Spotlight: A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan

A Room Called Earth
written by Madeleine Ryan
published by Penguin Books, 2020

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Apple Books, Target, Walmart, Kobo, Book Depository, Goodreads

About the book – from Goodreads: The debut novel from an autistic writer, an extraordinary story of a fiercely original young woman whose radical self-acceptance illuminates a new way of being in the world, and opens up a whole new realm of understanding and connection

As a full moon rises over Melbourne, Australia, a young autistic woman gets ready for a party. What appears to be the start of an ordinary night out, though, is, through the prism of her mind, extraordinary. As the events of the night unfold, she moves from person to person, weaving a web around the magical, the mundane, and the tragic. She’s charming and witty, with a touch of irreverence; people can’t help but find her magnetic. However, each encounter she has, whether with her ex-boyfriend or a woman who wants to compliment her outfit, reveals the vast discrepancies between what she is thinking, and feeling, and what she is able to say. And there’s so much she’d like to say.

When she meets a man in line for the bathroom, and the possibility of intimacy and genuine connection occurs, it’s nothing short of a miracle. It isn’t until she invites him home, though, and into her remarkable world that we come to appreciate the humanity beneath the labels we cling to, to grasp, through her singular perspective, the visceral joy of what it means to be alive.

From the inimitable mind of Madeleine Ryan, an outspoken advocate for neurodiversity, A Room Called Earth is a magical and miraculous adventure inside the mind of an autistic woman. Humorous and heartwarming, and brimming with joy, this hyper-saturated celebration of acceptance is a testament to moving through life without fear, and to opening ourselves up to a new way of relating to one another.

A conversation between Madeleine Ryan, author of A Room Called Earth, and her publisher, Penguin Books. (Q&A provided by Penguin Books)

You trained as an actor and performed in theater for years. Could you talk about that time? What led you to shift towards writing fiction? I grew up in a household with journalists, and for a long time I didn’t want to be a writer, even if I enjoyed writing immensely. I wanted to be an actor. My parents were (and still are) film and television critics. So, naturally, I wanted to be the person that they were watching, and adoring.

Then around the age of 20 I went to a psychic, and when I entered the room she was like, “ah, the actress!” and I felt super validated, before she corrected me, and said, “oh, no, no. You’re an actress in everyday life, and in all of your relationships. You’re a writer and a director when it comes to what you’re supposed to create in this lifetime.”

Then, as my twenties unfolded, I kept being drawn toward writing more, and more. I also made life choices that, although I didn’t realise it at the time, were leading me in the direction of writing, too. Like, my partner and I moved away from the city, and deeper into rural Victoria. I became a vegan. I was diagnosed as autistic. I weaned myself off hormonal birth control, and I adopted animals.

It was only after all of that that fiction started calling out to me, and I had the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical space to listen to and care for it.

The protagonist has a deep connection to nature. How do you think our relationship to nature as humans impacts our connections to ourselves? I think how we relate to nature parallels how we relate to ourselves. So if we’re accepting of nature, and it’s inherent cycles, and idiosyncrasies, we’re more likely to be accepting of ourselves, and our own inherent cycles, and idiosyncrasies. If we fight nature, and try to control it, and manipulate it, and exploit it, there are probably ways in which we’re trying to fight, control, manipulate and exploit ourselves – and each other.

Nature is very revealing.

You chose to center much of the novel around a house party. What led you to explore this type of social gathering over others? There’s something very intimate and very disarming about a house party. It’s more vulnerable and exposing than an event that’s orchestrated in a public space. On an unconscious level we probably enter a house party and, to some extent, feel more at home.

I also see houses, mansions, apartments, and all of our personal living spaces, as beautiful reflections of our psyches. They’re extensions of us. Communal spaces are probably more of an extension of our collective consciousness, and its preferences, and values. Whereas someone’s home, and all of its rooms, and centre pieces, and darkened corners, and sun-filled spaces, is symbolic for who they are – and how we enter into it mirrors who we are.

There are so many ways A ROOM CALLED EARTH broadens the conversation about representations of autism in literature. Are there other books, plays, or even television shows, or films that feature autistic characters that you enjoyed? I think that every portrayal of autism has its place. Netflix original series Atypical, and Barry Levinson’s Rain Man, and Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project, and Rachel Israel’s 2017 film Keep the Change are all important, eye-opening portrayals of autistic people, and I’m super grateful that they exist.

Because a dynamic story is a dynamic story, no matter who is at the centre of it, or what labels you could use to categorise them.

That said, there haven’t been many depictions of autism that I’ve related to especially deeply, or that I’ve been able to see myself in. Obviously, this raises the question of whether or not the value of a film, theatre, book or television character rests on whether or not we can see ourselves in them. Maybe it’s perfectly natural to only see a bit of ourselves here, and some of ourselves there, and nothing more. Maybe I have unrealistic expectations of what a TV show, film, or protagonist in a piece of literature might be able to offer me! I’m not sure.

Although, it’s probably important that I have unrealistic expectations. They keep me fresh.

How do you hope literature will evolve to feature more neurodiverse authors and characters? What impact do you think this will have for readers and the autistic community at large? Neurodiverse authors and characters help open everybody up to different ways of relating to the world, which is the single greatest and most undervalued power on the planet. How we see ourselves, the earth, and other people, defines every experience that we have, everything we create, everything we believe, and everything we participate in perpetuating.

Wanting to expand on and develop our perspective is the key to prosperity, wisdom, peace, and all of the good stuff. Allowing for and welcoming every complexity, and nuance, is a gift, not something to resist, or fear.

And, in my experience, when neurodiverse and neurotypical minds come together, the results are very, very magical. This book is an example of that. A Room Called Earth wouldn’t exist without the input of a whole range of people, and a whole range of viewpoints. Because in honouring one viewpoint fully, and with love, you harness the power to honour many.

 

 
 

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** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on August 18, 2020.