Binnie Kirshenbaum Takes 'The Scenic Route'

Isolation, storytelling, Italy and Raisinets were topics on tap at Syosset Library's monthly book club meeting.  Residents enjoyed a visit from well-respected literary writer Binnie Kirshenbaum as she discussed the writing life and her eighth book (sixth novel), The Scenic Route (HarperCollins, 2009).  

The Scenic Route is a story of Sylvia Landsman, a recently unemployed, lonely divorcee who, while traveling through Italy gravitates to Henry, a married expatriate touring Europe. Their entanglement brings together two very separate lives and unlocks a secret regret Sylvia harbors.

"A tragedy in life very often isn't about one catastrophic event," Kirshenbaum said to the crowd. "They are small moments that add up to a bigger picture."

"Seeing Binnie gave me more insight and appreciation for the novel, which was beautifully written," said Deanna Friedman, a Woodbury resident and member of the club for more than a year. "What really resonated with me was how these little scenes made up the whole experience. In life, you can't ever pinpoint one specific thing. It's all the little moments that make up the whole memory."

The idea for the novel—which took four years to write—had begun when Kirshenbaum found a photograph and some jewelry from her great grandmother and realized she didn't know anything about her.

"I started thinking, 'What are we if not our own memories?'" the author said. "I began with the notion, 'What if there was no one to remember us, no one to tell our story?'"

She said that she saw these characters as "isolated in a bubble and disconnected over in Europe."

"Here's a couple that didn't have any friends or even know anyone and that mirrors how Henry's emotionally disconnected through the choices he made in life," Kirshenbaum added. "He chooses not to reflect much."

Written in a somewhat stream-of-consciousness, meandering flow, Kirshenbaum explained she'd get up in the morning, turn on the coffee and write in a somewhat half-awake state. 

"I wanted to mimic how our minds work and kind of kept that snapshot style through the novel," she said.

A few women in the audience marveled at the humor and true likeness of "real" life events, like children gorging themselves on sweets because of fanatical parents' strict organic diet.

The Raisinets reference in the book lent itself to an explanation from Kirshenbaum, who says she did some research for this novel and "actually got an e-mail from the grandson of the Raisinets' creator's family because I wrote about his grandmother."

For Kirshenbaum, who said she enjoyed connecting with Syosset's readers, The Scenic Route's narrator was more true to herself than any of her other novels but certainly isn't autobiographical.  

"I was intrigued by how our thought process works on things that interest us," she said. "Also, how the character's love of objects plays a part in memory, which is vital to storytelling."

The book club has been meeting once a month for the past four years in the basement of the Syosset Public Library, talking about books they've read from librarians' suggestions. 

"We read a variety of titles not in a particular genre, and anyone can sign up any month and attend our meetings," said Susan Santa, readers' services librarian.

During July Kirshenbaum, chair of the Graduate Writing Program at Columbia University's School of the Arts, will teach a writing class to 12 students and local artists in a university in Amman, Jordan.

Check out Binnie Kirshenbaum's other literary works:  An Almost Perfect Moment, On Mermaid Avenue, A Disturbance in One Place, Pure Poetry, Hester Among the Ruins, History on a Personal Note, and Married Life and Other True Adventures.  www.binniekirshenbaum.com