Blog Tour: Every Father's Daughter Edited by Margaret McMullan

I just finished reading Every Father’s Daughter, and this book is like none other that I have read.  A collection of twenty-four essays compiled by Margaret McMullan, Every Father's Daughter discusses authors’ relationship or the lack there of with their fathers. McMullan has Mississippi roots, so I was excited to join this blog tour. The methodological choice of essays and the organization of them make the book hard to put down.  I was expecting a book to paint a pretty picture of an iconic relationship with the father. However, I was surprised to read genuine stories that painted a real picture about who each author’s father really was.  The essays invite you into each of the writer's personal relationship with their father.  The writer exposes the pain, the joy, and sometimes even regret that occurred in that relationship.  Ironically, this book makes you analyze your relationship with your father, and it forces you to think about if you really know, whom your father is.  This book is a great read, especially since it is close to Father’s Day.  I highly recommend Every Father's Daughter.

Check out the Q &A below with Margaret McMullan

Margaret McMullan SIQs

Every Father's Daughter

1. How did you decide which authors to reach out to for this collection?

In the last month of my father’s life, I read to him Alice Munro’s essay, “Working for a Living.” We had one of our last book discussions about that fox farm, the cold work, and the landscape of Canada. She was the first person I contacted. I wrote her a letter and a few months later she called and said yes, of course you can reprint my essay. I was just stunned. The other authors followed. I invited the authors my father loved or had met at some point in his life. He had dinner with Lee Smith once and she was so quick to respond. Lee led me to Jill McCorkle. I also included three former students. In the end, this collection of women writers became one big circle of friends.

2. How did your vision for this collection evolve from the start to end of this project?

At first I saw this as a collection of southern writers, men and women. But then I realized I just wanted to hear from women, daughters. I moved away from regionalizing it when I began thinking of my father’s literary tastes and what kind of man he was. He was southern but he was also very much shaped by Chicago and the Mid-West. Each time I read an essay, I would think, Would Dad like this?

3. What most surprised you about the creation of Every Father's Daughter?

I was surprised how difficult such a great collection was to get published. Jane Smiley had a Pulitzer, Maxine Hong Kingston won the National Book Award, and Alice Munro had just won a Nobel Prize. I felt this book was no-proof. Who wouldn’t want to read these writers on this particularly personal subject? And who wouldn’t want to read about fathers? I’ve always thought this collection was a sure thing, but it was much more difficult to find a publisher than I had imagined. Apparently, anthologies were no longer fashionable in the publishing industry. One editor, who declined the book, has since contacted me to tell me how she genuinely regrets not taking it.

In your introduction, you talk about how this book was a way for you to grieve. How did you come to realize this?

This particular work felt meaningful because all along I thought so much about my father. I started soon after my father died. The work – reaching out to other women, asking for their stories, and then reading them was therapeutic because it reminded me that there are other emotions besides grief. After a while, after I organized and put together the book, after I wrote my own essay, my grief transformed. It felt less like sadness and more like love.

I have encountered so many readers who have read the book and want to talk about an essay, and then, inevitably, these readers begin to tell me about their fathers. A conversation starts. This book has a power. We are remembering our fathers, and, in some cases, bringing them back to life.

4. Did you come to realize anything about your relationship with your father as you read through the essays in this collection?                                                                                                

I knew from the start that we were close, and that a good part of that closeness was how we stayed connected through literature. Now, I realize exactly how close we really were.

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Check out my other blog: Transitioning to Me: Life after Divorce.

Blogtour: Aftermath Lounge by Margaret McMullan

Hurricane Katrina destroyed the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005.  The release of “Aftermath Lounge” by Margaret McMullan seems perfect.  “Aftermath Lounge” is a compilation of stories about citizens of Pass Christian, Mississippi.  As McMullan introduces each character, the feelings and emotions feel so real.   Subsequently, McMullan paints how Hurricane Katrina not only affected the citizens of Mississippi, but also affected other individuals indirectly. 

McMullan provides a glimpse into the happenings of the characters lives before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina damaged the Mississippi Coast.  The first story introduces the reader to Norma, who is housesitting before Hurricane Katrina hits.  Norma and her husband are starting a new parenting journey because they have adopted Norma’s friend, Donna’s son. 

The title story follows Norma’s ex-husband Catch.  Catch happens to rescue a woman, named Nancy from a dog attack.  Catch takes Nancy out on a date to a restaurant named Kafe Katrina and the Aftermath Lounge.

