Brandon interviews Allen Zadoff
When Brandon, a junior, read Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have by Allen Zadoff, he thought it was a great read: “I kept saying ‘I have to keep reading, I want to know what he does next!’” So, the WHS Library put him in contact with Mr. Zadoff. Brandon came up with great questions, and Mr. Zadoff has wonderful responses. Enjoy!
Q. When did you originally come up with the idea for Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have?
The idea is based on something that really happened to me in high school. One day my gym teacher (who was also the football coach) asked if I’d ever thought about trying out for the team. I told him, “No way!” Many years later I thought about that day and wondered, “What would have happened if I’d said yes? Would my whole life have been different?” That was the beginning of the novel FOOD, GIRLS.
Q. I can easily relate myself to some of the experiences Andy has in his high school career, can you?
I can relate to everything! All of my writing is inspired by real experiences, or at least real feelings I’ve had in my life.
spoiler alert!
Q. My favorite part of the book was when Andy finally asked Nancy on a date at the end of the book, what was your favorite part?
I love that part, too. I wanted Andy to maybe find love, but he needed to grow up a little first. Remember, he hated Nancy Yee at the beginning of the story because he couldn’t see that she was really the most authentic person he knew. Fame was more important to him than being real. I can relate.
end spoiler!
Q. Did Andy’s “broken home” life come from a bad home life that you had yourself?
My home life wasn’t exactly broken–my parents stayed together for 43 years–but it often felt like war in my house, particularly during my teen years. Despite having our family together, I felt very much alone. Physical presence is not the same thing as emotional connection. So it’s easy for me to imagine and write about fighting parents, separated parents, divided families, and the hunger to be together as a family because I felt that hunger myself.
Q. I found this book incredibly difficult to put down, in about 3 days with only short periods to read i finished it, what is your favorite book that you haven’t seemed to be able to put down?
I’m glad you couldn’t put it down. I love when that happens to me. I get sucked into a book so hard that I can’t stop reading, even though I’m exhausted, my back aches, and my eyes hurt. The last book to do that to me was probably The Hunger Games.
Q. Do you have any form of continuation of this book in mind? I know I’m wishing for more detail into how Andy continues his high school life.
A sequel to FOOD, GIRLS? That’s a great idea. I want to know what happens to Andy and Nancy and O. and April. I’m going to tell my publisher!
Q. Andy seemed to have been pressured into drinking and other things, were you ever peer-pressured into things of that sort?
I felt pressure a lot of the time, but I’m not sure if it was coming from other people or coming from inside myself. Because I was a fat kid, I wanted to look and act normal, but I always stood out from the crowd. It made me feel like an alien, and I hated it. Today I look back and think, “So what if you were different? Everyone is different in their own way. It’s not a bad thing.” But I didn’t know that then. There was a lot of pressure to fit in.
Q. If you could give Andy any advice about how to get through high school, what would it be?
I would say high school is not the real world–it’s an intense experience, but it’s actually a short one. You have a lot of life and a lot of experiences yet to come. So try to relax, don’t worry so much, and keep going.
My favorite times in high school were when I was acting and I could pretend to be someone else. I did a lot of plays in high school and fell in love with the theater. That’s what my next book is about. It’s called MY LIFE, THE THEATER, AND OTHER TRAGEDIES. So one other piece of advice would be to find something you love and make friends with other people who love it. That’s the way I found my “group”.
Q. Did you have any struggles with what to write when writing this book?
Writing this book was a lot of fun, but any story has struggles. I knew how FOOD, GIRLS began and ended, but the middle gave me some trouble. Writing a novel is a little like doing anything in life. You start out filled with energy, you run into some problems along the way, maybe you want to quit, but if you keep going, you eventually get through it and you’re so glad you did.
Q. And lastly, what was your biggest struggle you had in high school?
My biggest struggle was with my weight and the way it made me feel about myself. At the time, I didn’t know that guys could struggle with food or eating disorders and I didn’t know there was help for me. I spent a lot of high school feeling alone, when really I wasn’t alone at all. I just didn’t know it. That’s part of why I write–I try and tell the truth about what goes on inside my head so maybe other people will feel less alone when they read it.
