Poems While You Wait, a team of poets and their typewriters who compose commissioned poetry on demand. She teaches in the English Department at DePaul University, and her recent books include the national best-seller Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk (2017) and the novel Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey (2020). Where Are the Snows, her latest poetry collection, was chosen by Kazim Ali for the X.J. Kennedy Prize and published by Texas Review Press in Fall 2022.
Rooney applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, From Dust to Stardust, and reported the following:
From page 69:Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen Rooney's website.But my charmed existence at Christie Studios didn’t last. One evening, after we’d wrapped my third feature, Al—without knocking—lumbered into my dressing room. I was sitting at my vanity, about to take off my makeup, wearing only a slip. He stood behind me in his tweed three-piece suit, staring at my body in the mirror, and put a warm arm around my bare shoulders.
“You know, my dear, you’re a very nice girl,” he began, scratchy fibers prickling.“And you’re the nicest director I’ve ever worked with,” I replied, and stood to face him.“I’ve been thinking that you and I—”Page 69 of my novel From Dust to Stardust offers an accurate sense of the book as a whole. At this point, my protagonist, Doreen O’Dare, has been in Hollywood for several years, working hard in the silent film industry. Although she’s been appearing steadily in film after film, she has not yet found the stability and recognition that she’s been seeking, nor has she become the leading lady that she knows she has the talent to be.
“You’ve been so good to me, Mr. Al,’ I said, hoping that a mister-ing would make my point and that he wouldn’t get forceful. ‘If you were my own father, I couldn’t like you more.”
His ardor deflated at that. The respect I’d had for him had done the same. As giving as he was, he still wanted to take.
She’s been working with the director Al Christie to develop her skills as a comedienne and has begun to think that maybe she’s landed at last with a director who respects her and will let her explore her full potential, but he lets her down and she knows that soon she’ll have to move on.
This relentless work ethic and belief in her ability to achieve her dream of stardom drives Doreen’s character and career and continues through the rest of the book as she makes her way into the cinematic firmament—and then has to figure out what to do next, once she’s finally gotten there.
The Page 99 Test: Live Nude Girl.
The Page 99 Test: For You, for You I Am Trilling These Songs.
The Page 69 Test: Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey.
The Page 69 Test: Where Are the Snows.
--Marshal Zeringue
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