You are a human animal.

You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal.

Who can think, who can reason, who can read?

Hello and welcome to Bookworm.

This is Michael Silverblatt.

Today my guest is Michelle Hunnivan.

Her first novel, Round Rock, has recently been published by Knopf.

Now, I gather that this is a wonderful summation to years of work, and I'm wondering,

because of the quality of the book, what it was it took so long for a first novel.

Well, the first novel is what took so long. I hate to tell you how long ago I started this book.

Tell me.

Well, I wrote a short story when I was 20, so I'd better not tell you how long ago that was, but it was 20-some

years ago, and my writing teacher at the time said that this is not a short story. This is

the chapter of a novel. And I tried for years to make it into a novel. I'd go back to it.

I'd leave it alone. I'd try it again. And I did that on and off for 20 years, more or less, until I finally caught with something.

What was happening during those 20 years? I'm very interested because, you know, the act of writing a novel is fascinating to me and what lets someone keep at it over such a protracted period is a really

moving thing.

Well, actually, the novel is about growing up.

And what happened in those 20 years was that I grew up to the point where I could write

the novel.

How did you learn all the things that it took you to know to write this book?

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