Today we are very excited to share an interview with Author K.J. Reilly (Four For The Road)!
Meet the Author: K.J. Reilly
K.J. Reilly graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in psychology, then moved to NYC to work on Madison Avenue in the marketing research department of one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Since advertising involves figuring out how to put the right words together to convince people to buy things, and writing books involves figuring out how to put the right words together to make people feel better or learn something or laugh or think or be happy, she decided to leave advertising to write books instead.
K.J. Reilly loves reading and writing, dogs and bunnies, sailboats, cycling, baking, gardening, children of all shapes and sizes, and blueberries. When she isn’t writing or reading, she’s usually digging in the dirt to grow flowers and food, or riding her bike way too far and way too fast!
About the Book: Four For The Road
The Perks of Being a Wallflower meets The End of the World in this dark young adult comedy which Kirkus raved in a starred review is, “A heady round trip, heavy baggage and all, from heartbreak to healing”, about four unlikely friends dealing with the messy side of grief who embark on a road trip to Graceland.
Asher wants revenge on the drunk driver who killed his mom and got off on a technicality. No one seems to think this is healthy, though, which is how he ends up in a bereavement group (well, bereavement groups. He goes to several.) It’s there he makes some unexpected friends: There’s Sloane, who lost her dad to cancer; Will, who lost his little brother to a different kind of cancer; and eighty-year-old Henry, who was married to his wife for fifty years until she decided to die on her own terms. And it’s these three who Asher invites on a road trip from New Jersey to Graceland. Asher doesn’t tell them that he’s planning to steal his dad’s car, or the real reason that he wants to go to Tennessee—but then again, the others don’t share their reasons for going, either.
Complete with unexpected revelations, lots of chicken Caesar salads at roadside restaurants, a stolen motorcycle, and an epic kiss at a rest stop minimart, what begins as the road trip to revenge might just turn into a path towards forgiveness.
~Author Chat~
YABC: What gave you the inspiration to write this book?
The last couple of years have been tough on just about everyone yet very few of us know how to navigate the big emotions that come with grief and loss. It’s not something most of us are taught, so we’re just left to suffer through the pain to figure it out on our own. I wanted to explore those really big emotions and dark feelings in order to find a way to navigate a path through them—and I wanted to do it with characters brimming with raw, authentic emotions, a compelling, relatable situation, unexpected humor, and tremendous heart. I hope Four For The Road demonstrates that even when we’re facing the most devastating circumstances—those times when we might be inclined to make really bad, desperate decisions—we have choices and options that will make things better for ourselves and others, not worse. Many of us can’t see that. I think knowing that is empowering.
YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?
Definitely Grace! She very much surprised me. She doesn’t appear in person until the very end of the book, and as soon as we meet her she takes such a big hit—and yet, she’s so strong. Most people would have been toppled by what Asher did to her, and yet she rises above it with tremendous fortitude and compassion. I love that. To have the kind of strength—and grace—she has is admirable. I want readers to see that as a possibility for themselves. Her confidence is aspirational.
YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?
Definitely the novel! When I started writing, the working title was Asher and Henry but as the story unfolded beyond the early pages and the other characters came to life, it became clear that it didn’t represent the whole of the story. I absolutely love the title Four For The Road, but Asher and Henry is still stuck in my head!
YABC: What scene in the book are you most proud of, and why?
I’d say it would have to be one of the scenes where Asher is near the absolute bottom, thinking very dark thoughts, then surprises us and reveals his heart. For example, in the grief group when he stands up and offers to plant sweet peas with Henry. We’re not sure what to make of Asher at this point—he’s told us some very, very bad things, and we’re not sure what’s true and what isn’t, but then he abruptly reveals his tender, compassionate side and it feels so authentic. He shows us that he has dimension and heart; that his pain and anger and rage are not the whole of him; that he also has the capacity to have enormous empathy for another human being. Those contradictions are what make us human—they’re interesting. Asher does this again in the first M&M scene when Sloane admits something highly personal that leaves her open and vulnerable, and Asher blurts out something adorable and completely absurd to try to fix it for her. Then there’s the scene where he smashes Chloe’s bike with the hammer—and another when he meets Evelyn for the first time. He’s shown us the destructive side of his grief and rage, and then, just like that, we see his enormous heart. It happens again and again. As I was writing, I had no idea how any of these moments would unfurl and I was afraid I wouldn’t find the right words to capture the kind side of Asher, so I was thrilled when the words tumbled onto the page the way they did. I wanted to show a good kid having very destructive thoughts. But it’s a challenge to represent whole people with authentic emotions that are visceral and real and dark and brimming with humanity—to expose the raw, private thoughts someone has when they are the most vulnerable—and then show their good side. Since these scenes were turning points in the story that reveal so much of the heart of the main character, I knew that for readers to feel compassion and empathy for Asher—to actually like him—I had to get those scenes right.
