Kitchens of the Great Midwest | Holly Furtick Book Club

Foreign.

It's Tuesday night. It's book club night. Welcome to the Holly Furtick Book Club. I am so glad that you are here with me tonight. I am so excited because tonight we are going to be discussing this amazing book, Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradl.

Hi. How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

Can you hear me okay?

I can hear you perfectly.

Awesome.

It's nice to meet you. Thanks for being on here.

Oh, it's great to be on here myself. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. And there's a. You know, there's a lot of good books out there, more than I can get to. I'm really honored that you chose mine.

And thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. It's. It's.

Uh. Oh, we lost your audio.

Okay.

Oh, now I can hear you.

Okay, great. It's personally always kind of amazing to me whenever anyone who's not my mom, my grandma, or my dad, or my brother reads my books. So. Yeah. So thank you.

Well, I just. I. I saw it on, like, a couple different lists, and then I. I saw it showed up on a list that I was reading about, like, epic. It was, like, stories that follow one character their whole life. And I really like those kind of books. And so I picked it up, and I truly just. I loved it. So. Okay, before we start. Am I. I'm saying your name correctly, you go by Jay Ryan?

Yeah, that's right.

Okay. I read a little interview that you did, and how the J. Like, that's actually your given name, is Jay Ryan.

And.

And I thought it was really cool because my. I have two sons. They're almost 16 and 13, and they have just initials for their middle names. Oh. And so. But they don't go by them. They just go by their first name. But, like, my oldest son, his name is Elijah B. Furtick, and then my middle son, his name is Graham T. Furtick. And sometimes they like it, and sometimes when they were little kids, they didn't like it because people would be like, what's your middle name? And they're like, I don't have a middle name. I just have a left.

Oh, yeah. Once I realized that I had a J and it didn't stand for anything, I ran with it. Man. I thought that was fun. That's. You know, it's cool. And I. And frankly, as a little kid, it's easy to spell.

And it's also a really cool, like, author name. It looks really cool on the COVID of your book. So. Okay, so we have so many questions for you, and I'm just going to start with this.

I.

How did you come up with this concept? Did you set out to write a book of short stories that told one story? Did you have an outline? Can you just, like, bring me up to speed on how you came up with this idea?

Sure. Yeah. I came up with this concept in 2009. I've been wanting to read a book set in the world of Midwestern food for a long time. I. Since I was probably a teenager and one hadn't popped up yet, at least a novel. Plenty of cookbooks and nonfiction books, But I've been wanting to read a book like that for a long time. And my mom, who was a writer herself and raised me to be a writer, taught me to read at a young age, encouraged my reading, and we traded books our whole lives. She passed away in 2005, and she never got to publish a book in her life. And that was one thing that really lit a fire under me in terms of how many spins am I gonna get? You know, how much. Yeah, I. And so, in a lot of ways, I felt like I set out to write the book my mom would want to read if she were alive, and a book that would honor her and honor our family and art history in the Midwest and in the food I grew up with, like, Pat's Bars, which was a recipe from my grandmother's cookbook out of Fargo, North Dakota. So, yeah, I heard a North Dakota reference earlier. Yeah, so that. That's. That's where the. Well, out of Hunter, North Dakota. My mom was born in Fargo, but. Yeah, out of eastern North Dakota. And I wanted to bring together those stories and write a book for my mom, but also write a. Write a story that I thought would have a little different. Would have a lot of components and a lot of different perspectives on food in the Midwest. Around. Around 2009, I went to a dinner party where I realized the only person that knows all of the people here is the host. And it would be interesting to ask her, how did all of us get to know you? And I thought, that's an interesting framework for a narrative. So that's where I got the idea for the structure, was from one of my friend Patty Clark's dinner parties. And I just worked in the subject matter I wanted to write about. And I sat down every day and I thought, what can I write that would impress my mom? At a writing class I had, in about 2007 or 2008, I had a teacher named Lou Matthews who told Me that once I start writing about things that mattered to me, my work would get a whole lot better. And that's when I knew I had to address my grief over my mom's death and write about her and write for her. So. So she was. You know, the book's dedicated her. It's. It's. You know, she has a huge presence in it, probably most apparently in the Pat chapter.

So, like, do you feel like your mom was like, Pat?

Oh, yeah. There's some of my mom and Pat, for sure. Absolutely. Yeah.

