A big thanks to Girl Gone International magazine for interviewing me and featuring one of my travel pieces! The debut magazine looks rather stunning and it’s definitely worth checking out by all people “gone international” (or even those who just dream of it).
Read my interview and travel confessions (and the rest of the magazine) here!
A big thanks to Natasha from A Bit of Dash blogspot for reviewing PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES. See the review below or at her great blog
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.
Review: An incredible story of a haunted and troubled girl that could have been pulled from real life.This book is fiction, but it is incredibly true to life. It felt like I could have been reading a memoir of a troubled young adult. While this book could have stood on the merits of Justine’s personal story, what really stood out to me was the use of myth, mythology, and faerie tales to tell her story. It adds a surreal depth to Justines story, but still manages to add a humanity to her tales. Some tales are timeless for a reason.
I honestly cant imagine feeling as aimless and miserable as Justine is. I was able to sympathize with her a number of times throughout the book, but I was glad that I do not have to resort to sleeping around, alcohol, and drugs to deal with any sadness or ill feelings. She seems to have no shortage of money, but money, past a certain point, does not buy happiness. Would actual responsibility cause her to toughen up? I can only hope there is a happy ending for Justine, but I feel that if there is, it will have taken her a long time to get there. Rating:Recommendation: I would recommend this to fans of stories about tragic figures or those that enjoy mythological devices in stories.
Thank you VEUX for the acute, well crafted review of Pretty Girls Make Graves! In case you don’t know: “VEUX is a fashion lifestyle magazine with an edgy, urban voice and an international flair.” The latest issue looks stunning. Check it out and read the brilliant review here! (Pages 16-17.)
Big thanks to Brandi at Blkosiner’s Book Blog for interviewing me and featuring a contest for PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES. Read the whole thing here.
INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE TRILIVAS:
The Twitter version: tell us about your book in 140 characters or less.
College runaway, Justine, recounts her misadventures abroad though the voices of archetypal characters from myths, and fairy tales.
How did you get the idea for the story?
As a writer I was threatened by unoriginality: instead of running from the fear I embraced it with the character of Justine. Justine is self-aware enough to know that she isn’t the first girl to go through these treacherous rites of passages, and she’s also too timid to tell her tale forthright so she retreats into these archetypal characters like Medusa from Greek mythology or Rapunzel from fairy tale fame to tell the story for her–when they have parallel experiences.
Which character would you most/least like to have dinner with?
Justine not only hijacks the vocal chords of characters from myths and fairy tales, but also literature and pop culture: basically any archetypal character. At one point, when she seems to make one bad decision after another, and begins to be unapologetic about it, she takes on the character of a tragic, domed Hollywood starlet in the vein of a Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. Dinner with her would be action packed to say the least, and she would be the character I’d most and least like to talk to!
What are some of your favorite books? Do you still have much time to read?
I love coming of age stories, from the classics like The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, to the more modern, like The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan. I try to read as much as possible, and on a good week, I get through about two books. And I still use libraries!
Do you have any other works in progress? Any teasers or release dates?
Not yet, but I hope to start something soon.
If a fairy godmother told you your life could be like a favorite book for 24 hours, which book would you pick and why?
I would love to run around Europe being a tragically cool ex-pat in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. I’m jealous that I wasn’t alive during that period, and Ernest Hemingway captured it perfectly.
Do you need anything to write music, coffee, etc? Are there any songs on your playlist- songs that inspired you or that were playing while you wrote?
Early on, a friend in the theatre encouraged me to write a character study of Justine. In the end I had an elaborate file on what Justine looked like, what she ate, drank, listened to, her fears, motivations etc. With her baby doll dresses, schoolgirl skirts, vintage jewelry, and punk blond bob, I thought she needed a soundtrack of 90s riot grrl music—and those playlists were eventually used in the book as section headers to set the tone.
Besides writing, what do you like to do in your free time?
