Episode 20: Nora Zelevansky

Mary Poppins dispensed medicine with a spoonful of sugar (and a really fun sing-along with the kids “in the most delightful way”) to make it easy for her young wards to swallow. That’s what it feels like when you read a book by Nora Zelevansky. Tough wisdoms and truths wrapped up in smart language, articulate characters and magical, invisible jets that can take you from Paris to New York in a matter of minutes (see Semi-Charmed Life). 

What’s the hard truth of her latest novel, Competitive Grieving, you ask? You have to force yourself to break old patterns and develop into a different person again and again in your life. You must reinvent yourself over and over again. You also must do all the things you aren’t allowed to do; laugh at a funeral, take the bucket-list trip now, pursue the impossible dream. Why? Because it’s so easy to get stuck in the secrets and the grief and the old ideas about who you are, and time and life are quick and precious; they must not be squandered. 

As we watch the main character Wren go through the process of throwing open the doors of her worldview, we are reminded that we are all flawed and incongruous creatures. We all hold onto stereotypes and ideas about who we are and who other people are way past the point of truth or usefulness. And if we can, just for a moment, break the stereotypes and allow other elements into our vision, that is where we will find empathy.