Family Dynamics: Zoe Heller, 'The Believers'

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ZOE HELLER'S 2003 novel, "What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal" was a major breakthrough, earning her a spot on the Man Booker Prize shortlist and inspiring an acclaimed film adaptation starring Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench.

But despite her last book's success, Heller set out with different goals in mind for her new novel, "The Believers."

"What Was She Thinking?" portrayed a teacher-student sex scandal through the rather warped perspective of one over-invested colleague. "The Believers" is a far more complicated undertaking, as is so often the case when families are involved.

After patriarch Joel, a successful defense lawyer, falls into a coma while defending a suspected terrorist, his idiosyncratic family members struggle to find a purpose even as the ideologies they have based their lives around seem to crumble.

Prior to her upcoming discussion with Washington Post Book World editor Ron Charles, Heller spoke with Express about her "badly behaved" characters, the impact of 9/11 on her fiction and her upcoming projects.

» EXPRESS: After developing such a strong single narrator in your last novel, was it refreshing or challenging to write from the perspective of a number of different characters in "The Believers"?
» HELLER: Refreshing and challenging, I think. Writing in the first person requires a certain discipline in that you have to stick with one perspective, but it's quite hard, I discovered, to juggle multiple perspectives.

» EXPRESS: Your portrayal of the Litvinoff family is funny, but pretty unsparing. Is it important to you to write likable or relatable characters? If not, what is your priority?
» HELLER: Well, I don't set out to write unlikeable characters — and I'm actually very fond of all of the characters in "The Believers." Some of them are badly behaved, yes, but I would like to think that they are interesting and true, whether or not they inspire the reader's actual admiration.

» EXPRESS: The book takes place shortly after 9/11 in New York. Were you living in New York during that time? Have you read other fiction set in the aftermath? If so, did it influence how 9/11 figured into "The Believers"?
» HELLER: Yes, I was living in New York at that time. One of the things that interested me about the period was how the catastrophe changed or failed to change people's fundamental world views. I've read a couple of books set post 9/11 — "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Claire Messud, "Netherland" by Joseph O'Neill, "Falling Man" by [Don] Delillo. I think what influenced my own writing, more than any other fiction, was the journalism of the time.

» EXPRESS: The book opens with a quote by Gramsci, "The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned." Do you think any of your characters ultimately meet that challenge?
» HELLER: Well, several of them would claim to have done so — and I guess it's up to readers to decide who they think really has. I have my own opinions but I think I'll keep them to myself.

» EXPRESS: Did you intend the book to help readers draw conclusions about the validity of various belief systems (whether religion, politics, or specific relationships), or just to raise the question?
» HELLER: Neither. I certainly did not aim to write for or against any particular belief. I was — am — more interested in observing how belief, or faith works — how it responds to the challenge of contradictory evidence. The methods by which faith is sustained seem to me to differ substantially from one believer to another.

» EXPRESS: Do you know what topics you will be discussing at the event on the 20th? Will the conversation focus on the religious themes, like Rosa's exploration of Orthodox Judaism?
» HELLER: I have no idea what I'm going to be asked. It will be a surprise — a good one, I hope.

» EXPRESS: Are you working on anything new?
» HELLER: I've just written an introduction to a new edition of one of my favorite books, "The Pursuit of Love," by Nancy Mitford. I'm finishing up another introduction to another favorite book, "The Good Soldier," by Ford Madox Ford. After that, I plan to get started on a new novel.

» DC JCC, Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater, 1529 16th St. NW; Tue., Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., $10 Discounted Members, Seniors/Under 25 $8, 202-777-3259. (Farragut West)

Written by Express contributor Meg Zamula
Photo by Chad Buchanan/Getty