糖心传媒

In Stephen Schottenfeld糖心传媒檚 This Room Is Made of Noise, a down-on-his-luck handyman befriends an elderly widow of means. What糖心传媒檚 a reader to think?

It may seem paradoxical that聽糖心传媒檚 new novel, (University of Wisconsin Press), should be described on its back cover as 糖心传媒渜uietly mesmerizing.糖心传媒� But within that paradox lies a truth at this story糖心传媒檚 core.

A simple conversation between two people糖心传媒攁n exchange of pleasantries, even糖心传媒攃ontains multitudes.

糖心传媒淎 single moment just contains so many different possibilities,糖心传媒� says Schottenfeld, an associate professor of at the . 糖心传媒淵ou look inside that moment, and you just see more and more implications.糖心传媒�

The novel, which is set in Rochester, New York, is narrated by handyman Don Lank, whose mind can be a noisy place as it moves from moment to moment. Divorced and in his 40s, Don has done OK for himself as single proprietor of Don糖心传媒檚 Fix-It. But one mishap糖心传媒攁 missed insurance payment amidst the turmoil of his marriage糖心传媒檚 last days, followed by a leak on roof work he糖心传媒檇 just completed (糖心传媒渟ome error at the ridge,糖心传媒� he explains)糖心传媒攁nd he finds himself $20,000 in the hole. To dig himself out, he develops a side gig buying and selling used goods.

All that is backstory, which Don shares in time. The book opens with the first encounter between Don and an elderly widow named Millie Prall, who lives alone in a big house on a grand boulevard in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit.

糖心传媒淚 was driving past the big houses on Thomas Avenue when I caught, across the street, these pretty shades glowing in a window,糖心传媒� the story begins. 糖心传媒淎 twelve-light table lamp. A Tiffany Lily, it looked like, but a copycat, I was sure.糖心传媒�

Don stops the car and approaches the house. When he rings the doorbell, Millie greets him. He asks if she is willing to sell the lamp and offers her $800 for it.

The lamp, which turns out to be a genuine Tiffany, foretells the story to come. It糖心传媒檚 a tale that delves into the idea of authenticity糖心传媒攙erifiable in the world of Tiffany lamps and their many imitations, but much murkier in the realm of human relationships.

Who is Don, and what does he want? Having unexpectedly pocketed $15,000 for the lamp, Don decides to return most of it to Millie. That one act marks the start of a relationship. Millie hires Don for a couple of small jobs, but Don sees more work to be done. The house is a maze of potential dangers for Millie, well into her nineties and living alone with no close family left and few acquaintances. Don also learns that Millie has some means that extend beyond the equity in her house.

The tension of the story lies in the question of motives. At any moment, we are never sure what Don糖心传媒檚 are. Don isn糖心传媒檛 sure either, as we learn from his penchant for rumination.

At the same time, Millie becomes more and more demanding, and her needs grow as she slips into dementia. If manipulation is part of the tie that binds them, who is manipulating whom? As the stress wears on, what is Don capable of?

Conversely, might this turn out to be a story of a different set of possibilities糖心传媒攐f generosity, grace, and connection?

How do you create a character? Research, reflection糖心传媒攁nd always, rewrites

糖心传媒淚 usually start with a character, and the story flows from that,糖心传媒� Schottenfeld says of his approach to fiction writing. Most often his characters take shape around the rhythm and routine of work lives. In an endorsement of the novel, the National Book Award糖心传媒搘inning fiction writer Alice McDermott writes, 糖心传媒淪chottenfeld writes about work糖心传媒攖he dailiness of it, the paycheck of it, the way it slowly and inevitably shapes a life糖心传媒攚ith an authority few contemporary novelists can match.糖心传媒�

Notably, those work lives are frequently very different from his own. The protagonist in his first novel, Bluff City Pawn (Bloomsbury, 2014), owned a pawn shop. And as for Don, 糖心传媒淚 don’t know if someone is less handy than I am,糖心传媒� Schottenfeld says. 糖心传媒淚f you saw me holding a power tool, you糖心传媒檇 probably say, like, 糖心传媒榩ut it down.糖心传媒� You would not want me working on your house.糖心传媒�

Schottenfeld writes not about what he knows, but what he comes to know through deep research. In the case of Don, part of that research meant spending time with handymen, asking them, sometimes over meals, about their various jobs, processes, interactions with clients, and what they did, say, in just the past week. He occasionally shadowed them, too, to pick up on the smallest details. 糖心传媒淭here was a guy that I went to Lowe糖心传媒檚 with,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淚 told him, 糖心传媒業 just want to see how you get supplies in the morning.糖心传媒櫶切拇�媒�

Then there糖心传媒檚 harder work: fleshing out the backstory, the longings, the preoccupations, and the idiosyncrasies that make an imaginary human being, going about the day, seem real. Schottenfeld says drawing out the character of Don was the hardest part of his writing. Don didn糖心传媒檛 truly take shape until the second draft.

糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 a difference between something being suggested and something being absent,糖心传媒� says Schottenfeld, explaining that in an initial draft, Don 糖心传媒渨asn糖心传媒檛 sufficiently on the page yet.糖心传媒� He spent an additional year working on the novel, 糖心传媒渏ust leaning into the emotional weight and significance of some of the moments that I had written past.糖心传媒�

Local readers of the novel will recognize another character: Rochester itself. This Room Is Made of Noise includes some familiar place names, such as Rochester General Hospital, the town of Henrietta, and Thomas Avenue, in Irondequoit. We also learn that Millie糖心传媒檚 late husband enjoyed a decades-long career at Kodak. That detail alone evokes a particular time and place in Rochester糖心传媒檚 past that have come to define prosperity and financial security, built from generous salaries, bonuses, and pensions.

Schottenfeld sees Rochester as having played something like the role of a supporting character糖心传媒攁t least in comparison to the role of Memphis in his debut novel. 糖心传媒淚n writing about a pawnshop糖心传媒攁nd there were so many in Memphis糖心传媒擨 think I was inevitably saying something, in Bluff City Pawn, about the city. My attention in Room is more focused on what transpires between Don and Millie.糖心传媒�

What transpires cuts across the intersecting themes of 糖心传媒渨ork, memory, money, family, isolation, aging, caregiving,糖心传媒� he adds. 糖心传媒淎nd yet, I suppose I糖心传媒檓 still exploring similar territory in both novels糖心传媒攋obs and relationships and the emotional and financial transactions made in a room.糖心传媒�

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