Well, then I would love your mom, because I love Pat.

Like, the one little scene. There's a couple little scenes that I was dying to get into a book. You know, the one where they were. The one where Pat and her friends were talking about how they got an article of clothing at Kohl's, and they're all bragging about what a good value it was.

It was so funny.

Yeah. Yeah. I always wanted to work that into a book. And also the little scene where Pat wins the target gift card. Yes. And she knows better than to insult someone's dignity by giving it to them as an act of charity. She slides it into the purse. You know, that's. That's.

There's so many little moments like that throughout the book where it's just. You just gave us a little glimpse into the integrity of so many of the characters like that. It was just. It was so beautiful and so well done. So. Okay, so. But again, I need to dig a little bit deeper on this.

No problem.

Did you know. Okay, so did you say, okay, it's gonna be Eva, and then I'm gonna tell it through short stories and did you have it, like. Cause, you know, some authors say, oh, I just sit down and I let the story develop, but it seems like you had to be. You had to have a pretty good idea of where you were going before you started in this type of book.

I did. Yeah. I knew what my ending was before I started. Okay. Right.

Because the dinner party.

Yeah. I knew what the last scene of the book would be, actually.

I. And did you know that you wanted to name all of the chapters. I forgot to mention this before I got you on that. All of the chapters were the food at the last party.

Absolutely. I mean, the book is not only a recipe for a dinner party, since those foods are served at the end, but a recipe for a human being. These are the people that made Eva, and these are the foods that made her dinner.

Yeah. I just loved it. Which character was Besides. Okay, so we've talked a lot about Pat and Eva. Which character was a really fun character to write?

Which one was fun? Oh, wow. They all were. Well, yeah, Pat was a blast. I could have written Pat forever. I could have written 300 pages of her, and maybe I will someday.

I think we need a whole book about Pat.

Yeah. I also really enjoyed writing Brock. She was a lot of fun to write. That character was influenced by a college roommate of mine who lives in Minnesota. And, well, she's not the most likable character for. You know, language is a little rough point of view on. Life's a little. What's the word? She's going through a tough time, and that's true of a few of these characters. They might be like Octavia, for example, might be more likable if you'd met her ten years later.

Right.

You know, we caught her at a pretty tough time. And I think that was true with Brock, too. I think Brock was the kind of person that's gonna mellow with age, and.

That'S how she does. And I loved how you would leave me hanging, and at one point, I would be mad. I'd be like, wait, what? Did she keep the baby? And so. And then, like, just casually in the middle of somebody else's story, it would be like, Brock and her son were there, and you're like, oh, she kept the baby. It was just.

It was so.

You know, there are some. My husband always said. My husband's a preacher. And so he. He always says, you need. People don't want four. They want two plus two. They want to feel like they discovered it. And there are so many two plus two moments in this whole book where you're just like, you're helping me to discover it, but you're making sure that I catch it. And it was just so much fun. Was there one of the stories that you struggled to write that you had to keep editing and rewriting and that you. Or, you know, just maybe that almost didn't make the cut?

Wow. There were a few that didn't make the cut. There's ingredients in the Final Dinner that had chapters that I excluded from the final version because they were thematically redundant with other chapters. So. Yeah, like, there's a chapter on tomatoes on Early Girl Tomatoes. That does. Yeah, yeah, that's written. It was published online on a site called Midnight Breakfast. So it's out there. Oh, yeah. And so if you look it up, you can decide for yourself if it should have been in the book or not. But I thought, oh, you know, I thought Eva's not really in this chapter at all, just kind of at the very end. And we already have a chapter like that with Pat, because my. My other mission with Eva was to have a lot of beginning and less and less and less and less and less. So by the time Cynthia comes around looking for her, Eva is as much a mystery to us, the reader, as she is to Cynthia. So we're following Cynthia's journey of finding out more about where her daughter is now and what she's up to. So there's less dramatic irony for the reader, but more of a mystery. And I totally agree with you. I love books that respect the reader's imagination and allow them to fill in gaps, because, frankly, as a writer, I feel like I'm just one person's opinion. I love it when there's space in a book for me to guess what may have happened. And I could be right, that the author doesn't tell me one way or another. And that's, frankly, more fun for book clubs too. Yeah.

