The Book of Why

by Nicholas Montemarano

  —Julie Orringer, author of How to Breathe Underwater

  and The Invisible Bridge

  “A fascinating tale of faith, doubt....An extraordinarily interesting book.”

  —Carolyn See, Washington Post

  “I love Nicholas Montemarano’s writing. He turns the lights up so bright on the beauty of daily life that the dark places he goes leave you gasping. The Book of Why is a breathtaking show of love and hope, of disappearing acts, of restorative reappearances. It is, in a word, magic.”

  —Rachel DeWoskin, author of Big Girl Small

  “Love and death: our two greatest mysteries. Not many writers have the guts or the skill to take them on at the same time, but Nicholas Montemarano has both. With The Book of Why, he’s managed a seemingly impossible feat—using language to delineate, with great compassion and precision, that which appears ineffable.”

  —Ron Currie Jr., author of Everything Matters!

  “Nicholas Montemarano is a brilliant storyteller with a poet’s heart—and The Book of Why is an intricately constructed narrative, part riveting, part reverie, entirely beautiful. I wanted this novel to last forever, and still I could not bear to put it down—kind of like life itself.”

  —Claudia Emerson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Late Wife

  “The Book of Why presents a compulsively readable mystery; it is impossible to resist how persuasively Montemarano plays with the metaphysics of love and desire.”

  —Dana Spiotta, author of Stone Arabia

  “By turns dark and hopeful, it is a beautiful journey of self-discovery that will inspire readers to question the accepted confines of the world, and leave them pondering the powers of belief.”

  —Booklist

  “This is a weighty book that’s hard to put down....He writes with stark clarity and an insight that urges you to get outside of yourself (or inside yourself) and think.”

  —Lindsey Silken, HelloGiggles

  “The Book of Why, a moving portrait of a man coming to terms with the death of his beloved ‘other half,’ is the remarkable work of New York writer Nicholas Montemarano....Montemarano dares to peer into the subconscious, to analyze how we process emotions like love, desire, and guilt, and to examine the innermost workings of the human soul....The Book of Why is a powerful love story as well as an exploration of the fragility of relationships. Thought-provoking, somber, and yet exquisitely tender, it forces us to confront harsh truths about life...and death.”

  —The Visitor

  Also by Nicholas Montemarano

  If the Sky Falls

  A Fine Place

  Reading Group Guide

  THE BOOK OF WHY

  by

  NICHOLAS MONTEMARANO

  Questions and topics for discussion

  In what ways is The Book of Why an unconventional love story?

  Did you finish The Book of Why believing that love really is a matter of fate?

  Do you believe that Gloria Foster is the reincarnation of Eric’s wife?

  Why does Eric call The Book of Why “an apology”? Is Eric to blame, even in part, for his wife’s death?

  Did you read the ending of the novel as hopeful or tragic?

  At the end, when Eric says goodbye to Gloria Foster (and perhaps to Cary), what do you imagine will happen to him?

  Were you surprised that Eric and Sam do not become romantically involved? Why do you think Eric resists this opportunity?

  Do you think there’s some truth to Eric’s beliefs, or do you see him as an impressionable man who assigns too much meaning to coincidences?

  Eric’s belief system changes several times throughout the novel. What does he believe at the end of the novel?

  To what extent do you believe in the law of attraction and the power of intention? Do you believe that thoughts affect reality? Do you believe that the human mind has the power to cure illness? Has this novel changed your opinion?

  Early in the novel Eric writes, “This is a self-help book.” Do you agree with him?

  Why do you think Eric ends his story the way he does—with a long list of advice from self-help books?

  A conversation with Nicholas Montemarano

  What kind of research did you have to do in order to capture the voice of a self-help author and inspirational speaker? What kinds of self-help books did you read? Did you go to see inspirational speakers as part of your research?

  I was reading self-help books long before I had the idea to write this novel. I read a lot of Wayne Dyer, who influenced the character of Eric Newborn more than any other inspirational speaker. I even went to hear him speak, and he was great. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I admire him a lot.

  Self-help books can be easy targets for ridicule because many seem to promote quick, easy fixes and are filled with treacle. What’s your view of self-help books and the self-help industry?

  Some are silly, and some promise things they can’t deliver, so they’re selling false hope, but there are some really helpful self-help books. There are so many self-help books and so many people reading them, and this tells me that people are out there looking for help—for answers. I feel compassion for anyone trying to improve their lives.

  Are there any self-help or inspirational books you’ve read that you’ve found useful and would recommend to readers?

  The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them by David Richo stands out from most self-help books I’ve read—and I’ve read many—because it’s realistic. It recognizes that life isn’t always fair, that we suffer, and that everything changes, but that we might find peace by accepting these truths. It’s a brave, wise, and compassionate book. Most recently, I’ve fallen in love with Pema Chödrön’s books, especially Taking the Leap, When Things Fall Apart, and The Wisdom of No Escape. She’s writing from the Buddhist tradition, so her books are about the practice of mindfulness and trying to accept or even embrace whatever happens.

  Eric Newborn, the narrator of The Book of Why, believes that the mind can create and cure disease. By the end of the novel, Eric comes to believe something different. What’s your take on this controversial issue?

  There’s no question that our thoughts can affect our health—for better and for worse. Stress can contribute to high blood pressure—that’s an easy example. Maybe some people have cured disease with positive thinking, who knows, but I think it’s risky, even irresponsible, not to try more traditional medical treatment. People, especially in frightening and painful situations, look for help anywhere there’s even a glimmer of hope, and I sympathize with that urge.

  Eric believes, at least early in his career, that there are no such things as accidents—everything happens for a reason. There are coincidences in the novel that are either signs of synchronicity or signs of Eric’s desire for synchronicity. This is another potentially controversial issue, and I’m wondering what you believe about this.

