Word: em
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Emer Martin (EM): When I was growing up my mother always told a story. She came from a small town in Ireland...and there were people that lived opposite that had a mad daughter, and they always kept her locked upstairs to they only ever saw this face in the window. Rumor had it if you went to the family and were in their living room, that she would appear at the top of the stairs and shout "More bread or I'll appear," and they'd run up and feed her rather than have her come down and embarrass...
...EM: Yes, I went to the library on 42nd Street in New York, this beautiful library. I used to go there and sitting in that reading room I just felt intelligent--"Here I am, I must be intelligent. Look at that ceiling, isn’t it wonderful." I was always intrigued by OCD because it's not a psychosis, It's a neurosis. So the person who has it, they know what they're doing is irrational, but they can't stop it. It's not like where you actually believe something, like a schizophrenic actually believes they...
...EM: It was English and Studio art--painting and sculpture. In my painting and sculpture, I would always do themes from the book as well, you know, so I'd get completely obsessed. Obsessed! There's that word again. Maybe writing is an obsession. [Laughs]...I kept taking classes that would help me with the book. So when I had them down in Mexico I signed up for Spanish 101 so I could put in a few Spanish phrases, which I did, for the four Spanish sentences. I wanted Fatima to be African because I wanted to include...
...EM: The book is a kind of odyssey, a moving around between five continents. And it's Keelin's journey. Aisling disappears from the family. So at first you think it is about Aisling and about finding Aisling, but in the end the book is about Keelin's journey. Aisling is a figure that really scares people. My editor hated her, really hated her. And I was thinking, "I loved Aisling." I thought she was very strong and wild. And okay, she did disappear and not contact her family, but in a way that was her prerogative...
Again, we hit the bar and buy more beer. Two guys next to us ask if they can buy us a beer. The one closer to me is swaying quit alarmingly, and I'm scared he will puke on me. "We could go drink 'em over there," he says, gesturing to a couch where a couple is making...