YABC: Thinking way back to the beginning, what’s the most important thing you’ve learned as a writer from then to now?
To be brave! To trust the writing process—whatever yours happens to be—but also to understand that not everyone will like your work. That, and the fact that writing for publication is both a very private artistic endeavor and a very public commercial one—as a writer, you have to serve both.
YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?
The sweet peas winding up the wall! Because of the role those flowers have in both Asher and Henry’s stories, and what those flowers reveal about them as people, it felt important to me that they be there on the cover.
YABC: Which was the most difficult or emotional scene to narrate?
Wow, such an interesting question! I’d have to say that the big emotional scenes, the narrative sections that probably seem like they’d be the toughest to write and probably should have represented the greatest challenges, were oddly the easiest and most fun to write. For example, the scenes where Asher and Will confront each other out in the hallway after they spar in the grief group should have been difficult to write—they represent big transitions and they’re emotionally delicate scenes—but they ended up being easy to write. Then there’s the scene where Will confronts Asher outside of Jack Daniels’ house. That should have been nuanced, hard work too—but it wasn’t. I think that when I was writing those scenes, I knew the characters so well that the words just spilled onto the page. Once Asher and Will felt like real people to me, their responses felt natural and authentic. So, I guess I’d have to say the part of any book that I find the most difficult to write is the beginning—the early scenes that may appear the least complex. That’s where the characters and voice and plot first begin to unfold, so for the writer—and later for the reader—it’s like meeting someone new and wondering if you will like them. You have no idea how they will react or what they will say. I find those first scenes to be a challenge because I’m giving a voice to strangers and introducing a totally new setting and situation. I’m going to have to spend a lot of time with these new characters, in this new place, and then I’ll be inviting readers to join me. That’s exciting—but intimidating—and not always easy to do well.
YABC: What is the main message or lesson you would like your reader to remember from this book?
That human beings have a remarkable ability to heal; that we all have the strength to face life’s darkest moments with grace and humanity. Most of us think we can’t survive the really tough stuff but we can. It helps to recognize that we can fall victim to dealing with pain and grief by turning to self-destructive behaviors. In Asher’s case, it’s wanting to get revenge—and he’s willing to ruin his entire life to do so. I hope Four For The Road will help readers understand that even in the worst situations and their darkest moments, they still have positive options; powerful, healing, feel-good options, that will lead them, and the people around them, to a better place.
YABC: What would you say is your superpower?
I hope it’s using the power of stories to grab hold of the hearts and minds of people I’ve never met, and make their lives just a tiny bit better. That’s the dream—and superpower—of all writers.
YABC: What’s up next for you?
My next book hasn’t been announced yet, and I’m not sure I’m allowed to talk about it, but I will say this: Like Four For The Road, it’s a contemporary YA book that deals with issues of love and loss, making brave choices, and finding your way out of a dark place when you think that you can’t. It’s a thriller—so it’s plot driven and pacey. There’s a female narrator, intense romance, and a love triangle—so it’s also a bit more lyrical and swoony than my previous novels. And finally, it represents a paradigm shift for me because it also has an other-worldly, speculative element that I’m extremely excited about! It’s a book that I hope will deliver readers a feeling of almost transcendent reverence and connection to the larger universe. I know that might sound like I’m setting the bar too high – but that’s what I’m aiming for. But first . . . please read Four For The Road! It sets the bar high, too. It promises to make you laugh and make you cry as it breaks your heart then puts it back together again better and stronger than it was before!
YABC: Is there anything that you would like to add?
I love to hear from readers! So please reach out. You can send me a message through the contact form on my website, and I’m happy to answer questions or chat about my books—or any books!
Title: Four For The Road
Author: K.J. Reilly
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Reading Age: 14+
