{"id":432,"date":"2013-11-12T00:01:17","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T05:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/?p=432"},"modified":"2021-07-17T18:08:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T22:08:59","slug":"fresh-fiction-guest-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/?p=432","title":{"rendered":"Fresh Fiction Guest Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fresh<\/a>I’m honored to be featured on the Fresh Fiction Website<\/strong><\/em>! Check out the site here Fresh Fiction<\/a> for my post and contest information!<\/p>\n

A poet, I\u2019m leery of explanations; often that perfect last line is my desperate attempt to guarantee readers get it, that the message is clear. In such cases, I hear my dear friend and teacher, Edwina Trentham, advising me: \u201cTrust the poem.\u201d Almost always, that perfect last line gets cut. So discussing life lessons in The Namesake<\/em><\/a>, is a challenge. I\u2019ll mostly leave it to my characters to dole out lessons, trusting readers to find those they need, learning them alongside the main character, Evan Galloway, as he grapples in the aftermath of his father\u2019s suicide.<\/p>\n

Still, without dictating meaning, I\u2019ll say The Namesake<\/em> is a novel of faith, forgiveness, and love. While religion, Catholicism specifically, plays an important role in the story, faith takes a broader meaning. Faith\u2014in self and in relationships, as well as in God\u2014drives the plot. Ultimately, though he questions, Evan realizes that, without faith, life at its core is empty.<\/p>\n

Another colossal lesson Evan learns from his doomed father is that forgiveness is supremely difficult to grant oneself. The scene where Father Brendan discusses forgiveness was very poignant for me to write. It\u2019s probably the closest I get to an overt message, and it still has the power to make me emotional. Maybe that\u2019s because it\u2019s a hard-won lesson for me as well.<\/p>\n

Without channeling Celine Dion, I\u2019ll say The Namesake<\/em> is also about the power of love. Evan finds, through its loss and through what remains, just how essential love is. He also recognizes that where there is love, there is, inevitably, unimaginable pain. Significantly, he comes to realize that this coexistence of love and loss is symbiotic. As Evan puts it toward the end of the book, \u201c. . . the bad stuff seems important in a new way. Like part of the recipe: the bitter lemon that makes the coconut sweeter.\u201d One of my working titles for the novel was actually The Sweet Bitter<\/em>, but perhaps I was being both too vague and too obvious.<\/p>\n

Personally, writing The Namesake <\/em>has taught me lessons of faith, persistence, and trust. There were many stumbling blocks along Publication Road, yet I knew I owed it to these characters to tell their story. There were moments of great doubt, and I often battled that loud inner voice telling me the story didn\u2019t matter. I found affirmation in the faith of others: my wife, Janet; supportive family members; good, honest friends. They believed when I didn\u2019t. And I found strength in Evan\u2014he\u2019s just so freaking persistent\u2014to continue, even at the lowest points. I came to trust the story was there, it needed to be told, and I was, in fact, the only one who could tell it. The Namesake took me to some pretty dark and unexpected places, but with faith, I uncovered truly important lessons about writing, about life\u2014and about myself. Now it\u2019s time for you, reader, to find lessons of your own. Feel free to share them with me.<\/p>\n

All best,
\nSteven Parlato<\/a><\/p>\n

Leave a comment by 12:01 AM on 11\/16 on the Fresh Fiction<\/a> site for the chance to win a signed hardcover or ebook copy of The Namesake<\/em>!<\/p>\n

The unedited version of this post originally appeared on \u201cAshley Loves Books\u201d Blog, January 17, 2013
\nhttp:\/\/ashleylovesbooks.blogspot.com\/2013\/01\/guest-post-steven-parlato-author-of.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m honored to be featured on the Fresh Fiction Website! Check out the site here Fresh Fiction for my post and contest information! A poet, I\u2019m leery of explanations; often that perfect last line is my desperate attempt to guarantee readers get it, that the message is clear. In such cases, I hear my dear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,10,4,37],"tags":[18,19,17,42],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":751,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions\/751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}