My Mother’s Son
1. What really inspired you to write your book, to force you from
taking an idea or experience and conveying it into a book?
Part of the impetus came from realizing that if
I wanted to start ‘Act 2’, I had better get going. I had been a CEO and
Chairman for many years, and while I have enjoyed my career, I also knew it was
time to do something different. And, too, I am emotionally invested in current
events, am a student of American history, and have been an avid reader of
high-quality literary fiction for many years. So I thought I would merge these
non-business interests, and the best way to do that was to write a novel of
historical literary fiction that dealt with an American story that might be of
interest to today’s readers.
The question from the outset was how to do this,
I could not just pluck something out of thin air. I wanted to write about the major issues that are in the
headlines—disease, war, politics, immigration and business. However, I knew
instinctively that I would have to set it in earlier times so as to provide
some distance from the current ‘talking heads’ climate that instantly
categorizes and analyzes events from a narrow, partisan perspective.
I
had to find the right circumstances and after researching events and years, I
came upon the idea of situating the book in Boston in 1952, when the Korean War was raging, there was a major polio
epidemic, a young Irish congressman was running for the senate against an
entrenched WASP and the sports world was being turned upside down with the move
of a baseball franchise out of the city. This had all of the ingredients that I
felt would work for me in trying to tell a story that had some relevance to the
world in which we now live.
Then I had to come up with the structure and, ultimately hit
upon writing My Mother’s Son as the memoir of a radio raconteur who
lived through the era and had family members whose history was rich in American
stories. I could use literary license to create a set of inconceivable events
of his family’s life and the world in which he lived as the foundation on which
to build the novel.
Personally, it is my belief
that our American culture has been profoundly changed and one can arguably
trace the center of this shift to the time immediately preceding and following
1952, allowing the reader to view this year as the prism that refracted our
societal attitudes, values and policies towards war, disease, politics, sports,
business and immigration.
2. What is it about and whom do you believe is your targeted reader?
The
opening line of the book, “When you’re a kid, they don’t always tell you the
truth,” lays bare one of childhood’s essential mysteries—that often, what
parents and other adults say is usually what is most convenient for the adults.
The lives of two Jewish brothers in post-World War II Boston are transformed
by secrets and discoveries they never could have envisioned, including an unimaginable family secret.
Told in
the first-person by Joel, the younger brother, now a retired radio raconteur
revisiting his past, every element—from his grandfather’s immigrant beginnings
to his aunt’s flight from Germany on the day following Kristallnacht—is infused with history, experience, and perspective. At its
core, this is a poignant story told with humor, vivid descriptions, and
insights that weaves a rich tapestry of betrayal, persecution,
death, loyalty, and unconditional love that resonates with today’s America.
It is my hope that readers of literary fiction,
historical fiction and those who want to understand more about the current
issues that are in the news every day—immigration, war, communicable disease,
politicians and business people behaving in highly suspect behavior—will be drawn
to it.
3. What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers
who finish your book? What should remain with them long after putting it down?
I want a reader to stop and think not only about what I have
written, but also about how it relates to what is going on today. If a reader
thinks that he or she has a more profound understanding of the issues that are
in the headlines today, that would be very satisfying to me … and hopefully to him
or her as well. So much of our current conversations are sound bites, fleeting
sentences that are essentially declarations of preconceived thinking. Few
people really engage in discourse that enables them to understand other
people’s positions and actions. In the long run, I also want readers to think
about the language that I have used and how it distinguishers literary fiction
from other genres.
4. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers?
Before you start writing, read the works of those who are
considered to be at the apex of the genre in which you wish to play. Then, as
you make early progress in your writing, stop and think about how persons x, y,
and z at the pinnacle of his or her game would have written the scene, and if
your work does not measure up, abandon it and start over again. Writing is
easy; writing well is hard, very hard, especially dialogue, which has to mimic
how people actually speak, something that sounds simple but is extraordinarily
difficult.
5. What trends in the book world do you see and where do you think
the book publishing industry is heading?
It is becoming harder and harder for debut authors to break
through, especially with larger publishing houses that tend to focus on
blockbuster titles. And, too, the onus is more and more on authors to promote
their own works, with many publishers providing only minimal assistance; they even
do that for just short periods of time after the publication date, at which
point, for them, it is on to the next book. Having said all this, it is clear
to me that quality does rise to the top and an excellent book will get noticed,
because the American reading public hungers for high quality books. A good
debut book may not garner a huge amount of sales, but it will build a reader
and critic audience that is then waiting for the next one.
6. What great challenges did you have in writing your book?
I pushed myself through many drafts until I found that the
book was consistent on all levels: story-telling; character development; the
use of language, as well as what I call the impact statement. By that I mean
does the reader know what the book was really
about. In other words, if someone were to inquire about it, I want the reader
to not just tell about the plot line, but to be able to say how the book spoke
to him or her, what was its main messages or messages, which could then provoke
a substantive conversation. I wrote it with an eye on making a statement that
librarians, reviewers, bloggers and influential readers would understand and be
eager to then comment.
7. If people can only buy one book this month, why should it be
yours?
While it speaks to the issues of today through a look-back at any earlier time, it is, in the words of Mitch Markowitz, screenwriter of Good Morning, Vietnam, a book that “…sculpts a vivid, irresistible portrait of a life and times. Evocative of the 1950’s, with cinematic flashbacks and flash-forwards, it is clever, poignant and funny.” Mitch and others who have read it have been entertained; that is the takeaway that should entice those who want to read a work of literary and historical fiction which is also enjoyable.
David
Hirshberg is the pseudonym for an entrepreneur who prefers to keep his business
activities separate from his writing endeavors. As an author, he adopted the
first name of his father-in-law and the last name of his maternal grandfather,
as a tribute to their impact on his life. Using his given name, he is an
accomplished ‘C-level suite’ executive, having served as Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of four firms, Chairman of the Board of six companies and a
member of the board of three other organizations. In addition, he is the
founder and CEO of a publishing company. Hirshberg is a New Yorker who holds an undergraduate degree from
Dartmouth College and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Much like the narrator in My Mother’s Son, he is a raconteur in real life as well as through
his fiction. His range of interests outside of business is in American history,
Jewish literature and practices, the nexus of science and religion, the current
cultural wars in our society, and in English, Irish and Gordon setters. Please
consult: www.DavidHirshberg.com
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Brian
Feinblum’s
insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas expressed in this
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at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when discussed in
the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2018. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His writings are often
featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.
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