It makes for a good discussion. And you totally did that with Cynthia, and we always talk about that in book club. Like, did you like the ending? Did you like how it left you, like, a little bit hanging? And I. I did. I thought you gave me enough to feel satisfied. And. And I honestly, like, personally, I didn't feel like Cynthia deserved to be in Eva's life and. Or to. She even deserved to, like. Like to insert herself in Eva's life. And so I. I personally liked that. Okay. So I would say I assumed that Cynthia. That. That Eva didn't have really much to do with Cynthia afterwards. But then a friend of mine, she said, oh, in my imagination, she said that Cynthia became. I forget what the word is, but, like, the wine person.

Yeah.

For. For Eva, I was like, really? So that. It's just what makes such a good ending? Was there a chapter that just came automatic? I mean, just almost the second one.

Eva's. Eva's chapter where she's a bullied child. She got to get the revenge on her elementary school bullies in a way I never could. So much of writing is wish fulfillment, you know, it's utopian. I feel like if you're gonna make up a world, why not create a world you want to exist? So I wanted to create a world in which a young girl could fight back with a weapon. Sure. But not in an expected. In a skillful way, using her talent. She could apply her talent and her knowledge in a way that will draw a line and create boundaries. And safety for her.

It was great. You wanted her to stick up for herself. But then I loved. And I said this earlier how by the time you get to the dinner party, you see how she's grown and she's matured and. And she's like a very kind and generous person.

Right.

And so it was really fun to watch the progression of her.

Of.

Of her character, the development of her personality, even through the eyes of these other people.

I agree. Yeah. By the end, she's not a person that seeks revenge anymore. Even by the time she's dating with. Dating, well, like, she makes her statement about, like, yeah, I don't really eat spicy food anymore. And. And in a way, that's kind of her telling us and telling herself that, like, yeah, that was something I did, and I've moved past it. But, yeah. In regards to her attitude towards her birth mom. Yeah, I agree with you. You know, the balls in Eva's court. All Cynthia can do is said, wait to see if Eva comes around. I frankly think that was the least selfish decision of Cynthia's life.

Yeah.

Was standing there realizing exactly what you just said, that. Wait a second. This is not my place to intrude or insert myself. I need to step back. You know, I need to step out of here and let this person come to me. If there's going to be a relationship, I can't impose that on her. Yeah.

I think she also. Her intentions originally were she just wanted to see her, but then once she got close to her, I think she as she wanted more, and I really. I really love that. So what were. What, are there other glimpses of your childhood or your family that you have, like, scattered throughout this book?

Oh, yeah. I mean, quite a few. My brother is one of the family's more successful deer hunters, and I used his knowledge pretty extensively for Jordi. And in fact, a story he told me once inspired a specific event in that chapter where he shot a doe because he gets a doe license every year. And then right after he did a next shot, like, she's down instantly. He sees her fawn walk in. And that was like, the. The same year that our mom died. And so I. I thought, you know what? This. Metaphorically, this is probably hitting the reader on the head a little bit, but it's one of those things that you're dissuaded from doing in writing class where you're saying, but this happened. Yeah, it's one of those things that, you know, get you chased out of the room by any reputable writing instructor, like no, it's fiction. No one cares if it happened. But to me, so much of my heart was tied up in that story. And it was just so resonant to me in particular, that as a debut author, I just couldn't help it. I had to put that juxtaposition position in there because it happened.

And I think I. Now that I know about your mom, now I sort of understand Jordy as well. And, yeah, his pain and what he was going through, and, yeah, he didn't.

Have a healthy way of dealing with it at the time. And I think it's. It's. It was important for me to portray him later on, working for Eva, showing like, okay, he landed on his feet, accepted help. I think he was having a hard time accepting help. Then he was really in a forest of grief.

And, yeah, I was really sad and scared for him. And there was another one of the little cliffhanger endings that you gave is like, you brought me into this character, and I was really cheering for him. And then he makes these really poor decisions with pills.

Yeah.

And I was. And I was bummed, and I. And I talked to several people, and I'm sure people are going to start commenting this. A lot of people didn't catch that he was a waiter at the. At the final dinner, and I was talking to somebody about. I was like, no, Jordy was at. He was one of the waiters. And so, again, it was just like the little bit of closure that you got to know, okay, he. He's okay. And, yeah, it was. I really. I really loved Jordi. How do you know so much about food? Do you cook yourself? Do you find yourself to be a cookie intermediate?

