Amy feels that she has lost her creative identity to motherhood. Though she loves her daughter Alice and her husband Max, a math professor studying 鈥済eometric topology鈥 and quantum field theory, she cannot help but feel that her career as a musician has been permanently sidelined.
Lindsay Zier-Vogel鈥檚 new novel 鈥淭he Fun Times Brigade鈥 (Book*hug Press) is as much about the joy and struggle of musical collaboration as the way that motherhood can eclipse everything else a person has ever been.
“The Fun Times Brigade,” by Lindsay Zier-Vogel, Book*hug Press, 352 pages, $24.95.听
鈥淪he used to be able to sit down and churn out lyrics,鈥 the narrator writes, 鈥渨hipping out a song in an hour, sometimes less, but now she鈥檚 stuck bouncing and swaying in her backyard, unable to even walk down to Bloor to get herself a coffee. She doesn鈥檛 know who she is without a guitar in her hands. She doesn鈥檛 know who she is without an audience waiting for an encore.鈥
Zier-Vogel has written the novel in alternating chapters that skip across swaths of time, with Amy鈥檚 life as a children鈥檚 TV entertainer and touring musician carefully joined with the realities of diaper changes, playdates and late-night internet searches about infant socialization. When a marital indiscretion puts her relationship at risk, Amy is forced to consider the actual cost of living in the past when a promising future beckons.听听听听
Toronto-based Zier-Vogel鈥檚 books include 鈥淟etters to Amelia鈥 and 鈥淒ear Street.鈥 Her work has also appeared in Chatelaine, Today鈥檚 Parent, the Globe and Mail and the Temz Review.
What did you last read and what made you read it?
I just finished 鈥淢oon Road鈥 and am still reeling. Sarah Leipciger鈥檚 conversations between old partners on a road trip to find answers about their daughter鈥檚 disappearance were irreverent and heartbreaking and pitch perfect.
Lindsay Zier-Vogel calls some of the writing in听“Moon Road” “irreverent and heartbreaking and pitch perfect.”
I鈥檓 in a book club that is less book club and more a bunch of writers, publishers and librarians who sit around and talk about books we love, and I got the recommendation from our group chat. I鈥檒l read anything they suggest.听
What book would your readers be shocked to find in your collection?
I read a lot of middle grade fiction these days. It began as I started reading what my kids were reading, but I鈥檝e fallen in love with middle grade books 鈥 to the point where I鈥檝e started writing one myself. My favourite recent middle grade books include 鈥淢y Life as a Diamond鈥 (Jenny Manzer), 鈥淔ast Pitch鈥 (Nic Stone), 鈥淟iving With Viola鈥 (Rosena Fung), 鈥淎sking for a Friend鈥 (Ronnie Riley) and 鈥淭he Firefly Summer鈥 (Morgan Matson).听
When was the last time you devoured a book in one, or very few, sittings?
One of my very greatest pleasures is gulping down books in a single sitting. It鈥檚 not always possible, but I recently had a weekend that was filled with kid activities and birthday parties I didn鈥檛 have to attend, and I devoured Teri Vlassopoulos鈥 鈥淟iving Expenses.鈥 We鈥檙e in a writing group together, so I鈥檇 read parts of the book in their infancy, and it was such a revelation to read the completed book, and even more glorious to read it all in one gulp.
Lindsay Zier-Vogel read “Living Expenses” in one big gulp.
Who鈥檚 the one author or what鈥檚 the one book you鈥檒l never understand, despite the praise?
Hemingway. I tried in grad school, but I could never get into his work. I would鈥檝e rather read Chaucer a thousand times over.听
What’s the one book that has not garnered the success that it deserves?
I really loved 鈥淭he Second Season,鈥 by Emily Adrian, and I don鈥檛 think it got its due in Canada. In it, a former college basketball player turned sports commentator is gunning for the job that will allow her to be the first woman to call an NBA game on national television, and it fills my ideal Venn diagram of basketball and motherhood and ambition, with a side of sports injuries. Adrian鈥檚 rendering of basketball players is so convincing that at one point, I looked one of them up to check their stats.
