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Suzy Krause’s I THINK WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE was a total word-of-mouth book for me, a book I picked up because a trusted friend promised I would love it—and I did! A comforting book about the end of world—can you even fathom such a thing? It’s a novel that Suzy pitches—most remarkably—as (wait for it…) Iain Reid’s I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS meets Stuart McLean’s VINYL CAFE DIARIES. Cozy and unsettling at once. Okay! And just as much as I loved the book, I adored our conversation.
Suzy talks to me about how her initial BOOKSPO pick was Iain Reid’s I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, but when she realized Ashley Tate had picked it already back in Season 1, she went with Stuart McLean instead. Both authors, she explains, give her a kind of permission as a writer, Reid to get a little weird, and McLean to lean into her instincts to see the good in people, the possibility of community. Her characters, she tells me, are inspired by the kind of people she grew up around, and my favourite character in the book just might be a checker at her local grocery store….
I’m looking forward to hanging out with Suzy IRL next week at Type Books Junction (2887 Dundas St. W) where I will be moderating a discussion between her and Marissa Stapley about their wonderful new novels. Event begins at 7pm. Join us!
Marlen and Hilda Jorgensen's family has received two significant pieces of news: one, Marlen has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Two, a cosmic blast is set to render humanity extinct within a matter of months. It seems the coming Christmas on their Saskatchewan farm will be their last.
Preparing for the inevitable, they navigate the time they have left together. Marlen and Hilda have channeled their energy into improbably prophetic works of art. Hilda's elderly father receives a longed-for visitor from his past, her sister refuses to believe the world is ending, and her teenaged nephew is missing. All the while, her daughter struggles to find her way home from Berlin with the help of an oddly familiar stranger. For everyone, there's an unsettling feeling that this unprecedented reality is something they remember.
Suzy Krause is the bestselling author of Sorry I Missed You and Valencia and Valentine. She grew up on a little farm in rural Saskatchewan and now lives in Regina, where she writes novels inspired by crappy jobs, creepy houses, personal metaphorical apocalypses, and favorite songs. Her work has been translated into Russian and Estonian. Suzy lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.
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