I first met the author, scholar and translator Mariam Rahmani 10 years in the past in a diner in Brooklyn, N.Y., the place we had been launched by our pal, Emma. We had been each about to surrender New York for L.A., and so we chatted about our expectations and anxieties — a sort of friendship blind date, a meet cute.
Lately, I used to be speaking to Mariam at E-book Soup, as a part of her e book tour, and I introduced up this diner assembly, which I’ve all the time remembered as a roseate starting to a deep and lasting friendship. “Actually, we didn’t get along at first,” she advised the viewers, to a lot laughter, and far to my shock. Then, after the occasion, strolling to the bar, Emma confirmed Mariam’s take, “No, you definitely didn’t. And it wasn’t a diner.” If I’ve a horrible reminiscence, and an obvious tendency towards folksy nostalgia, Mariam doesn’t. She is sharp, clear-eyed and all the time so modern.
Mariam brings all that type, wit and brilliance to “Liquid: A Love Story,” a novel that cleaves itself in two. The primary half takes place in Los Angeles, pushed by a story voice that’s at turns sardonic, hilarious and craving. The premise — marry wealthy or die attempting — is dealt with so intelligently and schematically (the narrator retains monitor of her dates and prospects in an Excel spreadsheet), that it’s a little bit of a shock when the e book strikes to Tehran within the second half and the scheming, the wry tone, the romantic comedy of all of it, appear to slide away and our too-knowing narrator finds herself adrift, susceptible and grieving. The structural bifurcation of the novel is a daring selection, and all of the extra rewarding for its boldness. Certainly, this appears to be one of many main themes of the novel — from the prepared, or willful, division of the self into thoughts and physique; to the division of safe and insecure educational labor; to overdetermined notions of East and West. Maybe probably the most apt metaphor for a e book set in Los Angeles and Tehran is to easily say, “Liquid” is a e book troubling the fault traces.
Mariam Rahmani wears Isabel Marant jacket, Comme des Garçons males’s T-shirt, Gucci tote and classic heels.
Justin Torres: I learn this some time in the past when it was in rawer kind, and now I’ve this lovely hardback. It’s a really L.A. e book, isn’t it?
Mariam Rahmani: It truly is! It’s additionally a e book through which I used to be fascinated about drawing the parallels between L.A. and Tehran. There’s meant to be lots of continuity between the 2, just like the specificity in regards to the automobiles — L.A. is a driving metropolis, clearly, however so is Tehran. There’s the stuff in regards to the gentle, the truth that they’re each dry, though one is on the ocean, and one will not be close to water. In lots of methods, I all the time noticed the e book as a love letter to L.A., but it surely’s additionally meant to faucet into the a part of L.A. that’s not fairly Tehrangeles, however this ghost of Tehran that haunts L.A., due to all the expats.
JT: You’re from the Midwest initially. Do you know about Tehrangeles, or about what number of expats had been right here, and did you all the time wish to make it right here? Or is it simply an accident of historical past that you just ended up in Los Angeles?
MR: No, I had little interest in the West Coast. I grew up in a extremely conservative Iranian neighborhood that’s not the L.A. expats in any respect. In fact, we knew about it, it was this cultural touchstone, but it surely was additionally a sort of metropolis of sin. After which, once I went to school, I left Ohio, and I went to school on the East Coast, I went to Princeton, and all the things was primarily based on New York. I used to be a nerd, and intellectuals, quote-unquote, wish to go to New York. So, I actually solely began contemplating [L.A.] once I was researching PhD packages — I noticed {that a} scholar whose work I had used so much in the midst of my grasp’s thesis was at UCLA. After which I regarded up the remainder of the [comparative literature] program and preferred how progressive it was.
JT: We met by means of a mutual pal, proper earlier than each of us had been transferring to L.A. I used to be taking a job at UCLA as a professor, and also you had been about to begin grad college. I don’t suppose she anticipated that both of us would significantly like L.A.
