How
to Write a Novel is a portrait of a stressed-out modern
family, narrated by precocious twelve-year-old Aris Thibodeau as she writes her
first novel. A brilliantly funny work of metafiction, Aris is Adrian Mole if
he were living with his frazzled single mother in Kanuga, Georgia. With the same wry humor as Sue Townsend''s
bestselling series, Aris attempts to find her mother, Diane, a suitable mate.
Aris'' dad, a sax-blowing rogue from Louisiana, died when Aris was just a baby
but still resides as a ghost in the house, blowing fuses and sabotaging Diane''s
dates. Penn, a socialist/atheist/not-quite-redneck nanny, serves as a positive male
influence for Max, Aris'' emotionally frenetic eight-year-old brother. Aris thinks she could use some time with the family
therapist, but money is tight, so Diane gives her a book, Write a Novel in Thirty Days! , in the hope that Aris will work
through her own issues on her laptop. Aris begins her book with a broken pipe
in the bathroom, a flood that unearths Diane''s stash of journals. While reading
the journals, Aris discovers a terrible secret regarding her dead father''s
childhood, and their frenzied suburban life begins to break down: Diane loses
her job, Max melts down when he learns building Legos isn''t a viable talent for
the talent show, and Aris mails her mother''s journals out to strangers on eBay
and stalks the neighborhood''s child molesters with a machete. But as Aris'' machinations to set Diane up with Penn
begin to bear fruit, Aris wonders if a "normal" family isn''t what she''d needed
after all. Captured through the lens of a snarky, perceptive
adolescent playing at adulthood, How to
Write a Novel is a brilliant satire of the modern family, at once
endearing, hilarious, and bittersweet-a distillation of the sorts of witty,
insightful quips that keep you from drowning your kid in the bathtub.
