It takes a village to raise a child, and my village was the graveyard.—from Rachael Hanel’s memoir
We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down: Memoir of a Gravedigger’s Daughter by Rachael Hanel. University of Minnesota Press, 177 pp.
Rachael Hanel grew up in a sleepy Minnesota town where old people “have more faith that cars will stop for them than they have in Jesus Christ.” But where her gravedigger father could joke, with a darker edge than any TV Mayberry admits, about a jaywalking elderly woman, “Business has been a little slow. Should I gun it?” Even sincere, hard-working folk—especially them?—can be naughty. Maybe need to be. Especially when they’re gravediggers and cemetery-tenders, their noses rubbed constantly in the taboo, the unspeakable, the humdrum matter of death. Her father, in wry response to his mundane-macabre role, dubbed himself Digger O’Dell, and took for his business motto the cheeky pun that gives Hanel’s memoir its title.
“Death infiltrated our lives,” Hanel writes, casually mentioning how a man’s ashes, shipped from California in a white box wrapped in clear packing tape, once sat on their clothes dryer for a week or two, “bouncing and vibrating every time Mom did a load of laundry.”
Surrounded by death, playing and working in cemeteries, Hanel was more aware than most of mortality as she grew up but was untouched personally by its sibling, grief, until her vibrant father was struck down. His abrupt, agonizing death from cancer came when she was fifteen. The thirteen linked memoir essays in We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down circle this loss and culminate in its depiction.
The tone of Hanel’s writing is exquisitely pitch-perfect. She achieves a plainspoken charm and a depth in the spare elegance of her expression, inseparable from her appealingly forthright Midwestern persona. Due credit must be given to her mother, who told young Rachael stories of loss, harrowing and gruesome tales of how those bodies came to her father for burial, and kindled in her daughter the storytelling impulse. Here’s Hanel on her bookish childhood and the dark turn her reading took:
Other people my age also went to wakes—we were all part of this small town. But no one went as much as I. No one spent their summer days in cemeteries, though occasionally my friend, Amy, came with me, and we rode our three-speed bikes up and down cemetery roads. I didn’t feel the need to talk about my immersion in death. I didn’t feel a heavy pressing on my chest that had to get out. People here didn’t show much emotion; we didn’t pour out our love and sadness. These were people of periods, not exclamation points. If I couldn’t connect with people in person, I could connect with them on the page.
I knew death but Bridge to Terabithia showed me grief, the part of the story others left out. I learned what could happen to the people left behind. At wakes I caught only glimpses of grief, those initial moments of shock that render family as zombies. Immediate grief forms a quiet, hard surface that makes it impossible to peer inside. Quiet tears slipped down cheeks, of course, and there were gentle hugs, but the calm surface of a sea hides volatile riptides flowing beneath.
The murders of 1986 made the gap between Bridge to Terabithia and Helter Skelter very small indeed. The summer, with its violent deaths, demanded a book on the scale of Helter Skelter.
In our house, it was perfectly appropriate for an eleven-year-old to read Helter Skelter. I had no need to hide it, no need to read it furtively by flashlight like it was some type of pornography. I read it out in the open, in a chair in the living room while everyone else watched TV. Mom valued a good story; she wasn’t going to stop me. Tales of grisly murder, violence, and disaster had knitted me in the womb.
A former newspaper reporter, Hanel lives in Mankato, Minnesota, and works for Kaplan University as an administrator. She’s an adjunct journalism instructor for Minnesota State University-Mankato, and is the author of many nonfiction narratives for children. She answered some questions for Narrative:
You’ve said that your memoir took you thirteen years to complete. Why so long?
I used to feel badly about this, but then I took a step back to examine why the writing process was so slow. I was always doing other things while writing. I’m somewhat of a workaholic and blessed/cursed with a strong work ethic. A 40-hour week to me is like a vacation, because I’ve usually always had side jobs on top of full-time work. When you’re working for a paycheck, that needs to take priority over creative writing, at least in my world.
