Lauren Grodstein

Lauren Grodstein (born November 19, 1975) is an American novelist and educator at Rutgers University of Camden in New Jersey, known for her use of male viewpoint characters. Her novel Girls Dinner Club made the New York Public Library “Book for the Teen Age” list in 2006.^[1]

Background

Lauren Grodstein grew up in North Jersey, in a Jewish family and ^[1][2] she has family that survived the Holocaust who reside in France.^[3] When she was younger she had an active imagination, and loved to trick her friends and family into believing her made up stories. Now she lives in Morristown New Jersey, with her husband, Ben, and son, Nathaniel, and associates herself as a reluctant atheist.^[1][4] She teaches creative writing at Rutgers Camden to a wide variety of students.^[1][2] When she is not teaching, she is writing fiction, including several award-winning novels, and an unpublished book.^[5] The novels that she has published are known for depicting the faults of suburbia, especially A Friend of the Family.^[6]

Education

Lauren Grodstein went to a high school in northeast New Jersey.^[7] After she graduated from high school, Grodstein attended Columbia University and received her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1997. In 2001, Grodstein received her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate degree from Columbia University.^[8]

Career

In addition to being an author, Lauren Grodstein is also an English college professor.^[9][10] Lauren Grodstein started teaching at Columbia University in New York from 1999 to 2001, and was an adjunct assistant professor in the creative writing department in 2004. Grodstein taught creative writing at The University of California in Los Angeles and Cooper Union in New York from 2003 to 2004. In 2005, Grodstein was an assistant professor of English at Rutgers in Camden, New Jersey and currently is an associate English professor where she teaches: creative writing, modern drama, and fiction and nonfiction.^[10][11] She is also a part of the Department of Childhood studies and her research interests are creative writing, narrative nonfiction, and English literature.^[12]

Works

Grodstein has written five books to date. Four of her novels were written under her real name and one, Girls Dinner Club, under a pseudonym of Jesse Elliot.^[1]

The Best of Animals (2002)

Grodstein's debut is a short story collection, including ten stories. Each one is about the main character and how they keep their personal feelings to themselves and rarely say what they mean. They seem to all have a social insecurity; that is how we relate to these stories.^[1] Critics generally responded well to The Best of Animals, calling it "lively" and praising Grodstein's "quirky voice and sassy, ironic humor" which "make these stories come alive".^[1]

Reproduction is the Flaw of Love (2004)

Her next book, Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, is her first story told in a view of a male. The main Character was a man named Joe who while he waited on behalf of his girlfriends pregnancy test rethought his whole life, his relationships and his parents failed marriage. He thinks of the type of bond he would want to have with his kids in comparison to the ones he had with his parents.^[1] This novel was said to be an "insightful study of our search for meaningful connections” by critic Beth Leistensnider.^[1]

Girls Dinner Club (2005)

Girls Dinner Club, written under her pseudonym name, is about three 17-year-old girls who are best friends and meet weekly: to eat, gossip about their lives and to lean on each other for their own personal problems.^[1] Booklist says this book is for young adults and that the girl’s experiences are predictable.^[13]

A Friend of the Family (2009)

A Friend of the Family, was intentionally written “About family and loving your kids. And both dads in the book do” according to Grodstein.^[14] It was a family novel in which there was a terrible tragedy of a young girl committing neoncide. The father of this girl trusted in his best friend, Pete to talk to. Later do we know the girl and Pete’s son, Alec, hit it off. To keep the them apart Pete does everything in his power; Alec ends up despising his own father for this in the end.^[1]

An Explanation for Everything (2013)

Grodstein's most recent book, An Explanation for Everything, is about loss of love and belief. She writes about a teacher, Andy, who loves teaching and mentors someone after his wife dies leaving him with kids. There is a lot going on in Andy’s world that he is trying to cope with it but at the same time trying to move past it.^[15] S. Krishna declares that Lauren Grodstein writes thought-provoking, ambitious novels, and though you don’t always like the characters she writes, you understand their motives and find them incredibly realistic.^[16]

Influences

Lauren Grodstein states that literature was a natural interest for her since a child. Though Lauren had always been surrounded by artistic influences since childhood, she attributes her grandmother to the development of her skills.^[17] Due to her early life in New Jersey, Lauren often sets her stories in the New Jersey state, claiming that her home state had always been close to her life and easily fills in the role of settings of her books. With the release of her novel Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, Lauren expanded on her preferences as a writer, stating that most of her male protagonists are both a way to avoid "mary sue"-ism, and because these types of characters are easy to write for her.^[18]

Personal life

Grodstein was born on November 19, 1975, in New York, New York. She was raised in a Jewish family by her mother Adele, a painter, and her father Gerald, a physician.^[19] She has a younger sister and a younger brother.^[20] She currently lives in Moorestown, New Jersey with her husband Ben, a musician, and their son Nathaniel.^[21] She wrote a New York Times article on October 31, 2009, entitled "Take Me to the Election" ^[22] where she talks about the upcoming election for New Jersey's state governor and her integrity to discuss it with her class.^[22]

Awards and nominations

In 1997, Grodstein was nominated for the Philolexian Prize,^[23] a Columbia University award for literary work. Her novel, A Friend of the Family, has been selected as a New York Times bestselling novel, Washington Post Book of the Year, an Amazon.com Best Book, and a January Magazine Top Ten Book of the Year.^[24] This book was also a New York Times Editor's Pick.^[25] Girls Dinner Club was nominated as a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age.^[26]

References