Goats, The

QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR

Where do you get your ideas? And where specifically did you get the idea for The Goats?

I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s really very important. The idea for a book is usually not something original or even something that many will find very interesting. It’s simply a little trigger, the sound of a voice, a predicament, a personality. Something that makes a writer think: I could do something with that. What happens next? Let’s see …

When I was first asked this question about The Goats, I would say that the story is as old as Adam and Eve in the garden. Later it occurred to me that the story about a man and a woman who don’t know one another marooned together on a desert island is a commonplace one, the stuff of cartoons in magazines. But, honestly, this never occurred to me as I was beginning. What set The Goats apart are, of course, the ages of the man and the woman and the fact that their developing relationship is treated fairly realistically. The simple-minded sexual fantasies one associates with this situation were in the heads of the people who marooned them.

Generally speaking, what sets writers apart isn’t that they have particularly original ideas or even especially good ones as they begin. It’s their impulse, even compulsion, to try and tell a story.

You referred to Howie and Laura simply as “the boy” and “the girl” throughout most of the book. Why was that?

Well, neither is interested in learning the other’s name as the novel begins. Did you notice that? They’ve been so isolated, so stripped; they’ve even lost their right to be called by a name. It isn’t until late in the novel, when they’ve overcome so much together, that they can take that first step toward being a social person again. They can become a person with a name. And of course Laura’s name isn’t her real one. Laura is a name she was given so she would fit in, be socially more acceptable. It’s important, I think, that when her mother is shown the IOU at the honey stand, it has been signed “Shadow Golden.”

The Goats is on the ALA’s list of frequently banned books. Did you anticipate this kind of reception? How do you respond to those who feel that the book is not appropriate for children?

I think a more important question is whether banning books is an appropriate activity for anyone. Most censors seem to feel they have as much right to censure books as authors do to write them. That seems doubtful to me to say the least.

That said, I think the values discoverable in The Goats are quite ordinary and familiar: honesty, fairness, generosity, compassion, respect. That sort of thing. Why they should give anyone pause, I don’t know. I suspect these critics don’t read much. That’s fine. I don’t write for them. People who read, really read, live much of their lives by literature. They look to books to give then insights into the lives of others. Those are the people I hope are my audience.

Some readers express dissatisfaction with the ending. What happens to Howie and Laura next?

I’m not sure what happens. I doubt if they’ll stay at the camp. Someone asked me once if they’ll get revenge on the campers who mistreated them. I don’t think they’re even interested. They’ve grown beyond that.

They’ve decided to rejoin the world. That’s the important thing. Perhaps I didn’t make it clear enough what a close call this is. It’s Laura’s triumph, really. She’s the one who pulls Howie back from simply “disappearing.”

To say what happens to them next would, I think, take another novel.