Monday, June 2, 2008

Pam Lewis

Pam Lewis' short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker and other literary publications.

Her books include Speak Softly, She Can Hear and the recently released Perfect Family.

Best-selling author Wally Lamb said of Perfect Family: "Pam Lewis is the literary equivalent of a forensic scientists. In her compelling second novel, Perfect Family, Lewis pulls the body of a beautiful young woman from a lake, then, layer by suspensful layer, unpeels and revels a well-to-do family's secrets, lies, and hidden heartaches. I was riveted."

Last week I asked Lewis what she was reading. Her reply:
I've just finished Haruki Murakami's After Dark. Normally I avoid anything that smacks of fantasy. I like stories solidly grounded in reality. But Murakami writes in a way that must mirror the concrete and abstract parts of our own minds because the fantasy in his stories is totally credible and satisfying.

Before that I was on a serious Harry Crews kick, finishing up with Classic Crews, the Harry Crews reader. I mean, talk about concrete — one of the stories is about a man who eats a car. You can't forget Harry Crews once you've read him.

Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin paperback, translated by Robin Buss) is next. I can't wait to start. I think I'll be lost in this story for weeks. It's a very fat paperback. A friend likened it to reading a meatloaf.
Read an excerpt from Perfect Family, and learn more about the author and her work at Pam Lewis' website.

--Marshal Zeringue