Variations: Tropical delight
Marianas Variety, Saipan
(www.mvariety.com)
Everyone on Saipan who knows Arin Greenword believes she wrote a memoir thinly disguised as fiction and our job as a reader is to figure out who’s who. Not true. If “Tropical Depression” was based on real people and real events, then Arin would have written a travel book, à la Paul Theroux perhaps. Arin, however, wrote a novel.
Some say Miramar — Spanish for “sea view” — is Saipan. Not really. (I’ve been here since 1993 but I’ve never seen chickens on the airport runway, nor cows outside the courthouse.) Miramar is a caricature of Saipan. It is a fictional island, and what happened there is the fictionalized account of Arin’s experiences on Saipan. Arin, in her novel, made it all up, and I think it is insulting to a fictionist if we depict her work as a journal with dialogues — especially when it isn’t.
For me, the only “recognizable” person in the book is Nina because she says she drives like a grandma. Like Arin. With the probable exemption of Nina, the rest of the novel’s characters seem to be composites of real people. But that’s how fiction writers operate. They draw from real life, but selectively. They take this, but leave that out. They splice, they cut, they embellish, they invent. That’s what it takes to create fiction which is always about life, but livelier and more interesting.
Consider:
• A nudist lawyer eating breakfast, naked, at a restaurant.
• A supposed CIA agent smearing his, well, chingching with kimchi.
• A man named Bruno who sings in Esperanto at a strip club.
• A tropical island called Miramar whose mascot is known as the Miramarsupial because “the Japanese like kangaroos so if the mascot is a kangaroo then the Japanese will want to come to Miramar,” which doesn’t have kangaroos.
This novel is a riot, its first sentence is brilliant (it reminded me of Lorie Moore’s opening paragraph in “Who Will Run the Frog Hospital") and the early chapters are laugh-out-loud funny even when the main character is going through a harrowing breakup. It also has moments of heartbreaking sincerity, but sometimes I find it difficult to sympathize with Nina. She is needy, clingy, whiny. Although sweet, kind and intelligent.
Nina is a young lawyer from New York who just got dumped by the love of her life. She went to Miramar because she thought that life on a tropical island is like a colorful cocktail drink in a tall glass with a straw, a fruit and a small umbrella. The “moral,” if there is such a thing in this novel, sounds like something from a young adult book: “You cannot get away from disappointments; you have to embrace and learn from them. And anyway, time heals.” But “Tropical Depression” is anything but ordinary. It is a modern adventure story of someone like you and me, trying to make sense of it all while hurting, hoping, crying, smiling, sighing.
Some seven years ago, Arin shared with us an early draft of her novel, and I was impressed with her wit and craft. She doesn’t allow words to get in the way of telling a good story. That’s a rare talent.
Some believe that good writing is the ability to sprinkle your work with “impressive” words. The “trick,” however, is to find the right word with the appropriate shades of meaning; the well-deployed turn of phrase; a pleasing because fluid and varied rhythm; clarity; verve; resonance.
Arin is such a writer and “Tropical Depression” is a delight to read and re-read.
Escapist fantasy: Former Saipan resident writes adventure about running away to a tropical island near Guam
By Hannah Cho Iriarte
Pacific Sunday News, Guam
(www.guampdn.com)
A 20-something-year-old woman tries to escape the harsh cutthroat world of New York City by running away to a small island near Guam called Miramar. She expects to find a picture-postcard life of serenity, sunbathing and sipping on coconut rum. Instead she discovers an island covered in jungles and its own set of problems.
"Tropical Depression," a new book by Arin Greenwood, chronicles the adventures of Nina Barker, a neurotic lawyer trying to find herself.
It's loosely based on Greenwood's own life when she ran away from her New York attorney job. After getting her heart stomped and the tragic terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, she needed to get away. Greenwood fled to Saipan where she worked in the courthouse and attorney general's office for almost six years.
"I was shell shocked from all that had happened, and I wanted an easier life, a place to escape, and a place for new adventures where I could see the world," Greenwood says.
Escapade
In the book, each morning Barker wakes up, she falls apart. The only way to keep herself together is to leave.
The theme of escapism is something most can appreciate, especially in this difficult economic environment, says Jeffrey Turbitt, publishing consultant and former Saipan teacher.
"I think the experience of loving someone and having that person break your heart is almost universal. I think lots of people have fantasized about running off from their heartbreak to a warm tropical island," Greenwood says.
Readers can live out that fantasy vicariously through Barker.
The book is mostly an older coming-of-age story as Barker tries to find her position in life. Instead she winds up getting "lost in the jungles of life" on Miramar, says Saipan resident Galvin Deleon Guerrero, a former co-worker who has read the book.
"It's smaller, but there are similar problems with less anonymity," Greenwood says.
The setting is real and people can relate to that.