You know, I'd make what I know how to make what I like. I guess I think I'm more of an enthusiastic end user. I love other people's cooking. I miss. I've missed restaurants a lot. The last calendar year, ended up setting my third book in one, but I feel like.

Oh, we got frozen, guys. Okay, we're back. Sorry.

Hey. No, it's. It's my. It's my fault. My. My phone was in the heated. Oh, the. The sun is setting out here in California right now, and my office gets the most sunlight between 5 and 6pm and that's where we are. And it was just in the sun, and it overheated and shut down, so. But I'm back. I'm out of the sun now. I'm in. I'm in the darkest corner of my office.

Okay, well, I got some more questions from people. Some people want to know, do you like spicy food? Because you were telling us about food and how you miss restaurants. Do you like spicy food?

Sure. Yeah. I don't love it. I don't have it terribly often as I get older. I think I like sleep more than spicy food. Yeah, I think I could handle it a little better when I was younger and I just don't eat it consistently enough to have a real resistance to it like you've developed. So. But yeah, I, Yeah, I enjoy it from time to time still. I just. Maybe more for lunch than for dinner.

So you live in California. What is your favorite, like, what's your favorite indulgence food?

Oh, boy. Oh, that's a great question. Oh, maybe like fried fish. That's still stupid. That's been my favorite food since I was a kid. It's just like nice piece of fried cod or any, any fish, really. I just love fish.

Me too. I love French fries.

Oh, yeah, that's good too.

Yeah, that's my indulgence.

So. Okay, we need shrimp cocktail too. Yeah, I love a good shrimp cocktail.

You can't go wrong with a shrimp cocktail.

Yeah.

Okay. A lot of people want to know, did Pat get arrested?

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

It's my, it's my opinion. I don't think so. Yeah, yeah, but, but, but she was willing to be. I love that attitude about her, you know, man. I mean, that's something. Yeah. Once again we're going back to my mom. That's something she would have done in that scenario. But I don't think Pat got arrested.

I don't either.

So.

Okay, you, you're a writer. You said you've always been a writer. When do you like to write? How do you like to write?

Oh, boy. Whenever I can. I've been very fortunate that since I sold my first book, I've been able to do it full time. But I've got a family now. I have an 18 month old son, my first child. And so writing time has been a little bit more professional. Like before he wakes up and after he goes to bed.

Do you type on a computer?

Yeah, I do. Yeah. Everything goes directly into it. I will do like a outline in longhand. I'll figure out who the characters are and how the book ends before I start and then I'll get to work. And usually in the middle, I usually write the beginning last. Like the Lars chapter was. I think the last one. I wrote four kitchens, which is one reason, which is the main reason why he dies, because I knew, like, oh, no, I'm gonna have to kill this guy, because he's not in any of the other chapters. Like. Like, I'm setting up how Eva was put into the situation of making a family of choice without a nuclear family to start with. So I knew them. I knew what. I knew where the mom was, but I knew that dad was gone and had to be gone. And then I vented this character to begin Eva's story to initiate her entry into the world. And I thought, oh, no, no, no, he's gonna have to die. And probably early, you know, probably early in her life, you know, for her to have no memory of him. Right. Like, in the second chapter, which was the first chapter I wrote. So I. Yeah, I really trapped myself in there, and it really broke my heart. I love that character.

I loved him, too. And I thought several times throughout the book about him. I was like, oh, man, Lars would be so proud of his daughter. Or I thought, man, I wish Eva knew that her dad was. You know, loved food like she does, and so really well done to even kill off a character in the first chapter that. That you think about, you know, ongoing throughout the book. Tell me about what you like to read, because I find that a lot of most authors that write fiction, they love to read fiction. What do you. Do you have an author that you've read every single book that they've written?

Yeah, Dennis Johnson. I've read all of his work. I've read just about every Alice Munro short story, probably by now. Boy. Yeah, those two are kind of my desert island authors. Let's see, in terms of contemporary work, I've got a few right here. Like, I really love this book that just came out paperback today, the Second Home by Christy Clancy. It's another Midwestern set book. It's set in Wisconsin in Cape Cod. It's really, really nice story. Let's see, I've got Raft of Stars down here by Andrew J. Graff. This is a Wisconsin set book. It's set in rural Wisconsin. If there's any William Kent Kruger fans.

