We first came to admire the writing of Marion Agnew when we read her debut book, a memoir: Reverberations: A Daughter’s Mediations on Alzheimer’s. When her second book—the novel Making Up the Gods was published—we knew we had to invite her on our Power Q & A series. Even though the books are markedly different, in narrative approach as well as genre, there was a major similarity readers were picking up on, and we had a question.
Welcome Marion, and thank you for taking the time to answer it!
Q: Your essay collection, Reverberations: A Daughter’s Mediations on Alzheimer’s, is about the grief of your mother's dementia and your family's response. Each of the characters in your novel Making Up the Gods (Latitude46, 2023) is dealing with grief, too. What keeps drawing you to that subject?
A: I didn’t recognize the level of grief in Making Up the Gods until the blurbs came in! I’ve always assumed that everyone carried around a backpack of grief, and that all of life and writing is about dealing with that grief—it just seemed normal to me.
Actually, it still does. Some people are well-acquainted with grief early in life—they lose a parent or have other traumatic experiences. But even privileged people like me have tiny losses and disappointments—failing a test, not making the varsity team, a shocking diagnosis, a failed relationship. We might not use the word “grief” to describe them. But, as in my case with the illness and loss of my mother, eventually the word “grief” obviously matches an experience, and then it’s easier to look back through life events and become more aware of grief’s companionship all along the way.
More about Making Up the Gods
Making Up the Gods is equal parts quirky and sincere in its thoughtful exploration of tragedy and recovery, of new and old relationships, and of deeper questions of when to let the past rest.
Simone, a retired widow, would live a quiet and isolated life, if not for the lingering ghosts of her family. One day, Simone is visited at her home by a man named Martin claiming to be her cousin. When Martin asks if Simone is willing to sell her cottage by the lake, a proposition made sweeter by the prospect of a condo in Florida, Simone, though pleased at the thought of a cousin, also questions his intentions.
Where among her past has Martin even come from, and why has he emerged in this moment? The burden of making a decision is all the more difficult because Simone has agreed to take care of a friend’s nine-year-old boy, Chen, for a short time while his mother enjoys a much-needed vacation. Simone finds her match in Chen, a curious and precocious boy grieving the loss of his father and stepbrother in an accident that has shaken the entire community.
Can Simone hide her ability to see her family ghosts? Will Martin succeed in extorting Simone’s beloved home—and worse, is he a danger to Chen? Because of Chen and Martin, Simone is caught between her ties to the past and her desire to embrace the company of the living.
More about Marion Agnew:
Marion Agnew is the author of a personal essay collection, Reverberations: A Daughter’s Meditations on Alzheimer’s (Signature Editions, 2019). It was shortlisted for the Louise de Kiriline Lawrence award for nonfiction. Her essays have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a National Magazine Award. She lives in Shuniah, Ontario, mere yards from Lake Superior, on Anishinaabe/ Robinson-Superior Treaty territory.