I love to travel and explore—even in my own my backyard I learned that one from Dorothy—though I’d much prefer to have a peek around Oz. I’ve been to over 30 countries and to every continent except Antarctica which I will get to one day!. I do a lot of physical activities like yoga and snowboarding. And eating: I love finding and experiencing amazing food—whether it’s piping-hot street food or a gourmet feast by a celebrity chef.
via Book Giveaway: Pretty Girls Make Graves and Author Interview with Nicole Trilivas.
By Freya Tomren on 8 February 2012
The narration and content of the book is very raw and honest, particularly when it comes to sex, and motivations behind sex. Why do you think so many writers are fearful to write about it?
I think it’s a matter of habit: Sex is tricky to write about because of the inherent awkwardness of it. Just as movies have soft lighting and soundtracks laden with dreamy female vocalist, writers have heavy-handed adjectives and metaphors. Instead of being frank, it’s easy to fall back on these time-tested, “romanticized” methods of managing the clumsiness, or to just gloss over it all together. Of course the danger of this is that it’s not true-to-life.
Justine travels to many countries and cities, and this in part is based on your own wanderlust. Do you think it’s important to venture overseas in order to find out more about who you are?
Absolutely. One of quickest ways to find out who you are (or to craft who you are) is to get out of your comfort zone. Traveling overseas is the most efficient and immediate means that I can imagine to accomplish this.
If you could tell Justine one piece of advice, what would it be?
Carl Jung said, “The greatest and most important problems in life are all in a certain sense insoluble. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.” So I would tell her that this too shall pass. Of course I’d imagine that she’d roll her eyes, light a cigarette, and say something snarky because that’s the tragedy of youth—no one else can get you through it, you just have to keep going until you reach a clearing.
If you could reinterpret any fairytale or mythological story, what one would it be?
Though it didn’t work with the story line for Pretty Girls Make Graves, I would really like to skin and pin bone Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid. There are such thick thematic threads of Christ-like sacrifice and almost-religious affliction that run through the story, which is a tragedy (unlike the Disney movie). There’s this one quote that goes: “A mermaid has no tears, and therefore she suffers so much more,” which encapsulates a point often reiterated in western psychology that if we bottle up our emotions, and don’t express them—we suffer. Mermaids, I suppose, are doomed to suffer.
Who do you think the most fascinating female from literature is?
I really have a thing for Medea’s badassery. The ancient Greeks believed in catharsis: the idea that if you “experienced” an emotion through art, than you would not necessarily have to experience it in real life. This is why so many of their plays deal with such extreme and grotesque ideas (i.e. Medea and Oedipus Rex). Medea is calculated, not crazy: She didn’t just murder her children in rage, which would make it easy to write her off as a psychopath, instead it was a tactical move. I think I’m fascinated by her because she’s not a monster, she shockingly relatable. And it scares me that we can easily understand where she’s coming from.
Out of all the female characters you’ve read in literature and folklore, is there one in particular you haven’t been able to empathize with or feel a connection to?
I have trouble understanding Ophelia from Hamlet. Her suicide is kind of emo–which is a shame because it’s such a tragically beautiful tableau (a young virginal maiden drowning herself in a river surrounded by flowers), but this is negated by the fact that her action wasn’t warranted (even in an artistic sense). I mean, Hamlet barely gives her attention so she drowns herself? And then when he finds out he barely grieves. It feels over the top. It’s so unlike the proud Cleopatra or fiery impassioned Juliette. Ophelia’s suicide looks cheap and melodramatic in comparison.
What made you decide to go the self-publishing route as opposed to the more traditional channels?
Sheer necessity! I attempted to take the traditional route, and I was in communications with several agents at different times throughout the course of shopping the book; however, no one was ready to fully commit. So instead of letting Pretty Girls Make Graves languish on a hard drive, I decided that I would self-publish.
What’s coming next for you in terms of writing?
I just started doing character studies for a new novel–it may or may not be about female frenemies, Munchausen syndrome, and hostessing in Japan. Of course those are just where my compass is directed now, but who can tell what will happen when I get going. I tend to and also let myself go wildly off course.
