Lauren Smith: Tell us what Kindred Spirits is about.
 Kindred Spirits Lauren Smith: Why did you write this book? hristopher Kimball Bigelow: This novel is my fifth book on Mormonism. Much of my other writing taps into my Mormon superego, but this story taps into my Mormon id. I gave myself freedom to explore some of the more juicy, shadowy areas of the Mormon experience, including sexual sin, folk beliefs, and the nature of marriage and relationships. Kindred Spirits is very much a character study, letting realistic characters take their natural paths without trying to manipulate them into idealized behavior, which is what happens in most fiction written by Mormons. I suppose in some ways it's also a character study of my own dark side, as some of the situations and odd beliefs and other story aspects reflect my own autobiographical experience, which I fictionalized by combining my own stuff with other things I've imagined or observed. Another reason I wrote this novel is because I wish there were more Mormon stories executed in a manner similar to top contemporary writers such as John Updike, Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan, and other mainstream literary authors. I'm not saying that my novel rises to their level of accomplishment, but certainly Updike is my main influence, and I wanted to attempt something similar. |
