Darin Strauss, author of the District 204 summer reading book Half a Life, took a trip to Joliet Central on September 12, 2012 to provide further insight into his heavy-hearted memoir. While his enticing speeches during periods one and two captured students’ interests, the JTC Journal was lucky enough to obtain an exclusive interview with him after his presentations.
Starting in 2001, Strauss published three fiction novels, including Chang and Eng and More Than It Hurts You, before he decided to reveal a more personal side of him in Half a Life. Since his fiction works achieved notable success, the triumph of issuing a memoir was uncertain. Nevertheless, Half a Life was published in 2010 and was praised in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and many other newspapers and articles. “I’ve been very lucky,” says Strauss when asked about criticism on the memoir. He also stated that he has received very little disapproval for Half a Life, which makes him more confident in his writing and future plans for novels.
Strauss confessed that writing the memoir was very different from writing fiction, in some ways easier, and other ways harder. It was more difficult because nonfiction required him to write about himself, his feelings, and his life-changing actions; it involved divulging in the constant guilt that he had struggled to keep private since the accident. However, it was simpler to write the memoir because he did not have to invent anything — the story was already inscribed in his memory, ready to be transferred onto paper.
At Celine Zilke’s funeral, Mrs. Zilke had a request for Strauss, she hoped from that point forward he would live his life for two people. When asked if he had fulfilled her request, he said “I can’t answer that with certainty, but for now I try to live for myself, my wife, and my kids.” He lived half of his life tearing himself apart over the accident, and finally found relief in his public acknowledgment of his emotions and the experience. Considering his hardships, a sharper focus on his and his family’s wellbeing is deserved.
As an author, Darin Strauss has four published books and he plans on continuing to do what he loves to make a living. He hints that he’ll be writing more books in years to come, and his next work to be printed is a fictional young adult adventure novel.