Larissa Pham

And I will say that Christine is much more dedicated to her own book tour than I am.

She's really, she's really put it together.

She's really putting herself out there.

But there are these funny moments of strange mirroring.

I did a reading where the sound lagged quite a bit, and there's a similar moment in the text where Christine is like, oh, the sound's lagging.

I don't know if it's actually me talking.

And as I was reading, I was like, wait a second.

Like, I was reading that line, and I was like, this is the same thing.

So there's that funny mirroring that happens, which is completely unintentional.

Yeah, I. Yes, so that that moment that Christine is referring to is is obviously the Me Too movement and.

I remember that very clearly I was working in anti violence at the time, and I was really following the news and following media and so seeing all these narratives was like very, very just moving to me really impactful.

And so, Christine is taking inspiration from this time as well it's kind of what emboldens her to tell her own story, but at the same time, like.

you know, I started writing this book in 2022, and a new question that had arisen for me was like, well, what do we do after we tell our stories?

Like, what happens when you tell your story?

What happens if that story is questioned?

What happens if, you know, that person is still out there and, you know, can maybe even talk to you?

Like, what would that be like?

And it seemed like such frightening but also exciting territory to get to explore within a novel.

yeah it's it's interesting so Christine after the end of her you know entanglement maybe or affair with her mentor she drops out of her graduate program she drops out of this MFA in painting that she started mostly at his behest and she's really doubting herself as an artist she's like I don't know if

I'm actually a good painter or if like this guy just like said I was.