You can order a hard copy of Pretty Girls Make Graves from Amazon or download an ebook format from here
Kathy Reviews: Pretty Girls Make Graves by Nicole Trilivas
Trilivas’ debut novel, Pretty Girls Make Graves, borrows its title from a Smiths song, and comes complete with soundtrack suggestions that I think were pilfered from my own iTunes library.
The anti-heroine of the story, Justine, is a full-on train wreck, drinking and hooking up night after night to try and erase the trauma of ending an affair with a married man. She travels abroad and lives in three different countries over the course of a year to try and heal from the emotional wounds. Justine reminds me of someone I could have known in high school or college – she could have been a friend of mine, or, I am scared to admit, could have been me at one point in my life had I made some different choices.
Told from both Justine’s own perspective, and the borrowed perspectives of some literary characters, this is a cleverly-told, smartly written story that I found myself relating to a little bit too much. The way women sometimes need the approval of a man to feel good about themselves. Always picking the wrong guy, the one who is taken, the one who isn’t interested, making it a game to try and win his affection.
There is so much emotion and realness to this story that I can’t help but wonder how much of the author’s own experiences have found their way in. There are black and white photos sprinkled in the pages, lending an authenticity to the story, making you feel like you are reading Justine’s private journal.
Pretty Girls Make Graves ends with Justine going back to school in New York, but doesn’t wrap everything up in a pretty package. In fact, I’m not sure Justine will be okay. If I were her friend, I’d still be scared for her and the lifestyle she is living. Because I felt connected to the character, I really enjoyed reading this book. Justine may have some serious baggage, but she’s someone I know after she shared her journey with me. She made me see a little bit of myself in her. Plus she listens to some kick-ass music.
Posted by Avid Book Reader at 12:01 AM
via Literary R&R: Kathy Reviews: Pretty Girls Make Graves by Nicole Trilivas.
Huge thank you to the oh-so-clever Freya for this amazingly well-presented and thought-out review!
By Freya Tomren on 25 January 2012
“You and me, Reader – we’re in this together. I know more about you than you think. I know you’ve worn a scarlet letter (though it wasn’t necessarily an “A”). I know because we’ve all been the adulterer and the cuckold, the widowed and the one dearly departed; we’ve bared everything from crosses to our teeth, albatrosses and Jewish stars. We have all been dominant and submissive; the inquisitor and the witch — burnt to a crisp upon a stake; the virgin and the whore; the spider and the fly. We have had things stolen from us, and we have sticky, sticky fingers.”
Pretty Girls Make Graves (a pretty girl’s ugly stories told in borrowed voices) by first time author Nicole Trilivas, is narrated by Justine, a young girl who breaks up with her older, married lover. She takes a year off from her literature degree in New York in favour of spending a year abroad. Everyone else thinks she’s taken the time “to write”. Only her best-friend, Lo, knows of her heartbreak.
The novel is divided into the places of Justine’s travels: Scotland (with a sub-section including The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and India) Ireland, Sydney. Each of these begin with their own playlist, which gives you a strong indication of what each section will bring. Justine speaks directly to her readers, and when she doesn’t feel able to tell her story adequately, she borrows the voice and histories of beautiful, tragic women in literature. It’s an effective, heart-breaking device as it displays how women will often make the same mistakes when it comes to life and love.
I find it somewhat reminiscent to Bret Easton Ellis’s earlier work (Less than Zero, The Rules of Attraction) in how it’s about a privileged, unhappy, self-destructive central character who tries to fill a void with sex and drugs. However, unlike Easton Ellis’s often emotionally vacuous characters, Trilivas has created a layered character in Justine. She’s deeply flawed and inherently sad, but she isn’t cold or numb. She has a true writers soul: she feels everything intensely, she can’t stop thinking and analyzing, and she spend far too much time in the world of what if…
Post heartbreak, kissing a boy she has feelings for is more terrifying to Justine than having sex with a man she is ambivalent towards. A friend once told me she felt this way after she broke up with her long-term love: she didn’t want to be held, she didn’t want to be kissed, she didn’t want the sex to feel like it meant anything, because she wasn’t ready for sex to mean anything. She wasn’t even ready for a kiss to feel like anything. This is a concept that is not often something often discussed freely, let alone explored in literature, and I applaud Trilivas for being honest enough to do so.
