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October 8, 2019
Veronica Raimo's Playlist for Her Novel "The Girl at the Door"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
The Girl at the Door, Veronica Raimo's first novel translated into English, is a moving and important book.
Publishers Weekly wrote of the book:
"[A] fanged, elliptical tale… The novel deals in shifting sentiments: between love, revulsion, and desire… A writer of wry and lucid prose, Raimo sculpts from these ambiguities a crystalline, powerful novel."
In her own words, here is Veronica Raimo's Book Notes music playlist for her debut novel The Girl at the Door:
Every time I start writing a new book, or when I am finishing it, or when I am stuck for whatever reason (so basically in any crucial part of my writing process)—I need to go somewhere else to write, somewhere else which is not home. I am not talking about an exotic place or some kind of buen retiro; what I need is a place that could be my apartment but is not. That’s why I am constantly keeping a close eye on my friends. I check if they are leaving, so I can temporarily move into their place. I’ve become a professional squatter. Since my friends in Berlin tend to travel more than my friends in Rome, I’ve written most of my books in Berlin.
Islaja - Shit Hit The Fan
One of the apartments where I wrote The Girl at the Door is Merja (Islaja)’s place. The light was beautiful, the windows were very high, and I had the best bed I’ve ever had in my life. Actually, the bed was so comfortable, and I spent so much time laying on it and collecting thoughts for the novel, that it almost felt like I was sick. That kind of peaceful sickness you have when you are a child and you don’t want to get up and go to school. That’s why the first track of this playlist is dedicated to Islaja.
Liima - Life is Dangerous
Another apartment in Berlin where I stayed to finish my novel was at Mads’s place (Mads from Efterklang and Liima). He moved out because he split up with his girlfriend, and I was all alone in this huge and totally empty apartment. There was just a bed, a desk, and a chair left (and some bills to pay). I remember one night when Mads and Casper (the band’s singer) made me listen to their new album, shortly before the release. Since there were no sofas, we laid on the floor, half stoned, and I immediately fell in love with “Life is dangerous,” which I asked them to play on a loop forever.
Efterklang - Hollow Mountain
But actually there are two more reasons why The Girl at the Door is connected to Liima and Efterklang. The first one is that I spent a whole afternoon with Casper taking about the Danish concept of “hygge” which plays a strong role in my novel. And the second one is that the original title of my novel is Miden, which is where the story is set, an imaginary place which takes its name and its landscape from Pyramiden, an abandoned Russian coal-mining settlement in the Norwegian Svalbard, the same location which inspired Efterklang’s album “Piramida.”
Smog – You Moved In
I worked as a journalist for Rolling Stone Italia, and my very first interview, many years ago, was with Bill Callahan, when he was still Smog. The interview was never published because the magazine thought he was not relevant enough at that time, and maybe it was better like this, because my questions were so long and pretentious he barely answered (“Hm…”, “Yes…”, “No…”, “Dunno…”, Maybe…”). But as I writer, my inner desire is to have Callahan’s ability to create images and brilliant verses.
Cat Power - What Would The Community Think
My first real interview then was with Chan Marshall, alias Cat Power, and fortunately she talks a lot. The interview lasted hours, we kept on talking and smoking cigarettes sitting outside a concert hall (not a smart move for me when I had to transcribe what she said …). It’s still one of my fondest memories. I love her, and I love her music, and, actually, when my publisher and I were discussing a title for my novel in the States, I wanted to steal Cat Power’s beautiful title, “What Would The Community Think”.
Bon Iver – 33 “GOD”
While in Berlin, I attended to a festival organized by Bon Iver and The National, even if they said it was “neither a festival or a concert or an event to visit.” They said it “was a communal experience”. And it was. But all the emphasis on sharing a communal experience, with an audience that was supposed to be called just “people,” felt a bit paradoxical, because all those “people” looked the same, like we were a sort of Bon Iver/The National cute army. At the end of my novel, there is a scene which is clearly inspired by that.
Father John Misty – Nancy From Now On
When I interviewed Father John Misty, he was slightly seductive talking passionately about how deep in love he was with his wife. I guess this kind of studied ambivalence is part of his poetics, and the video of this song inspired one of the crucial scenes of my novel—not in its narrative, but in its tension.
Peter Broderick – And it’s Alright
If I have to imagine a kind of music the people living in Miden would listen to, I’d say Peter Broderick’s, or all the things released by Erased Tapes. There is a scene in a wood in the novel; I think this song could be the right soundtrack.
Heroin in Tahiti – Black Market
And if I have to imagine a kind of music people living in Miden would never listen to, it would be Heroin in Tahiti. But I listen to them, and I think their music is the right dose of “Sun and Violence” (the album’s title) to prescribe against the cold ideology of Miden’s society.
Lucio Battisti – Macchina del tempo
One of the most powerful songs about the sense of loss. In my novel this is a central theme: what does it mean to lose something? And how can a sense of belonging become just a form of oppression? Maybe it’s just my interpretation, but that’s why I feel very connected to this song and—in its complexity and dissonance—I recognize a fertile form of anxiety very dear to me.
Iosonouncane – Stormi
Iosonouncane is not so related to the novel itself, but I listened to his album so many times while I was writing it, and he is the most interesting Italian artist in recent memory—so I am happy to have him at the end of this playlist.
Veronica Raimo and The Girl at the Door links:
Evening Standard review
Kirkus review
New York Observer review
New York Times review
Publishers Weekly review
also at Largehearted Boy:
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