MR: It was a bit bit like, “find solace in each other.” [laughs]
JT: Which ends up in the following query: The principle character of “Liquid” may be very clever and processes the world by means of a literary, important gaze, whereas additionally fascinated about rom-coms [laughs]. However I’m questioning about being an mental in L.A. and discovering neighborhood, which I feel for Angelenos who dwell right here and are from right here, it’s like, “Of course.” However if you first transfer to this metropolis, you marvel, the place are all of the e book nerds?
MR: I feel that that’s undoubtedly true when it comes to the lived neighborhood within the metropolis. It takes some time to determine it out. Given the truth that I used to be connected to UCLA, I wasn’t starved for dialog. I feel one factor that the e book is fascinated about is what number of L.A.s exist inside Los Angeles, and the truth that it means such various things to totally different folks, and it means various things in elementary methods — how they relate to their our bodies, what they put on, whether or not they wax. You additionally see [the narrator] persevering with to discover town and going locations she wouldn’t have had entry to, if not for attaching herself to considered one of these dates.
JT: Sure, the e book is hilarious about courting. She’s attempting to go on 100 dates with a purpose to discover a wealthy particular person to marry. The tone of the primary half of the e book, which is about in L.A., may be very wry. I feel you characterize town in an enchanting approach, and I don’t suppose you’re denigrating in any respect, however the place she is in her life — she’s an adjunct professor, attempting to make ends meet, scraping issues collectively — she feels very dissatisfied, very a lot looking. Discuss a bit bit about courting and elegance in L.A.
Mariam, holding an Hermès scarf within the aisles of Jons Market.
MR: She has lots of enjoyable with type in L.A. She finds it very liberating. She typically supplies the tags of what she’s sporting, it’s nearly like a vogue article or one thing. There are designer names floating all through the e book — that’s tied up in her dissatisfaction, as a result of she has to do lots of thrift retailer looking and consignment looking to have the ability to purchase the items that she buys.
JT: Which may be very eco-friendly!
MR: Yeah, yeah, that’s true. [laughs] There’s an curiosity in how massive town is, geographically and in inhabitants, but additionally when it comes to the emotional panorama of L.A. There’s a playfulness there that wouldn’t exist, for instance, for those who had been writing a e book set in New York. The texture of town is chaotic, and all the things goes. And there’s lots of shade, proper? Blue skies, and he or she talks in regards to the palm bushes and the flowers.
There’s additionally a threatening side to that sunniness that I feel you’re getting at — the alternative of the trope of darkness representing issue. Oftentimes the brightest moments, the brightest gentle, is what signifies her dissatisfaction. That does communicate to the expertise of town. Whenever you transfer to L.A. as a transplant, you will have a very totally different relationship to the solar than you ever did earlier than. You’re spending insane quantities of cash on sunscreen, and also you’re shopping for all these hats — you used to make enjoyable of people that put on hats.
JT: Did I? Properly, jokes on me. I’m quickly turning right into a leather-based bag. I’ve resigned myself to it. However yeah, on the East Coast, it’s the seasons. My emotional and psychological state was so deeply tied to the seasons. I’m used to falling again in love with the world in spring and going wild in summer time, after which getting severe within the fall, getting extremely depressed within the winter. That was simply the routine of my life. And L.A., it’s such a shock, as a result of if you transfer right here and when it’s time to be depressed for 3 months, it’s nonetheless blindingly vibrant out.
MR: There are seasons, however they’re so small, and the wavelengths are a lot smaller, the change is way smaller, and that basically mimics her expertise and the PhD. As a result of issues are altering barely, she is progressing in this system, and you find yourself assembly her after she’s finished, and he or she’s simply reminiscing on that, and her life nonetheless hasn’t actually modified. That sort of motion by means of time with out the satisfaction of an enormous change, whether or not it’s a downturn to winter or an upturn to spring, is essential too.
JT: Within the second half of the e book, she strikes to Tehran. You had been speaking in regards to the similarities between the 2 cities and but the e book feels utterly totally different when she arrives.
