| 02 |
Tell us a little about the motivation behind Second
Skin itself. |
"I wanted to write a novel about the importance of
being one’s true self - the person we were born to be, as I like to put it. I believe
that we all have some in-built strength or talent which we need to use in life. It might
be a gift for healing, or skill in a craft or sport, or a special sensitivity which makes
us good with children, or animals, or a bolshie streak which makes us a natural
revolutionary. Or we might be a born writer, artist, teacher, explorer, entertainer. Alas,
this gift can get diverted or suppressed. Parents or teachers may try to make us follow
some other path, or society fail to value our particular gift and urge us to conform. And
we may be stuck not just in the wrong job, but in the wrong relationship or the wrong
lifestyle. So the book is saying: 'Look at your life in detail. Are you doing what you
want? Are you being true to yourself?' And if not - well, it's never too late to change. "And the second theme I wanted to address is the contemporary myth of 'having it all', which, in my view, results in exhaustion and frustration rather than true fulfilment. More can sometimes mean less. We need to resist the relentless pressure to be successful sexy super-mortals excelling in all spheres, and accept that if we want certain things, that may preclude our having other things." |
