A Love Letter to Storytelling: Writers & Lovers
Lily King’s romantic tale is an ode to resilience and self-realisation
In his controversial classic Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence wrote: ‘We need to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.’ Lily King seems to agree. Known for writing insightful, emotionally piercing fiction, in Writers & Lovers, she returns to the stage with a follow-your-dream-story that moves from debilitating grief to blinding success.
Casey Peabody, the 31-year-old narrator, is a down-at-luck aspiring writer, mired in student debt and stuck in a dead-end job as a waitress. At the onset of the novel, we find her struggling with the death of her mother and crippled by self-doubt over the worth of a novel she has been writing on and off for six years. The romantic subplot which sees her in a love triangle with a an older, established writer and a charming would-be novelist such as herself-the titular lovers-provides light-hearted courtship drama in a story that is fundamentally about the nature of writing.
That focus becomes clear while reading some of the more memorable lines in Writers & Lovers:
‘I don’t write because I have something to say, I write because if I don’t, everything feels even worse’
‘All problems with writing and performing come from fear. Fear of exposure, fear of weakness, fear of lack of talent,fear of looking like a fool for trying, for even thinking you can write in the first place. It’s all fear. If we didn’t have fear, imagine the creativity in the world.’
Books about writing are difficult to pull off.
It’s like making a film and then spilling the secrets about the shots you make, expecting an audience to stay tuned while you dissect the bare bones of what’s essentially magic. But sometimes, you end up with Mank or Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
The best example in classic literature is probably Joyce’s A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. The Father of modern Stream-of-Consciousness was one of the first to render the struggle of breaking into the arts while dealing with personal and family issues both relatable and moving. Casey faces the modern day equivalent of that dilemma, showing a loneliness and vulnerability that fast endears her to a potential reader.
The shed in which she doggedly, naively, writes her story before heading off to another gruelling shift at the restaurant she works at, the mounting debt that is always in the back of her mind and the prospect of loosing her health insurance policy are things we as readers are unlikely to forget, vicariously struggling with her. The mockery of acquaintances, the feeling of not ‘being the youngest adult out there’ and having little to show for one’s ambitions rings true. Who hasn’t experienced personal and professional failure, maybe even mockery at some point in their lives?
As slumps go, King writes with remarkable acuity, cutting through the romance of ‘a writing life’ to provide an insight into the bleak reality of what it means to grasp for the stars when one is bound to earth.
The literary asides in the novel feel like a personal love letter to the reader.
From reflecting on the macho tendencies of male writers like Hemingway to Wharton’s complex relationship with her own mother, Casey’s ruminations provide much matter for consideration. King does get a few things wrong, ex. Fitzgerald’s did not say that holding two opposing ideas in mind and still retain the ability to function is ‘a sign of genius’ but a ‘test of a first-rate intelligence’ but this does not detract from the overall impression that literary trivia can and should be celebrated in every day life.
For admirers of Sally Rooney’s clear prose, King’s effortlessness in talking about family, love and work is compelling. Writers & Lovers does not bring anything new to the table yet shows there is good enough yarn to be found in the common place. Maybe not a masterpiece but a work true to the times, astute enough to recognise something as small yet meaningful as the beauty ‘of loving a book with someone else’.
The only weakness is the Happily Ever After.
Casey not only sees her dreams of publication realised but manages to bag a job at an arts school where creative workshops with authors are a done deal. As someone who went to a school with a challenging curriculum, the starry eyed enthusiasm of both teachers and students appears unrealistic. This utopia of learning does not exist amongst teenagers, however bright. You cannot help but wonder at a premise that seems to exhale white privilege at every twist and turn- popular horror novelist Stephen King’s memoir On Writing is more true to fashion when he addresses the realities of school life he encountered as a teacher.
Writers & Lovers offers the classic crowd-pleaser ending.
Tragedy can become trite when it wielded too often as an instrument.Critics of George R.R. Martin are quick to argue that point. But in some cases, gloom makes sense.
Dickens famously wrote a second ending to Great Expectations that hints at his would-be lovers riding off into the sunset. The original ending has Pip meet Estrella after she has married a country doctor, a meeting that ends with both of them shaking hands and parting, never to see each other again. Despite the morose nature of it, Dickens captures the spirit of having ‘great expectations’ of happiness and how often these are thwarted in real life. (This is also the reason why James Cameron insists up to this day that his creative decision to have Jack die in Titanic was the correct one.)
For those looking for a story about passion, grief and the challenge of finding one’s way, Writers & Lovers is a good choice. The central message appears to be not to worry how the world perceives ones ambitions. Observations on the humility of modern day poverty, the sexism women face in the work world and the covert pretentiousness of peoples judgements are rendered with convincingly acerbic wit.
It acknowledges the difficulties young women experience in asserting themselves and their dreams within the confines of a culture that is more likely to shame them for their sexuality as well as their ambition but also exposes the fictional pitfall of giving the complexity of life a romcom ending.
