Empathy: 5 Questions to the author

- Where did you get your bad image of women from?

I ask because to me it seems quite striking that all the women in the story until now have a similar character; they’re all rather dumb, mostly talking about how their diet (or the diet of other women they know) is working, and always gossipping and hungry for new sensations. As the most obvious example I would name here Vernon’s mom, Doris, and her girlfriends George, Betty and Leona. They seem to do nothing but sitting all day in Doris’ livingroom and discussing their new loss of weight or what they ordered from television-shopping.
Not as obvious as the other ladies‚’ Taylor fits this picutre as well. Actually she doesn’t want to meet Vernon, but after she heard what happened to him she’s suddenly SO friendly and interested... she may not be in need of a diet, but she’s as hungry for sensation as the other ladies in the book.

- Why is the city Veron lives in called „Martirio?“

My first association with the name of Vernons hometown was death, rivers of blood and destroyment... does this city really exist or did you call it like that because you wanted the readers to associate the same as me?

- Are there any parallels between Jesus Navarro and Jesus Christ?

I had more than just once problems finding out who is meant, Jesus N. or Jesus C, like in the police office where Vernon looks at a picture of „my friend, Jesus“ – hey, both can be meant with that. I thought it was my fault first, but then I found out that there must be a meaning behind the mistake of the two Jesus’.

- Were you an underdog, too?

I suppose you were, because you know very well the feelings of a person who’s standing at the edge of society... I feel like you got a sympathy for those underdogs and outsiders, and they play an important role in your book.

- Do you dislike mankind in general or just the way some things in our society are going?

You show a quite sad and hopeless picture of the people surrounding us, what lets me think you’re a „man-hater“...

(Words: 371)