She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Wonder Valley, and reported the following:
So page 69 of Wonder Valley is one of my favorite scenes—and it's like nothing else in the entire book. The novel bounces back and forth between the streets of Skid Row and the hardscrabble Mojave Desert. But this page take place in an upper middle class house in the somewhat fancy Beverlywood section of Los Angeles. It's a nice respite from the heat and the elements in the other chapters. But also, it its own way, demonstrates that the same alienation and longing that afflicts the more conventionally desperate characters, plagues Tony, the semi-successful but professionally and emotionally stagnant lawyer whose house it is. This page has my favorite line in all of my novel—when Tony's jaded daughter sympathizes with him by saying, "I feel you Daddy.... It's a grind, right?" The oblivious wisdom of teenagers always tickles me.Learn more about the book and author at Ivy Pochoda's website.
The Page 69 Test: The Art of Disappearing.
Writers Read: Ivy Pochoda.
--Marshal Zeringue
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