In the audience, we've actually had him on book club.

Oh, awesome. Awesome.

Ordinary Grace.

Ordinary Grace. Oh, that's excellent. Yeah, I'm a fan of his, too.

Yeah, he's amazing. Have you ever met him?

Briefly. We did an event, a promotional event together. He was so nice before our last books came out. Yeah, he was super nice, and he's a great speaker. He's a very sweet man and very kind, and I was, you know, an author with. Promoting my second book before it even came out, four years after my first one. And he's a. You know, he's been in the business a long time. He had a, you know, whole successful career is, you know, writing, I guess, more crime mysteries in addition to his literary novels. And he was promoting.

This Tenderland.

Yes, this tender land. Yeah. And so, yeah, I met him at that one event where we were pitching our books to booksellers and libraries in the Midwest. Yeah. There was an event called miba. MIBA that does quarterly or six seasonal meetings. And we were both invited to spring one to promote our books to booksellers. So our. So the regional booksellers would know how to talk about our books and, you know, hear about them from us and have some. What's the word? Like, some elevator pitches and how to explain our books to their customers. Yeah, so I met him there, and. What a neat guy.

Yeah, he was so great. People are saying that he was like. Everybody felt like he was like our best friend. He was just so kind. So do you have a book that you. You're like, I wish I could experience this book again for the first time because I would actually put kitchens in that category for me, of just like, you'll never be able to experience beginning to end and the reveal and like. Oh, like, all those special moments. Do you have a. Do you have a book like that?

Oh, wow. Oh, I guess many. A lot of them I can't think of just like, what's just one. Let's just like, oh, you know what? Probably. Oh, where is it? I know I'll see it if I see it. Oh, yeah, I know it's not. Oh, Life After Life. Yeah. Life After Life, I have such a hard Time doing. By Kate Atkinson. That is a book I read, summer of 2019. So, you know, a ways after it came out, and I just love the structure. The structure just blew my mind, and it kept me consistently engaged. Is that the book?

It's black with a red rose on it.

Yes, yes, yes. Right, right. A stem with rose on each side of the stem. Yep.

I've had that forever.

Yeah, it's great. It's great. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, I won't give too much away. I won't give anything away. Just. It's a. It's a wonderful book set primarily in wartime in the United Kingdom. And it's, you know, and just. But it's a book about people. It's a book about mortality and persistence and so many things. Family.

I'm gonna give It a try? Yeah, I'm definitely gonna give that one a try. Okay, real quick before we have to go, tell us about. So you have a book out called the Logger Queen of Minnesota.

Minnesota. Yeah.

And you just. But then you said you're working on something.

Yeah, I just finished the second draft of my third novel.

Okay, and when does that come out?

I don't know yet. It depends what my editor thinks of this draft. I hope next year. Yeah, I hope next year.

That's amazing. Well, I can't wait to read the Logger Queen and just thank you again for. I know it's not an easy thing to write a book, to finish a book. And I just, I just appreciate people who just put good stories out into the world to just bring joy and hope to people's lives. And so I really appreciate it. And thanks for coming on tonight.

Oh, thank you for having me. Once again, it's been my honor. Like I said, there's a lot of great books out there. So if anyone, whenever anyone chooses mine, I'm flattered and blown away. So thank you so much. It's been a great time talking with you in the book club tonight.

Thank you. Appreciate it and can't wait to read more from you.

Thank you.

Have a great night.

You too.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. I love talking to authors. I love hearing about their methods and their madness and how their real life ends up creeping its way into their made up story. And I just love talking with Jay Ryan and hearing about how, how he's one of those authors that starts with the end and he had an outline and what a brilliant book. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. Make sure if you want to be a part of the Holly Furtick Book Club, you head over to Hollyfurtic.com and just click Join the Club. And I'm just going to send you an email once a month to tell you what we're reading and when we're meeting and what author will be joining us. So join the Holly Furtick Book Club. If you like this video, make sure to give me a thumbs up. Give me a heart.

Give me a comment.

Comment. Tell me some books that you suggest that you think I should read and also make sure that you like subscribe and hit that little bell for notifications so you can get more videos like this. I love you and I'll see you back here soon.