"It's not some deserted locale with Tom Hanks talking to a volleyball," Turbitt says. "It's a modern industrial society."
The setting is a thinly disguised version of Saipan, says Eli Lehrer, an avid reader who has placed this book on his top ten.
"It captures the spirit and problems of a particular part of the world very well, while containing some well drawn characters," Lehrer adds.
The result is good travel fiction that's sad, funny and insightful with a touch of profanity. There are strippers, ghosts, an in-court exorcism and a guy who may or may not be working for the CIA.
Though there are parallels to her life, Greenwood insists the story is 90 percent fiction. The corrupt politicians and strippers Barker meets are not based on any particular person.
"Don't get me in trouble, none of the characters are real. There might be a detail here or there, but that's it," Greenwood says with a laugh.
As Barker explores, she forms a love triangle by dating two very different men simultaneously.
"One is nice but boring, and the other is exciting but a cad and probably a pathological liar," Lehrer says.
"She loses herself in the jungles of a tropical island. While lost, she looks for love, but finds herself instead," Deleon Guerrero says.
Local influence
"Guam residents will recognize characters in 'Tropical Depression' who likely will remind them of friends, business contacts and maybe even themselves. I think it especially appeals to real islanders," Turbitt explains.
It's an easy read that tells a good story.
"Locals will be in on many of the jokes, while expatriates will get a kick out of some all-too-familiar experiences," Deleon Guerrero says.
It's a terrific novel that everyone should read, Lehrer adds.
"It's literary fiction that's not overly pretentious. It has real literary merit, but doesn't try too hard to impress the reader," he says."I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down."
Just as a tropical depression is a gathering of storms, so is the story. Barker's life isn't as bad as a typhoon, but it's not clear and sunny either, Deleon Guerrero says.
"Reality of island life is much more complex and interesting than what the travel brochures will tell you," Greenwood says.
Arin Greenwood talks about her new book, silly clothes, and an exorcism in court
By Angelo O'Connor Villagomez
Saipan Tribune, Saipan
(www.saipantribune.com)
I first met Arin Greenwood at a blogger meetup on Saipan in 2006. Those blogger meetups weren't really meetups in the sense that we would hold actual meetings with agendas and things like that. A bunch of us would just go to Java Joe's and nibble on chicken nuggets while we IM'ed each other and avoided making eye contact.
Arin just published her first novel, Tropical Depression, which is loosely based on her five years practicing law in the Northern Mariana Islands. I was recently able to catch up with Arin over a cup of coffee and a blueberry scone in Washington, DC. After comparing notes on life after Saipan, we had the chance to talk about her new book.
Angelo O'Connor Villagomez: Can I just start by saying that I really love this book? I read it from cover to cover on a flight from Detroit to Tokyo. I loved it so much, in fact, that after a short nap I opened the book back up and read it again.
Arin Greenwood: That's about the nicest compliment I could ask for-thank you! And I must say: I love a captive audience.
AOV: No, really. Nina's story just sucked me in. I don't know if you'll appreciate this comparison, but I haven't enjoyed a book this much since I read the first Harry Potter book about 11 years ago.
AG: Now THAT is the nicest compliment I could ask for!
AOV: So let's talk about the book. The main character, Nina, is a twenty-something neurotic non-practicing Jewish vegetarian from the East Coast. How did you come up with this character?
AG: It was a real stretch, despite that I was in fact a twenty-something neurotic non-practicing Jewish vegetarian from the East Coast when I started writing the book. By the time I finished writing it I was well into my thirties, though, and was a little less neurotic. Only a little though.
AOV: So would you be offended if I say that I wanted to break up with Nina about halfway through the second chapter?
AG: No way. She was a mess. You'd have been completely right to break up with her.
AOV: One of the things about this book is that it's not quite memoir, not quite fully fiction. What made you decide to take this middle ground?
AG: I didn't want to write a memoir because, thankfully, my own life isn't interesting enough to turn into a memoir. Also, I wanted to be able to make things up. As for why it isn't entirely fiction-it actually is mostly fiction. I mean, I'm not imaginative enough to write sci-fi or historical fiction, or to write about people or places that I've got no experience with whatsoever, so my characters and stories will always have some element of real life in them. But the book really is fiction!
The book went through about a hundred drafts and revisions, and early versions were much more autobiographical and non-fictional than how the final book turned out. I had this idea that I wanted to write a book that was like life-the word I used to describe what I was trying to do, in the early drafts, was “drifty.” I wanted people to drift in and out in the book, the way they do in life.
But I was working with an agent who convinced me-correctly, I think-that all the characters got confusing and a little bit boring, and that the book needed more of a clear narrative arc. So by the time the agent thought Tropical Depression was ready to go out to possible publishers, it had been turned into something that-while still clearly rooted in real life-was most definitely fiction.
