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June 8, 2022
Yuvi Zalkow's Playlist for His Novel "I Only Cry with Emoticons"
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, Roxane Gay, and many others.
Yuvi Zalkow's I Only Cry with Emoticons is a clever and funny satire about how personal technology affects modern life.
Monica Drake wrote of the book:
"A sly, forthright comedy about the intersection of love and technology, men and women, and the way our devices have become a loud third wheel. I couldn't put it down."
In his own words, here is Yuvi Zalkow's Book Notes music playlist for his novel I Only Cry with Emoticons:
My first reaction when thinking about a playlist for my novel (I Only Cry with Emoticons) was that it couldn't be done. Music isn't central to this story. The book is about some awkward divorced guy working in the tech world while making a mess of his life (trying to raise a 7-year-old boy, trying not to get fired at work, trying to date someone who doesn't run away the first second he opens his awkward mouth). He isn't doing a great job in any of these categories. At least until he learns how to confront a few things about who he is and who he wants to be. There is no playlist to this story.
And then, once I was convinced there was no playlist, an entire playlist came to me that seemed just right, either because of the themes in the novel, or because the songs were important in helping me discover how to write it.
Any playlist for my novel needs to start here (nicely timed on this 50th anniversary of the movie adaptation to The Godfather). There's a minor character in my novel who is obsessed with 70s movies, and because of this, my main character (Saul) decides to watch The Godfather. And then he watches it again. And again. My novel has absolutely nothing to do with a powerful Italian-American crime family… but what Saul eventually learns, is that the movie (and the book it's based on) isn't a story about the mafia as much as it is a story about family, and about losing sight of family. And that’s a key theme in my book and an important lesson for Saul.
I listened to this beautiful piece (along with many other songs by Nino Rota) for hours and hours while writing my book.
OK, let's take a quick turn here. (I'm already worrying that my playlist might be too jarring for you!) This Daft Punk song seems just right for the technological noise that Saul is dealing with, trying to manage the many ways we attempt to communicate across all our devices. I find this song hypnotizing and delightful to listen to, at first, but eventually it makes me feel nervous and irritable if I play it too many times in a day. It makes me want to disconnect.
“Welcome to the Internet” by Bo Burnham
Don't know how many of y'all have watched Bo Burnham's special (Inside) on Netflix, but I love how well this song captures the excitement of the internet, while at the same time, it brings in the growing chaos and darkness of being online.
I Only Cry with Emoticons is full of moments that show the wonders, and also the destructiveness, of technology in our lives.
Disorientation and longing and self-loathing. Yes.
It's not necessarily my favorite Radiohead song, but it's the song that WOULD NOT LEAVE MY HEAD especially when Saul's self-sabotaging behavior kept screwing things up for him.
“I feel bad, that you feel bad / About me feeling bad, about you feeling bad / About what I said, about what you said / About me not being able to share a feeling”
If Saul tried to turn his crazy emotional confusion into a song, it might go something like this. Actually, my stream of consciousness sounds a bit like this as well…
Saul has so many questions he wishes he could ask his mom, if she were still alive. His tenderness for her grows across the book as he works through his own baggage. As I wrote the moments about his mom, I thought about this song. I know that these lyrics describe a very dark and destructive relationship, which doesn't really fit my story, but the fragile voice in these verses I've always found so captivating and broken and beautiful.
“Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman
As Saul screws up several of the relationships in his life, I feel like the other characters are just asking him to give them a reason to stick around. Eventually, Saul comes up with some reasonable reasons, but at first, it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to deal with this mess of a guy.
Also, I just like hearing Tracy Chapman's voice.
“The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
I won't lie to you. I don't know what this song is about and I can't explain why it's on this playlist. But it captures something quiet and reflective that I think is part of Saul's growth towards the end of the book. And it captures my attempt to get more comfortable with the quiet and the darkness as I wrote this book.
There's a lot of love in my story, as much as I don't want to admit it. Not just the romantic kind, but also Saul's love for his kid. And for his parents (one alive, one dead). And for his small community of friends.
Also, this is a sweet love song, and since I just watched that Beatles documentary, I couldn't avoid at least one Beatles song on this list.
Yuvi Zalkow is the author of I Only Cry with Emoticons (Red Hen, 2022) and A Brilliant Novel in the Works. His short stories have been published in Glimmer Train, Narrative Magazine, Carve Magazine, Rosebud, The Los Angeles Review, and others. He received an MFA from Antioch University. Yuvi uses his poor drawing skills to make YouTube videos and mobile apps that ooze with his worries and anxiety. Visit his website at https://yuvizalkow.com.
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