Lo, is also one of the most refreshing and true-to-life best friends I’ve experienced on the page. Lo doesn’t try to fix or reform Justine, or give her long sappy speeches, or drop absolutely everything in her life for her. Instead, she is there for Justine when Justine lets her. She lets Justine know what she thinks, but she also gives Justine the space to make her own mistakes. And when Justine makes these mistakes, Lo is there for her without judgement. And when you think about it, that’s what true friends do: they let you be you, even if they have to pick you up and dust you off afterwards.
I could see myself in Justine– in a heart wrenching scene – in which she thinks about what would happen if she put her heart out on the line for a boy. All it would take her was a few words. But instead, because she’s afraid – and not so much in the fear of rejection as the fear of him wanting her just as much, and what the consequences of that would mean – she says something flippant. Usually authors make their characters braver, stronger and more empowered than they (and the people in their everyday life) are themselves. Authors can be selfish, they want to use their characters to live out their fantasies. And maybe for this reason, there are so many novels about girls who want to fall in love, and who are so open to it. They don’t normally write about the girls who are genuinely terrified by it. And this is why I think I warmed to the book to the extent I did: Trilivas had made Justine seem ridiculously real, even though she breaks your heart.
There are many other wonderful things I can compliment the book on: the strong sense of place, the vivid supporting characters, the way her use of language is distressing and beautiful in equal measures — and always visceral, the clever use of various experimental techniques (as well as the playlists and borrowed voices, there are photographs, sections told in text messages and emails). But mostly, the success of Pretty Girls Make Graves success comes down to the raw, engaging narration of Justine. You let Justine take you on her journey, and you wish you could be there with her. You want to be there to wash the vomit out of her hair, and tell her she’s beautiful, and that she deserves to be loved and respected – even though you know she won’t believe you. Pretty Girls Make Graves is not a coming-of-age-story. It’s a story about allowing yourself to be lost, not because you want to be, or because you have the luxury to do so, but because you can’t be anything else. It’s about letting yourself feel through your pain, and putting yourself through more, because sometimes that’s the only way you can get through.
Please. Buy the book – especially if you’re a women in the 18-30 age group. It’ll resonate with you, and if or some crazy reason you’re lucky enough to have always felt brave, centred, secure and worthy of love – you’ll know the person in your life who it’ll speak to.
You can order a hard copy from Amazon or download an ebook format from here
I’ll be interviewing Nicole shortly, and luckily for us she’s a lip fan and is giving away a free download of Pretty Girls Makes Graves. To enter, e-mail freya@lipmag.com before Feb the 3rd with 25 words-or-less about who your favourite female character from literature/mythology/fairy tale is and why.
via lip lit: nicole trilivas, pretty girls make graves (+ giveaway!).
Check it out:
Big thanks to Felicia for spotlighting Pretty Girls Makes Graves on her amazing book review site!
In an amazingly sweet gesture and for a brilliant cause, a color has been donated in dedication of my upcoming novel! Check it out here. (Side note: This creative gift-giver is the absolute bee’s knees.)
“Pretty Girls Make Graves” or #13030 is an amazing inky shade of black, which is not only my favorite color (I know, black’s my favorite color–it’s weird, blah, blah, blah), but also very apropos for the darkish novel.
For a donation, the children’s charity UNICEF lets you own a unique color and help save a child’s life. Get a color of your very own or dedicate one to someone or something fantastic in your life. It’s like the way cooler, artier version of naming a star after someone!
Visit www.ownacolour.com for more info.
