Today we talk about Reboot, a book by Jeffrey Green published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Jeffrey Green to get to know him better, what was the moment that brought him to the writing of his book Reboot, as well if he sees any resemblances of himself with the protagonist of the book.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- What is the moment that brought you to the writing of your book?
For a long time, I was intrigued by the idea that a man might be counted among the victims of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, but who didn’t happen to be in his office when the planes hit the buildings and didn’t want to resume his old life. Over the years I wrote several drafts of the novel and gave up on it after a few months. Finally, I decided that I’d invested so much effort in the project that I had to finish it.
- What are the messages you want to communicate to your readers with your book?
Initially I didn’t understand what I was trying to say with this story about the strange situation I had imagined, which is why it took me years to finish it. Consequently, the protagonist of this book takes a lot of time to think through the meaning of the opportunity he was given to remake his life and avoid repeating the errors of his past. As I imagined the protagonist, making his way in a new place, trying to figure out how to live, I also went through a process of discovery.
- Do you see any resemblances of yourself with the protagonist of the story? What are they?
As far as I can tell, I have little or nothing in common with the character I imagined, although through psychoanalysis, if I were willing to submit to it, I might discover similarities. Writing and reading fiction is a marvellous way of living a different life by projecting yourself into situations totally unlike those of your ordinary life. I wouldn’t like to live the lives of the protagonist of this book, neither his thoughtless pursuit of high living before 9/11 nor his long remaking of himself afterward. But it was interesting and challenging to imagine him.
- Which authors of the present and / or the past do you take as a model?
I am quite a well-read man. I earned a doctorate in Comparative Literature from Harvard in 1973, and, although I didn’t pursue an academic career as a professor of literature, I have continued reading widely in English, French, Hebrew, German, and Italian all my life. Although I enjoy reading experimental, modernist fiction, what I write turns out to be quite straightforward storytelling. I worked as a translator from Hebrew to English for many years, and the best-known author whom I translated was Aharon Appelfeld, who wrote about Jews from Central Europe whose lives were shattered by the Holocaust. Perhaps my novel, about a man who escaped a disaster that took the lives of thousands, a man who can’t understand his own good luck, while so many coworkers were killed, reflects some of Appelfeld’s themes.
- Are you working on a new writing project you can tell us about?
My recent writing has taken the form of journals. I posted one such book on Kindle Direct Publishing. I called it “Two Shitty Years: A Pandemic Journal.” Now I’ve been keeping a journal about my gradual recuperation from a hip replacement against the background of the horrible war between Israel and Hamas. I’m not sure I’ll think it’s worth sharing with the world.
Europe Books thanks the author Jeffrey Green once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book Reboot. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my dear reader, may this book intrigue you and provide you with new, interesting perspectives and food for thought to reflect upon.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!