8. Similarly, discuss how natural setting works in this novel. Do you get the sense that the natural world (forests, sunsets, trees) is somehow apart from the restrictive world in which Kate lives? Is there a greater significance to the scenes that occur in a natural location? What about the scene where Katie and Cynthia are forced to camp out in the living room by her friend’s overzealous mother—what kinds of themes might the author be toying with there?
9. After her falling out with Cynthia, Katie wishes for a moment that she were a boy because “they have thicker skin,” and male friends probably would not hold grudges against each other. Do you agree that there seem to be some inherent differences between how men and women deal with interpersonal relationships, conflict, and loss (at least in the scheme of this novel)? How do the male characters fit into this world that seems to be, to some extent, ordered and ruled by women? What role does Katie’s dour and distant father play in the story? Did you feel that you had a sense of him as a character?
10. What do you think Mr. Wexler’s role in this novel is? In what ways do the dynamics between him and his wife help Katie to better understand and appreciate the loyalty and love that the Randolphs maintain? In what ways does it help us, as the reader, come to some important conclusions as well?
11. By the end of the novel, how successful do you consider Katie to be in dealing with her mother’s death? In what way is this story an emotional journey for this young woman?
12. On the same note, what do you consider the most valuable lesson that Katie learns in the course of this story? Does she learn more from her experiences with the Randolphs, the Wexlers, the girls from Bartlett, or Cherylanne and Cynthia?
13. Where do you see Katie in ten years? She obviously has talent and a love for words, but do you think she can overcome her shyness regarding her work enough to make it a career? What kind of an adult do you think Katie will be? Is there someone in this novel that you think she will eventually come to emulate?
A Conversation with Elizabeth Berg
Q. You are quite a prolific writer. As such, you must have already garnered a pretty loyal fan base. Do you have any sense of who your readers are? Why do you think people read, and obviously enjoy, your novels?
A. My readers tend to be mostly women, with a broad age range, literally from eight to eighty, but centered around forty to fifty. I think they’re women like me, with a deep appreciation for the “little” things in life, which are not so little after all: the comfort of family and routine, the beauty and wonder of nature, the salvation of friendship, the importance of humor. They respond to a certain kind of writing style: they care not just about what’s said, but how it’s said. They appreciate subtlety and they understand nuance—you don’t need to beat them about the head to make a point—they get things. They’re swell.
I think they enjoy my novels because they see themselves. Many tell me that they like them because I say for them the things they feel, but cannot articulate. And many say they appreciate being able to laugh and cry in the same book.
Q. How was the experience of writing TRUE TO FORM different from your experience writing previous novels? Were there particular challenges in this book that you had not faced before?
A. Writing any novel is different from writing any other. It’s like children—they all come from you, but they are all their own beings, with their own personalities and eccentricities and demands and payoffs. If there was a particular challenge in this book, it was having a character I love do something I hate, which is to betray a friend.
Q. In this story, you bring to life the refreshingly honest voice of a thirteen-year-old girl with immense skill. Did you know from the start of this project that you were going to use Katie’s voice to tell the story? Did you consider using third person, or someone else as first person?
A. Since this is the third in a series, I knew it would be Katie’s voice and I kept it first person, as it had been in the novels that preceded it (Durable Goods and Joy School). This was not just for continuity’s sake; I enjoy writing in first person—most of my novels are written that way.
Q. Did you grapple with whether or not Cynthia would forgive Katie? Why did you choose the ending you did?
A. I wasn’t sure that Cynthia would forgive Katie—I don’t plot, I just show up at the keyboard every day to see what’s happening. The ending is a subtle way of saying that she does forgive her, without being too obvious or sentimental. Also, the ending shows that Katie, whether she knows it consciously or not, has made the move into being a writer—she knows that it is on the page, through metaphor, that she will come to fully understand things.
Q. Katie seems to share your love of the written word—there are many instances when her descriptions of the writing process could feasibly be seen as authorial intrusions. To what extent is she an autobiographical character?
A. Any character I write is at least somewhat autobiographical, even if it is someone who is nothing like me, because the characters I create are shaped by my experiences. That having been said, I think Katie is the character most like me—oversensitive, dreamy, enamored of the written word, full of longing.
Q. Early on in the novel, Katie says, “One thing I do not understand about parents is how out of their mouths come two different things at almost exactly the same time. They are the true forked-tongue people of the world.” Throughout your novel it almost seems that children are the only people capable of honesty. Was this a theme that you consciously brought to your book? Do you think there is any hope for honesty and genuineness in the adult world?
A. I’ve met a lot of adults who are genuine and honest—I just have to look for a certain compatibility, a certain spark, and then stay with a friendship long enough to knock down some barriers. Adults are more cautious than children, take themselves too seriously, and many have forgotten how to play or take risks. But many have not forgotten. Those are the adults I like to be around.
Q. Besides her humor, Katie’s apparent irreverence toward religion is an interesting facet of her personality. Was this just another way for you to highlight Katie’s ability to think freely and independently, or is there something more that you were trying to express regarding organized religion?
A. I think adolescents zero right in and take aim at hypocrisy, and organized religion is a big target. Katie is a kid who has a strong sense of spirituality, and she ponders things like the meaning of life and death, of mortality. She wants religion to make sense, to provide a refuge for her. Some, it does. Mostly, it does not.
Q. Was there one particular theme or idea that you want a reader to take away from TRUE TO FORM?
A. Well, maybe that if you’re not true to yourself, you have nothing. But I like to think that TRUE TO FORM is a literary bouquet—I hope readers come away with many things.
Q. Katie appeared in two previous novels, Durable Goods and Joy School. What made you decide to continue her story in a third novel?
A. It was actually a reader’s request that I write one more book about Katie.
ELIZABETH BERG is the author of ten novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2000. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.
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ALSO BY ELIZABETH BERG
Ordinary Life
Never Change
Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True
Open House
Until the Real Thing Comes Along
What We Keep
Joy School
The Pull of the Moon
Range of Motion
Talk Before Sleep
Durable Goods
Family Traditions
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Washington Square Press
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Copyright © 2002 by Elizabeth Berg
Originally published in hardcover in 2002 by Atria Books
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Atria Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-7434-1135-8
ISBN 978-0-7434-2181-2 (ebook)
First Washington Square Press trade paperback printing May 2003
WASHINGTON SQUARE PRESS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Author photograph by Marion Ettlinger
Elizabeth Berg, True to Form
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