MR: Sure, as a result of her place is totally different. She’s an outsider, proper? Whenever you catch her in her L.A. second, she’s been there for a very long time, and he or she’s attempting to remain. Her dissatisfaction is with the truth that it’s not understanding — her job isn’t ok to justify that. The rationale I wished her to maneuver to Tehran, partially, was as a result of she is such a wise ass. She all the time has a learn on all the things. After which that will get utterly destabilized. Once more, to make use of a metaphor that applies to each cities, it’s like there’s an earthquake between that separates the 2 halves. The bottom falls out from beneath her ft. She doesn’t know her approach round.
Mariam wears a Marni gown.
There’s additionally a sort of joke in regards to the sort of blind insistence that it takes to be a scholar, to maintain doing what you’re doing, even when the world is falling aside, and even if you find yourself falling aside emotionally. You see that within the e book too, as a result of she really finds a approach to proceed her mission.
JT: I wish to pivot a bit bit to speak about academia. Your most important character is a hyper-educated, hyper-intelligent humanist, trapped in poorly remunerated, precarious, adjunct labor. I feel there’s a legitimate critique of the academy inherent within the novel. Although you wrote this earlier than the tradition shifted — do issues really feel totally different at this explicit political second, when universities are being attacked from the correct?
MR: I feel there’s a extra fundamental level too, which is that the e book wasn’t written for this world. It’s all set in the summertime of 2019 as a good timeline of three months, and its criticisms should not of the present rule. In some methods, it’s small potatoes in comparison with what’s taking place now. Sadly, books take so lengthy to come back out that even for those who write them fairly rapidly, they’re all the time going to be dated. And when it comes to the priority with academia, it’s not even actually a criticism of academia itself a lot because the decadence of the sort of capitalism we’re residing in proper now, which doesn’t help the humanities, has no use for summary considering. It was that academia was the equal of a convent, the place the nuns and monks went to do their considering, and even that doesn’t exist anymore. The criticism is basically on the broader tradition than the politics of the convent, however actually she additionally has these petty issues of her personal life, and he or she desires to make more cash and he or she desires to purchase nicer garments and go to nicer eating places.
JT: Yeah, for a very long time, it was regarded as a vocation, and the promise of that has all however evaporated. In the meantime, right here’s this character in L.A. and all the things’s flashy and glossy and horny, and he or she’s younger, and he or she desires to be flashy and glossy and horny too, and he or she is. It’s a very horny e book. What had been you interested by when writing intercourse?
MR: Earlier than I wrote the e book, my rule about intercourse scenes was, don’t write them. They all the time fail. Should you’re attempting to make it sizzling, it sounds silly. Should you’re attempting to level out some bizarre side of intercourse, it simply turns into gross or grotesque. However this e book is basically within the development of femininity, prefer it’s not a pure factor. I simply needed to do it to ensure that the e book to truly be speaking about what it claimed to be speaking about. The e book can also be invested in courting norms and gendered norms, and he or she dates ladies and men. There’s a joke about how she finally ends up courting so many extra males exactly as a result of wealth distribution will not be equal among the many genders within the US.
JT: This very rom-com idea you’ve provide you with — occurring 100 dates with a purpose to marry wealthy. It collapses intercourse and energy. Makes all of it very clear and transactional. She rejects the fantasy that intercourse is simply about intimacy and connection, and never about these other forms of transactions. When intimacy pops up, it’s really fairly stunning within the novel and nearly extra genuine, as a result of she should actually be feeling one thing.
However tonally, it’s a cynical approach to start the novel, proper? And it strikes to a totally totally different place in the long run, but it surely begins in a cynical place. It’s attention-grabbing, as a result of I consider L.A. as one of many least cynical locations I’ve ever lived. That is clearly a gross generality, but it surely actually feels true to me that folks right here are likely to take a extra optimistic tone. I’m questioning in regards to the expertise of getting such a cynical character in such, once more, a cheery, sunny spot.
MR: Properly, I feel that the cheeriness, the friendliness, they’re sort of garments, proper? Like it’s overlaying one thing. And all garments should not lies, generally folks really feel that their garments really categorical themselves, however there’s all the time that distance between the physique and what you’re presenting to different folks.
Justin Torres is the creator of “We the Animals” and “Blackouts,” which gained the Nationwide E-book Award.
