By Robert S. Tomaszewski
Contributing Writer
Author and North Central College alumnus Rachel Louise Snyder held a book talk and signing Thursday, April 17, to promote her new book “What We’ve Lost is Nothing.” She shared growing up in Naperville and the positive impact North Central College made on her life.
“Creative writing teachers will tell you that your characters must change from beginning to end, that’s not true. They only have to have the possibility of change,” said Snyder. She took time to thank Rick Spencer and other North Central faculty for giving her that possibility of change after she had dropped out of high school and was living out of her car.
The premise of the book is the 24 hours following a mass burglary in Oak Park and all of the human nature components involved. The idea for the book came from a story a friend told her while she was living in Cambodia where five or six people in the same neighborhood had their houses broken into on the same day.
When asked what the hardest part of the story was to write, she replied that she was nervous about some of the race aspects and had her African American friend “vet it” to make sure she was being culturally sensitive. Another part of the book that she found difficult to write was the ending. She said she had to “create chaos” with “16 or 17 different characters” and at the same time have it make sense for the reader.
Some influences on her book included the Iliad and a line from a book by James Baldwin, “The Most Creation of any Society is the Man Who Has Nothing to Lose.” Snyder again gave credit to North Central for giving her “something to lose.”