  I’m a storyteller, so I’m interested in how we organize our lives into meaningful narratives. Maybe that makes me extra sensitive to what most people would consider coincidences. Sometimes I believe that there’s an order to the universe, a reason behind everything that happens, but other times, especially when faced with tragedy, it’s hard to make that case. Most of us want to believe that our lives aren’t merely a series of random events. I’m not sure what to believe, but some things have happened to me that I have a hard time calling coincidences.

  Without giving too much away, I want to ask you about reincarnation, which plays a role in The Book of Why. Your novel presents the possibility that one character may be the reincarnation of another character. What kind of research did you do about reincarnation? Do you believe in the possibility of reincarnation?

  I’ve read a lot about reincarnation, and the cases seem within the realm of possibility. I’ve tried past-life regression—individual sessions with a regression therapist and a group session with Brian Weiss, a bestselling author and expert in reincarnati
on. Those were interesting experiences, but I remained where I am—in this life. Even if we’ve had previous lives and will have future lives, this is the only one that matters to me.

  There’s been a backlash against positive thinking—recent books like The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking and Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America. In what ways do you see The Book of Why as in conversation with these books?

  The Book of Why raises similar questions about positive thinking and the desire for happiness, but allows characters to play them out. The Book of Why is way more about questions than answers. My hope is that the novel will evoke compassion—maybe in a way these books don’t—for the understandable desire people have to feel happy and safe in a sometimes frightening world.

  How do you balance teaching and writing? Do you find that one informs the other? How?

  Being a college professor gives me more time to write than any other job I could imagine, and I’m grateful for that, but I’m a writer before all else. Teaching is a job—a very good one—but writing is a practice, a calling. I schedule my classes in the afternoon and keep mornings sacred—writing only. My passion for writing is a big part of what makes me a good teacher. And teaching makes me a better writer because I get to reread and study my favorite stories in a way I might not if I weren’t preparing for class.

  Which authors have most influenced your work? Why?

  Many of my favorite books—Jesus’ Son, Where I’m Calling From, A Streetcar Named Desire—didn’t influence my work in ways that I can see, except that they inspired me and raised the bar very high. To the Lighthouse, the third time I read it, changed the way I went about writing; it made it clear to me that the sound of prose matters and creates meaning just as much as story. But if I had to pick one book that has had the most influence on my own work, it’s The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Its prose is graceful and visceral without showing off. Its form—hybrid novel/story collection—is innovative. It manages to be sincere without being sentimental. And it explores important questions about truth and story-truth—questions that are important to me.

  What advice would you give to writers just starting out?

  Discover what you do well as a writer, what only you can do, and do that. Don’t write stories someone else could tell just as well as you. Don’t waste time writing about anything other than what’s most important to you. Focus on the work, one sentence at a time, and avoid worrying about outcome. You may not be able to control whether you publish or win awards or make a living from your writing, but you can control the work.

  What are you working on now?

  I’m just finishing a new short-story collection called Like Love Lust, which explores love, desire, obsession, and addiction. And I’m several hundred pages into a new novel, The Senator’s Children, about a former senator and presidential candidate whose career and marriage end in scandal.

  Nicholas Montemarano’s recommended reading

  In my writing office at home, I reserve one shelf for my favorites, the books I come back to over and over. If I were forced to choose one favorite book, it would probably be Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson or To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

  Here are my top 25 in chronological order:

  To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1927)

  All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren (1946)

  A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (1947)

  Rabbit, Run by John Updike (1960)

  Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (1962)

  The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1963)

  A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter (1967)

  Deliverance by James Dickey (1970)

  ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King (1975)

  Sophie’s Choice by William Styron (1979)

  Black Tickets by Jayne Anne Phillips (1979)

  Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Cameron Crowe (1981)

  The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (1988)

  Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver (1988)

  Affliction by Russell Banks (1989)

  The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (1990)

  The Journals of John Cheever (1991)

  The Wild Iris by Louise Glück (1992)

  Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson (1992)

  Blindness by José Saramago (1995)

  A Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard Yates by Blake Bailey (2003)

  Doubt by John Patrick Shanley (2005)

  The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

  Canada by Richard Ford (2012)

  The Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn (2012)

  Recommended self-help books

  Taking the Leap by Pema Chödrön

  When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

  The Wisdom of No Escape by Pema Chödrön

  The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

  Your Sacred Self by Wayne Dyer

  Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

  The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

  Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden

  A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield

  Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

  On Writer’s Block by Victoria Nelson

  New and Selected Poems, Volumes One and Two by Mary Oliver

  The Five Things We Cannot Change by David Richo

  How to Be an Adult in Relationships by David Richo

  Congratulations, by the way by George Saunders

  The Grace in Dying by Kathleen Dowling Singh

  A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

  The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

  This Is Water by David Foster Wallace

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  Preface

  Introduction

  Part One: AccidentsChapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Part Two: Everyday MiraclesChapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Part Three: Gloria FosterChapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Part Four: It’s On Its WayChapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Part Five: Wish You Were HereChapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Part Six: FaithChapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Part Seven: Hello GoodbyeChapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Part Eight: The End of Every StoryChapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Praise for Nicholas Montemarano

  Also by Nicholas Montemarano

  Reading Group Guide

  Questions and topics for discussion

  A conversation with Nicholas Montemarano

  Nicholas Montemarano’s recommend
ed reading

  Newsletters

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, p or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2013 by Nicholas Montemarano

  Cover design by Matt Tanner; cover art © Jeren (France)/Getty Images

  Cover © 2014 by Hachette Book Group

  All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.