Lori Hahnel on Love Minus Zero

Posted by Pearl Author Interviews Thursday, March 31st, 2011

About Love Minus Zero

Book Club Buddy: What do you think readers will find most notable about this book?

Lori Hahnel: I’ve been told by readers that the main character, Kate, is a very vivid and real person to them. One woman said she didn’t want to finish the book because she didn’t want to say goodbye to Kate. They can relate to her vulnerability, her fragility, her emotional authenticity, in her struggles with life and love and addiction.

Book Club Buddy: Have you acquired any good anecdotes surrounding this book? If so, could you share one?

Lori Hahnel: Since Love Minus Zero was published I’ve heard from quite a few Calgary old school punk people. One woman said I brought the National Hotel bar completely back for her, down to the mesh-reinforced windows in the doors and the tables full of draft beer. Which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you look at it.

Book Club Buddy: Is there anything unique or interesting about the background of this book?

Lori Hahnel: It’s loosely based on my experience in Calgary’s first all-female rock band, The Virgins. We played punk shows in town from 1979 – 1983, starting when I was sixteen. Calgary had a thriving scene then; we all thought something big was going to come out of it. I always knew, even in those days, that at some point I would write about the experience. I didn’t know it would end up inspiring a novel, but that’s the way it turned out.

Book Club Buddy: How can readers help you promote this book?

Lori Hahnel: By asking for the book in their local bookstore, whether that’s an independent store or a Chapters Indigo. Word of mouth — talking to friends and family — also helps. And I am happy to make real or virtual visits to book club meetings or other types of gatherings if people would like me to read and talk about my work.

About Lori Hahnel

Book Club Buddy: Why do you write?

Lori Hahnel: One of the reasons I write is because I’m interested in people: why they do the things they do, why they are the way they are.

Book Club Buddy: What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Lori Hahnel: I think my greatest strength as a writer is the spareness of my writing. It’s something I always strive for and something that readers often comment on. I think readers like to participate in the story by imagining some details for themselves — they don’t need you to tell them everything.

Book Club Buddy: In addition to writing, what else are you passionate about?

Lori Hahnel: I am passionate about music, obviously, and I love a wide range of music — jazz, blues, 60s garage and pop, punk, reggae, folk. Piano music of all kinds, from Bach to Thelonious Monk. I’ll listen to pretty much anything besides hip-hop and mainstream country. I’m often drawn to writing about musicians, which I guess stems partly from the band experience.

Book Club Buddy: Is there any new or established author whom you feel deserves more attention, and what is it that strikes you about his or her work?

Lori Hahnel: It baffles me that Mark Anthony Jarman isn’t better known than he is. He’s an absolutely masterful writer of short stories, and his novel Salvage King, Ya was a direct influence on Love Minus Zero. His work is at once poetic, anarchic, achingly beautiful, scatological and hilarious. He should be picking up prizes by the armful and hosting shows on CBC, if you ask me. The Mark Anthony Jarman Show. I would watch it.

Book Club Buddy: What are you working on now?

Lori Hahnel: I am very close to being done a second novel. Once that’s done I have another short story manuscript that’s about halfway done, so I hope to be writing short stories for a while. No rest for the wicked.