Being from Mississippi and having experienced the effects of Hurricane Katrina in the Metro Jackson area, I understood the messages that McMullan was delivering through each story within “Aftermath Lounge.” McMullan presents the good, the bad, and the ugly about Hurricane Katrina and its effects.   I truly enjoyed reading “Aftermath Lounge” because even though this is a fictional compilation, I remembered how traumatic Hurricane Katrina was.

From the very beginning to the very end, McMullan keeps the reader interested. This book is great for those who experienced Hurricane Katrina firsthand, as well as for individuals who were curious about Hurricane Katrina.  “Aftermath Lounge” is the second book that I have read by Margaret McMullan, and I must say that I was not disappointed.

Check out my other review about "Every Fathers Daughter" by Margaret McMullan: EVERY FATHERS DAUGHTER .

For more information about Margaret McMullan, check out her website. 

Check out the Q&A with Margaret McMullan.

Aftermath Lounge

1. Aftermath Lounge honors the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Can you tell us about your experience during those days when the storm hit?

Shortly after the storm hit, my husband and I drove down from Evansville, Indiana to Pass Christian, Mississippi. We saw aerial footage of the town and we could see that the roof on my parents’ house was mostly intact – that’s all we could see. We brought water and a lot of supplies to donate. There was a gas shortage then, and limited cell phone coverage. The closer we came to the town, the more it became like a war zone. The National Guard was there to keep people away, but we got through, thanks to a relative.

The night before we left, my mother told us to forget about everything else -- all she really wanted was the painting of her mother, which had been smuggled out of Vienna during WWII. We had house keys but there were no doors. When we got there, the house was gutted – the storm surge had essentially ripped through the house.

We put on rubber gloves and spent the day sifting through the debris, dragging out any salvageable pieces of furniture. The water had shoved through the closed shutters, plowed up under the foundation and tore open the back walls, bashing around the furniture, sinks, toilets, stoves, washers, driers.

We never did find the painting.

Elizabeth Bishop wrote a wonderful villanelle called “One Art.” She wrote about losing small items like keys and an hour badly spent, then she progresses to the greater losses -- her mother’s watch, a house, cities, rivers, a continent, and finally, a loved one. “The art of losing isn’t hard to master,” she starts. “So many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster.” I thought of that poem a lot.

2. Your family played a key role, helping Pass Christian rebuild. What were a few moments that influenced you during that time?                                                                                            

We saw so many people from all walks of life and they were suddenly homeless. My father organized financial donations. There were no fire trucks left after the storm, so he made sure Pass Christian got a fire truck. We were always big supporters of the library too. The Pass Christian Policemen had stayed during the storm to make sure everyone was safe. They had tried to stay safe in the library, but then when the water rose, they had to shoot out the windows to swim away to safety. I used that information in the title story of Aftermath Lounge. These men were real heroes.      

                                                                

3. Did you know from the moment the storm hit that someday you would write a novel about it? Or did a later experience give you the idea? If so, what was it?                               

 At first I just witnessed. I think that’s what writers do mostly. We witness. Then the material lets us know what it wants to become. I just took notes. Later stories started taking shape and they were all in different voices. It was the only way I could work at this material.

4. Part of your inspiration for the novel came from your family's beautiful mansion. How did your own experiences in that house shape each of the stories you wrote?

Well, it’s hardly a mansion, but I was surprised to discover just how much a house could mean. Everyone always says it’s just stuff, but there were so many collective memories there. When we stood and looked at everything so undone, it felt like our times spent there were gone too.

Katrina had such a huge impact on the coast, on my family, and on me. I am always telling my students to write what they most care about, to write what keeps them up at night. I had to write about Katrina. I had written about the Civil War, Reconstruction and WWII, so I saw Katrina as an historical event. I treated the hurricane more as setting. It’s in the background. The human drama is in the forefront. I’m always interested in what people do or don't do in the face of real catastrophe. I didn’t want to write from one point of view either. I wanted to give voice to a variety of people because Katrina affected everyone.

5. What was your writing process like for this novel? Did you know from the start it would be a novel in stories? Or did that become apparent only after you began writing?

There were so many news stories coming out at the time. I write nonfiction, but I couldn’t get my thoughts together. I couldn’t make sense of anything. Out of habit, I took a lot of notes. I could only deal with writing about all that was happening a little bit at a time. And my own personal story just wasn’t that interesting.

I personally witnessed and experienced the best in human nature. People and communities came together and helped one another in the most meaningful way. They endured with a great deal of kindness and grace. So I chipped away at the material. I wanted to tell a community’s story.

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