“The Second Season,” Lindsay Zier-Vogel says, hasn’t gotten its due in Canada.听
What book would you give anything to read again for the first time?
Last summer, I gulped down Xochitl Gonzalez鈥檚 鈥淎nita de Monte Laughs Last鈥 in a single day, and though I loved every single page, after I finished it, I wished I鈥檇 read it over a few weeks instead and savoured it. The book is such an incredible exploration of privilege and power, asking whose voices matter and who gets to decide whose artistic legacy lives on. I might have to read it again this summer.
When you were 10 years old, what was your favourite book?
I was either reading 鈥淎nne of Green Gables鈥 for the billionth time, wishing I too could float down a river in a leaky rowboat, or anything by Jean Little: 鈥淢ama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird,鈥 鈥淢ine for Keeps,鈥 鈥淗ey World, Here I Am!鈥 When I was in Grade 3, I wrote a fan letter to Jean Little and asked her if she could come to my school, and in Grade 4, she did! I got to introduce her and her guide dog to the entire school, and it was the moment I knew I wanted to become a writer.
What fictional character would you like to be friends with?
I wish Rocky, from Catherine Newman鈥檚 鈥淪andwich,鈥 was real. She鈥檇 be like my big sister, and we鈥檇 sit around and talk about perimenopause and the impossible juggling act of caring for aging parents and parenting young adults. She鈥檇 be irreverent and make me laugh and I鈥檇 leave with a list of podcasts to listen to, feeling lighter and less alone.
Lindsay Zier-Vogel would like to be friends with Rocky, from Catherine Newman鈥檚 “Sandwich.”
Do you have a comfort read that you revisit?
My comfort fictional read is 鈥淭om Lake鈥 by Ann Patchett. It鈥檚 a perfectly plotted book, and I will never tire of the conversations her characters have under those cherry trees, or the shenanigans the actors get up to at the summer theatre. My comfort non-fiction book is 鈥淪wimming Studies鈥 by Leanne Shapton. The illustrated swimming pools and her descriptions of being in the water are transportive.
What was the last book that made you laugh or cry?
鈥淟eap,鈥 by Simina Popescu 鈥 a coming-of-age graphic novel听about two teenage dancers at a performing arts school in Romania. I used to dance, and I haven鈥檛 read a book that truly captures the day-to-day realities, power dynamics, dance friendships and physicality of dance training the way this one does.
What is the one book you wish you had written?听
Though I generally don鈥檛 read 鈥 or write听鈥 mysteries, I wish I鈥檇 written 鈥淭he Amelia Six,鈥 a middle-grade mystery by Kristin L. Gray. It is set in the present day, and a bunch of preteen Earhart fans win the chance to sleep over at her house turned museum. Of course, things go sideways and Amelia鈥檚 famous goggles go missing, and the girls have to team up and find the culprit. It鈥檚 truly one of the most perfect books about Amelia Earhart I鈥檝e ever read 鈥 and I read all of them.听
Lindsay Zier-Vogel wishes she had written the kids’ mystery “The Amelia Six.”
What three authors living or dead would you like to have a coffee with?听
I鈥檝e been working with andrea bennett editing a collection of essays on swimming, and what I鈥檇 give to meet her in person rather than over Zoom or in the notes section of a Google doc. I鈥檝e also been editing brilliant essays by Adrienne Gruber and Jessica J. Lee for this collection and I so wish we could meet to chat about writing and parenting. And after coffee, we鈥檇 all go swimming.听
What does your definition of personal literary success look like?
My definition of literary success is having more time to write. I鈥檝e recently been able to take Thursdays off client work 鈥 when I鈥檓 not writing books, I work as a grant writer 鈥 and it has been truly transformational for my writing process. I鈥檇 also love to publish more picture books because I love doing author visits at schools and libraries.
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