explores the role of authorship in understanding and re-creating one’s past.
At 22, the narrator wants to believe that by writing about all the issues at stake within his family, he can make them go away, exorcising them. “It’s just a temporary solution,” observes Gladstone, “maybe that’s what life is... a sequence of quests and temporary solutions.”
How much does Gladstone’s novel reflect his own life’s struggles? “Worrying too much about the truth factor is like going to the Louvre and seeing the Winged Victory, but thinking about a marble quarry,” answers Gladstone. “That’s missing the whole point, and it’s really disappointing — both for the artist and the person admiring his creation. You miss out on the whole artistic process.”
This process has taken on new dimensions since Gladstone’s move to Paris last May, when he quickly joined the expat writer’s community by organizing a writers’ group and becoming involved with the literary program at WICE. “You can get lost in the romance of being a writer in Paris. You can go to a café, think writerly thoughts,” he says, adding, “this may be procrastination in a way, but all writing is not pen to paper.”