We had the pleasure of interviewing Laura Pratt, author of Heartbroken: Field Notes of a Constant Condition, published by Penguin Random House.
Laura is a long-time journalist, writer and editor. Her first memoir, The Fleeting Years, was published in 2004. She is a 2020 graduate of the University of King’s College’s creative nonfiction MFA. She won an honourable mention in Prairie Fire’s 2020 CNF contest and was shortlisted for The Fiddlehead’s 2019 CNF contest.
What is one important takeaway you want the reader to get from reading your book?
More than anything, I want readers not to feel alone. If you’ve had your heart broken, and are struggling with it, the most common response from outsiders is impatience and even disdain. Typically, folks don’t have nearly enough sympathy for someone they believe is dragging out their pain beyond a socially acceptable period. Suffer too long, and people will let you know you have overstayed their welcome for their indulgence of your distress. With my story, I hope to lend comfort and understanding to readers who are feeling similarly distressed by not only this critical emotional upset but people’s impatience for their recovery. I want to tell them I see you. I am one of you. I want to tell them they’re human, and that they can do their heartbreak however they need to.
A book cover can attract potential readers. The design is compelling. Even the word “heartbroken” is broken. Is there anything that the cover does not reveal that you want readers to know about?
I am delighted with my book’s cover, which my children tell me is “millennial blue.” I’m thrilled that you highlight the break in the title word, which I think is kind of inspired. I mean, when do you ever see a hyphenated word on a book cover? It is so unusual that it draws the eye. And then, when you understand the subject of the book, you appreciate the design choice that much more. I like the burning rose too, for its symbolism of the destruction of something beautiful, which is of course how I feel about the demise of my romance.
You make several references to music (e.g., Jackson Browne and Leonard Cohen), Greek philosophers, and other social-cultural events throughout history. How did you balance this and the research needed, with your own personal story?
I am a journalist, and it was always my intention to feature a good deal of research in this book. I like the idea of running my own story as a thread through all the universal exposition, using my personal experiences as points of contemplation for the bigger picture. I feel like my memoir serves as an intimate means of getting into considerations of the various aspects of heartbreak that everyone goes through, before stepping back and applying a more clinical eye.
What is your favourite quote from the book? Why does it stand out for you?
That’s a tough one, given the sheer number of folks I quote over the book’s course, but I think I’d have to say the quote that most resonates with me in my heartbroken years is one attributed to Buddha that goes: “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may.” I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that one for folks casting about for salvation. It teaches self-sufficiency and promotes an important home truth.
Why do you enjoy attending book clubs as an author?
Before I was a writer, I was a reader. I’m a reader still and a writer now. The opportunity to marry these passions is thrilling to me. I feel like, by attending book clubs, I can enhance readers’ experience of my story, and help them to see themselves in my experience. While there’s no question that my psyche has been improved by my writing the book, I ultimately wrote it for others, to help them navigate their own passage through this disaster. Speaking to people who have read my book and, hopefully, seen some piece of their own life experience in my words, is a great honour. Also, I find human beings pretty fascinating, and believe that any opportunity to gather and talk about emotions and hard things is a gift.
How can book clubs connect with you?
They can reach me through my email, which is malindi@sympatico.ca. I am hopeful for the chance to gather with folks who love to read and who have spent some time with my book so we might talk about the humanity of heartbreak and how it connects us all.
The Authors Book Club 