Bangles cofounder Susanna Hoffs' first novel follows a one-hit wonder, 10 years later

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The protagonist of Susanna Hoffs' debut novel, Jane Start, probably listens to Dionne Warwick to hype herself up in the morning. Start is 33 and living with her parents – her days of pop stardom, for one song, are 10 years behind her. But in This Bird Has Flown, a romantic spark reignites a second chance for her creative endeavors, too. In today's episode, Hoffs tells NPR's Andrew Limbong how her own experiences as a rockstar influenced the story, which she's now adapting into a feature film.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey all, I'm Timberdi Aramis, and it's NPR's Book of the Day.
0:06.6	Susanna Hoffs loves music. As a co-founder of the popular 80s band, the Bengals, she's known for leaning
0:13.9	into the narrative magic of music. So it seems natural that she's just finished a book.
0:19.9	In this interview with NPR's Andrew Limbong,
0:22.8	Hoffs says,
0:24.1	there are stories in all songs.
0:26.3	The book is titled, This Bird Has Flown.
0:29.0	It's a story about a 30-something musician
0:31.3	who tries to juggle a flailing music career
0:33.6	and a fledgling romance.
0:35.8	But it's also a love letter
0:37.0	to the messy moments that make up
0:38.9	the pursuit of each. And who better to write about stardom's less than sexy moment than Hoffs,
0:44.5	whose keen eye for details illuminate a story and really make it sing. Here she is with Andrew.
0:50.8	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:55.5	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.
1:00.1	On our new show, Sources and Methods.
1:02.1	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,
1:05.8	helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:09.4	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:15.1	There are certain indignities you have to endure on the road to music stardom.
1:20.2	Sometimes you just have to play a crappy show for an annoying audience because that's the job.
	...

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