AOV: So how much of the book is based in experience and how much is fictionalized memoir? I mean, is the nudist lawyer Nina meets on her first night on Miramar in the Bitter Haole (Miramar's most popular watering hole for ex-pats) a metaphor for something else, or are there really pot-bellied naked haoles running around that I don't know about?
AG: I never met a nudist in Saipan. Except at the strip clubs, and I'm not sure that counts. For sure I never met a nudist lawyer, sadly. Sadly?
As for the Bitter Haole-mostly that was just supposed to be funny.
AOV: Let's discuss the characters some more. Most of the characters seem like caricatures, with an Alice in Wonderland quality to them. Is everyone on Miramar mad?
AG: No comment. You know, on a side note, I now live with a man, who I'm marrying soon, who doesn't believe in the concept of madness. He thinks the mind is a metaphor and therefore can't be “sick” the way that a physical body part could be sick. My mother, who has an MA in psychology, is just thrilled at his analysis, as you can imagine.
AOV: The character I liked the most was Captain Joe. To me he was the only voice of sanity in the entire book. What's the story with him?
AG: I love that character. He was based on a few people I've known, in different places. One was a guy I knew in Florida-and, actually, the apartment building where Nina lives in Tropical Depression, was based on an apartment building I lived in Naples, Florida, when my college boyfriend and I decided to drop out of school for a while and live at the beach for a while. It was this great rundown old building, a few blocks from a pier where people would go fishing and pelicans would fly around to try to get the fish off the lines, where working people would live nine months of the year, then would get kicked out during the high season. There were lots of characters who lived in the building, including a boat captain I got to know, who I always thought would make a wonderful character.
Captain Joe is also based on some people I met in Micronesia-some really amazing people I met in Guam and Saipan when I was working on a story about Carolinian star navigators for ANA's inflight magazine. He's also a little bit based on another person I met in Saipan, who was in fact searching for a rare starfish he'd spotted once and then had never seen again.
So that character, like almost all the characters, is a composite character-he shares qualities with some real people, and has a lot of made up stuff about him, and it's mixed together into a fictional, hopefully lovable, character.
AOV: Nina's fashion sense (or lack thereof) plays a big role in the story. You go to great lengths to describe just about every single article of clothing Nina wears during her year in Miramar. Were you channeling Memoirs of a Geisha for Goth vegetarians?
AG: Ha. No. So for Nina, I think she feels like her clothes are supposed to be her outward manifestation of who she really is. But she obviously has terrible fashion sense. So the clothes, in a way, are supposed to show that while she considers herself to be so self-aware, she's really displaying in full show what a mess she is on the inside. I think she's also trying to use clothes to make herself feel comfortable in her own skin-they are supposed to be her skin, in a way. But of course by dressing in this silly way she makes herself uncomfortable, in the end, because she's not dressed appropriately for her situation. She's wearing silly dresses to serious jobs, for example-but in a way I think she's trying to make herself uncomfortable in these situations. Like, she could just go out and buy herself a suit and wear a suit to work, right? But instead she purposely doesn't wear a suit-she wants the world to know that she doesn't belong in any of the worlds where she's found herself. But she's also looking for a world where she can be herself, and have that be all right. See-actually, the whole clothes thing is very deep!
AOV: You were a practicing attorney on Saipan for five years. How closely do Miramar's courts resemble real life?
AG: Well, some of the more surreal parts of the Tropical Depression courts actually are true to life. There really was an exorcism at the court, after a law clerk died there, for example. The prosecutors really did complain that witch doctors would come to trials, and intimidate witnesses and jurors. There really was a case where an inmate escaped from jail, repeatedly, after the guards left his cell door open, and claimed he couldn't be sent back because he was too claustrophobic. I wish I could have made this stuff up, but I'm just not that creative.
And, just being serious for a second, I think that there really is an issue in Saipan-as in all small communities-about how it is possible for justice, which presumes objectivity, to be meted out when everyone knows everyone. I actually have thought about applying for a Fulbright or some other fancy grant to study juries and justice in small communities. One day perhaps I'll go beyond just thinking about it?
But I never heard judges or justices use personal connections with people as a reason to decide a case one way or another-that part of it is made up. And while there was quite a lot of talk about Spam at the court, no one ever actually tricked me into eating it; I was far, far too clever to fall for that. There was a lot of cha-cha at the court, though-that part is true.
AOV: And now for my last question: So who gets to play Nina in the movie?
AG: Is this the part where I get to be wildly optimistic? My mom thinks that Natalie Portman should play Nina. I think my fiancé would like it if Mila Kunis played Nina. I think either of them would make an excellent choice for the role. Who do you think should play Nina?
AOV: Well, after watching Black Swan I have to admit I'd go see just about any movie with those two. However, they might not be kooky enough. How about space cowboy turned robot assassin turned crime-fighting blogger Summer Glau? Christina Ricci would also be great, too. She's does weirdo like nobody else.
