Character Interview - Falling into Place By: Amy Zhang!

Title: Falling into Place
Author: Amy Zhang
Publisher: Greenwillow Books, 304 Pages (September 9th, 2014)
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Synopsis: On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. 

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang’s haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.

Character Interview -

1. Tell us a bit about yourself!
a. My name is Liz Emerson.  Junior. Coerced into doing this interview for the newspaper (which no one actually reads, I hope you know that) so I don’t fail English.  Screw you very much, Mr. Schumacher. Just edit this out and add whatever you want. Um, soccer captain, member of National Honor Society, yearbook photographer.

2. What is your favorite childhood memory?
a. I guess there’s not one thing in particular. Just put something generic down. Helping my mom make cookies or something. I don’t know. This isn’t worth passing English. Okay, so I guess there were these times—Wednesdays—when my dad would take me to this scenic tower close to our house. We’d make wishes on whatever was around—dandelions in the summer, leaves in autumn, snowflakes in the winter, sunshine in the spring. Every single time, I wished to fly. It was so easy to believe that all of our wishes could come true back then, wasn’t it? So easy.

3. What do you like to do in your spare time?
a. What spare time? Thanks to our brilliant English teacher, I’m spending whatever time I have writing that stupid essay for whatever we’re reading—what is it, Othello? I’m going to Sparknotes it after this. I play soccer, I guess. Run. Party with Julia and Kennie. Burn down houses, kick puppies. Oh, and I like that one TV show with the douchebag prince and the dwarf. You know, everyone dies.

4. Who is your real-life hero, and why?
a. Mr. Schumacher’s beer belly. George Washington. I don’t know. Whatever the right answer is. Newton was pretty cool, I guess, lifelong virginity aside. He had damn good hair. Not good enough to get him laid—but I guess his passion was pretty inspiring.  I mean, whatever he saw in science was apparently better than sex.

5. What’s in your refrigerator right now? On your closet floor? In your garbage can?
a. The usual stuff? Food in the fridge, a few boxes of Pizzaritos, probably. Leftovers from that Italian place downtown. Half a pie, maybe? And on my closet floor, mostly just clothes. My copy of Othello, probably. Phone charger, shoes. That box of chocolate from the National Honor Society fundraiser. Don’t print that. I forgot to pay for it.

6. If you could relive your “greatest hits,” what would they be?
a. This interview for the newspaper.  This one time Julia and I went running in the rain and jumped in Barry’s pond. State fairs, I guess, and eating actual diabetes in the form of fried pickles. Trips to the beach, maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know that there’s anything I’d really want to relive.

About the Author:

Amy Zhang used to have lots of imaginary friends. When people told her to grow up, she turned her imaginary friends into characters and started telling their stories. When she isn't writing, she can be found playing piano, hitting balls on the tennis court, or struggling through her weekly existential crisis. She lives in Wisconsin with her family.

Find Amy Online:

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