I have had the privilege of reading Pamela Glasner’s brilliantly written and meaningfully current novel titled ‘Finding Emmaus’. I am pleased to share my interview with Pamela Glasner on her spectacular novel.
Stepping out of my self-imposed rule to no longer publicly share a review of a fellow author's written work, I am pleased to share my book review of ‘Finding Emmaus’. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I have!
1. Tell us about "Finding Emmaus".
“Finding Emmaus” is about a lot of things, actually: It’s a very dark, meticulously-researched 350-year fictional yet factually-based journey through the history of the treatment of the mentally ill. The story is experienced through the lives of two people who discover in adulthood that they are not mentally ill, but in reality are extraordinarily gifted. Eventually they become champions for the victims of a multi-billion dollar conspiracy between the pharmaceutical industry and the US-FDA, a conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged for no other reason than the enormous income it generates.
But to me, it’s mostly about spirituality, about living a life that matters, and finding out just how much strength and courage you really have by putting yourself out there for others, even in the face of great personal risk.
2. What is the purpose of this extraordinarily insightful book?
Well, first of all, thank you for the compliment! When I was writing it, the thought of “purpose” didn’t really cross my mind. I had a story in me that needed to come out. It’s a love story, but it also shows how love can be corrupted and how easy it is to be seduced by the darkness. I think if I was to put a purpose to it now, in retrospect, I’d have to say that I hope it opens peoples’ eyes, underscores the dangers of intolerance and arrogance, and gives people hope.
3. Why did you choose this title?
The title comes from the 24th chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, the story known as “The Road to Emmaus”.
After the crucifixion, two men who were on their way out of Jerusalem. They had adored Jesus and were devastated when He was killed. They had expected Him to come back and to be their savior, but after three days of waiting, they gave up hope. They simply couldn’t endure one more moment of the grief and anguish, so they left.
And where do you go? After you’ve watched the world go mad, when everything else becomes unendurable, where do you go? You go to family and friends, someplace where you can be reassured that love and peace and sanity still exist, back to the one place you know you’ll find comfort and consolation and recuperation — you go home, of course.
In 2000 years, no-one has ever found so much as a teaspoon to confirm that the town of Emmaus actually existed, and I believe that’s because it never did. The Road to Emmaus, IMHO, is not about geography, it’s about seeking shelter from the storm. And that’s what Frank and Katherine do in “Finding Emmaus” — for themselves as well as for the millions they are trying to save.
4. What do you hope readers will walk away after reading "Finding Emmaus"?
I’ll sum that up in my favorite paragraph from the book:
“There are those who will try to tell you that love is the greatest motivating force in the world, that love is the one thing that could compel even the most prudent or the most cynical of men or women to lengths they would never believe themselves capable of under any other circumstances. And they’d be wrong. It isn’t love that causes people to throw all caution to the wind, drives them to acts of desperation, or persuades them to believe, beyond all reason, in the utterly impossible—it’s hope.”
Hope is what I want people to take away, because if you lose that, there’s not much else…
5. Where did you write this story?
Mostly on two different sofas! One in my living room and the other in the library of the club I belong to in Hartford. I write longhand, so I sit on a sofa — on the left side of the sofa, mind you — with my left leg curled up under me, a yellow lined pad in my lap, a black ultra-fine Uniball pen in my hand, a coffee table in front of me with either a cup of coffee, a glass of Diet Coke or a glass of shiraz sitting on it. And absolute privacy! The rule when I’m writing is, “You can’t talk to me, not even to ask me if it’s okay to interrupt me for a minute!”
6. What was your writing process, and how long did it take to complete?
Honestly, I had no process or schedule. I wrote just about all day, every day. I was practically unstoppable. I didn’t want to do anything else. Most of the time, I didn’t even want to stop long enough to eat. So when I was at the club, I’d have my pad on the table next to me, so I could write and eat at the same time.
The only thing I can say that I had to do “deliberately”, if this can really be thought of as deliberate, is that I had to keep my head out of it and just let the words flow from my heart and my gut. The story really created itself, just as my characters created their lives and their personalities. I know that sounds weird, but it’s true. Whenever I tried to stick my two cents in and direct something, it all came undone. Then I’d have to go back, step three feet to the left of myself, and re-write that part, just letting it “happen.” As long as I did that, then what ended up on the page was good.
