Lara Vapnyar

Lara Vapnyar's new novel is Divide Me by Zero.

From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:

Q: In an interview with The Rumpus, you said, "This novel is my most intimate and biographical. I would say it’s a dark comedy that is part classic Russian novel, part Soviet math textbook, and part American self-help manual." Can you say more about the creation of Divide Me By Zero?

A: My initial approach was to write about the last year of my marriage which also came to be the last year in my mother’s life. I marveled at how people live their day-to-day lives for years, and nothing much happens. But then there are periods of high drama, when so much happens at once. I wanted to call the novel 11 Months, which would include the story of my love for B., my affair with Vadim, the dissolution of my marriage, and the death of my mother.

But then strange things started to happen to me all somehow connected to my late mother’s old books and clothes. I felt that my late mother’s ghost started haunting me.

Now, full disclosure. I don’t believe in...[read on]

Visit Lara Vapnyar's Facebook page.

Writers Read: Lara Vapnyar (August 2016).

The Page 69 Test: Still Here.

--Marshal Zeringue