From start to finish, including research time and then time to type it into the computer after it was written, it took five months.
7. Was there anyone who inspired you to write this story?
To write the story itself, no. I’ve had people inspire me in terms of the process, like Stephen King, who said in his wonderful book, “On Writing”: “If God has given you something you can do, why in God’s name wouldn’t you do it?” I can’t think of any other reason for me to have written this book besides that.
8. Is there anything else you would like to add?
Only that, after having written “Finding Emmaus” and having seen how well it’s been received, what I feel more than anything is gratitude — gratitude that God gave me this amazing gift. And even though it took me fifty-plus years to find it, I don’t feel as though I’ve missed out on anything. Being able to do this has been one of the greatest gifts of my life and I know I’ll never lose site of that.
BOOK REVIEW of FINDING EMMAUS by Pamela Glasner
Reviewed by;
Peter Thomas Senese
Pamela Glasner’s ‘Finding Emmaus’ is an extraordinarily thoughtful, provocative, and brilliantly written futuristic novel built on deep historical information and insight that readers will unquestionably delight in both the story’s depths and spires. As an author and avid reader, I have become particularly discriminating when reviewing other writer’s written works and have purposefully not publicly written a review in two years. However, I thought that Pamela Glasner’s masterfully written story was worth breaking my current trend since I was so enraptured with the subject matter and Ms. Glasner’s writing style, and I think many will benefit from reading this story the way I have.
‘Finding Emmaus’ is in fact one of the most enjoyable and fascinating novels I have EVER read, and I simply cannot recommend or endorse enough Pamela Glasner’s delightfully marvelously written story of the human spirit, the pharmaceutical industry, and what appears to be dead-on accuracy about how we, as a society, have chosen not to celebrate our differences, but have tried to classify individualism as peculiar traits that must be brought into line.
In ‘Finding Emmaus’, which I want to point out is a clever title because biblically, ‘Emmaus’ is an alleged ‘home’ town of a biblical figure during the time of Christ, yet there is no historical data that demonstrates the town ‘Emmaus’ ever existed. However, Pamela Glasner’s metaphor of ‘Finding Emmaus’ or “Finding Home” is one I think mankind continues to search for. Regardless of one’s religious or philosophical beliefs, attaining an enlightened state is what we all seek, isn’t it? But what is ‘home’? Could it possibly be a peaceful celebration of our unique honesties and perspectives? Brilliant!
The story’s two main characters are Empaths possessing what society considers to be abnormal personality traits. Francis Nettleton and Katherine Spencer live three hundred years apart, yet their stories intertwine in this groundbreaking new-age fantasy novel as they uncover a multibillion dollar conspiracy in which millions of Americans are being misdiagnosed and drugged so that the capitalistic engines greased by greed and narcissism that is the pharmaceutical industry will continue to earn fortunes.
Finding Emmaus, book one of The Lodestarre series, is writing at its best, and I believe we have amongst us in Pamela Glasner a rare author possessing dynamic insight into society’s complex social complacency matched by this literary maestro’s ability to weave a complex and complicated story built on brilliant character development and impeccable research. ‘Finding Emmaus’ is a story that needs to be heard as it is a call-to-arms against mankind’s tendency for complacency and desire for uniformity as much as it is a soaring endorsement of the celebrations found in the individualism of the human spirit.
After reading ‘Finding Emmaus’, for several days I sat and thought about the messages and storyline in Pamela Glasner’s sharply written story. At times I found myself thinking about ‘The Jungle’, about ‘The Brave New World’, and even some films that address the issue of conformity. In Pamela Glasner’s ‘Finding Emmaus’, readers everywhere have been given a rarity: a wonderful, can’t-put-down story so light and so heavy, so joyful yet so sad, so celebratory yet so frustrating, so current yet a call of what may be. Pamela Glasner’s ‘Finding Emmaus’ is a very special book that readers everywhere will delight in. I cannot endorse ‘Finding Emmaus’ enough, and I look forward to reading the next book in The Lodestarre series. This is writing at its best!
Reviewed written by:
Peter Thomas Senese
Author of 'Chasing The Cyclone'
Due out worldwide June 1st, 2010
(www.chasingthecyclone.com)