Here’s an inventory of things I’ve done in the past 13 years besides writing: completing an M.A. degree in history; running four marathons; completing about 10 triathlons; maintaining a happy marriage; maintaining lifelong friendships. There were times when I wanted to work on my book but other things took precedence. After working all week and not connecting with my husband, it felt unfair to him to say, “Honey, I know I haven’t talked much to you for a couple of days, but I’d like to work on my book now.” Or it felt wrong to say no to a nephew’s birthday party or no to a friend I hadn’t seen for a while. So the 13 years represents how writing fit into my “real life.”
I’m struck by the fact that you were an experienced nonfiction writer, as a journalist and narrative nonfiction author, yet it appears that to produce your memoir you had to create your own MFA program by attending workshops and classes for years. Could you explain your education process in creative nonfiction? What was the challenge of personal nonfiction since you apparently had the factual down cold?
Rachael Hanel; photo by Steve Pottenger
Not doing an MFA wasn’t a conscious choice. This may sound strange, but when I decided to go to grad school, I was so steeped in the journalism world that I didn’t even really know what an MFA was. I had a vague notion of creative nonfiction, mostly in terms of literary journalism, but I thought that was something for others to pursue, not me (because I was a “serious” journalist). I got a graduate degree in history, mostly because I love history very much and I thought it would be a good complement to journalism. By the time I was finishing my M.A., I realized I should have pursued an MFA instead, but it was too late. So I looked for writing classes elsewhere, namely at The Loft in Minneapolis. I took several creative nonfiction classes there and also was part of the 2007-08 Loft Mentorship Series. In the mentorship, four of us nonfiction writers worked closely with noted nonfiction writer and teacher Barrie Jean Borich. In addition, I read a lot of narrative nonfiction and memoir, closely examining structure, narrative arc, and writing style.
Writing memoir was hard! I went into the process thinking it would be easy, since I already knew how to write and had journalism experience. I had no idea what memoir really entailed. This is where an MFA would have been beneficial. For me, it was more of a trial-by-error process with some feedback along the way from trusted readers and writers who pointed me in the right direction. This is also probably part of the reason why the writing of the memoir took so long. I was about five years into the writing of my memoir before I really figured out how to ditch the journalistic voice.
Each of your linked essays has a structure, but so does the overall work, which moves toward the depiction of your father’s death and the devastating effect of his loss on your family. How did you envision the overarching structure of We’ll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down?
Structure was something I played around with quite a bit. For a long time the manuscript consisted of separate essays, many of which were written as stand-alone pieces that I had submitted to journals and contests. When I was figuring out how to put them all together, I came across information about the three-act structure. I bought a couple of writing books that were more screenplay-oriented. When I read them, that was really a breakthrough moment. My story doesn’t fit neatly into the three-act formula, but I did use it as a loose organizational structure.
I’m interested in your persona in the book as the storyteller who clearly exists beyond the action, in the writer’s “now,” yet who allows the character of you “then” her moments. Was this a natural impulse or did you have to work out where you stood as the narrator?
I hear a lot about this in writing books, writing classes, etc. But to be honest, I didn’t know a lot about narrator perspective as I was writing the book. I guess I wrote in a way that felt natural to me. In the process of revising and getting feedback, readers helped me refine the perspective. But it was not anything I planned out before I wrote—“OK, what perspective do I use here? The now-perspective? The then-perspective?” That would have made me feel that I was overthinking things and the result may have been stilted.
Your book’s tone, or maybe some would call it voice, is impressive, deftly balanced in terms of diction, mood, and the content of what’s being expressed; it feels both controlled, in terms of conscious intent, and pleasantly colloquial or natural, seemingly offhand. How did you work this out?
The “voice” question! :) When I was in writing classes, discussion about voice drove me crazy, mostly because I had no idea what the teacher was talking about. Voice was always a nebulous, confusing, abstract topic. I didn’t know what my voice was or how to achieve a voice. After a while, I gave up trying to define it. When discussion would come back to voice or when I would read about voice in a writing book, I tuned out because I would get frustrated. I stopped thinking about it and just wrote.
My answer here relates to the one above. I wrote in a manner that felt natural to me. When I reread something that I had written, if it sounded strange or clunky or inappropriate to the topic, then I revised. I could flag some of that, and my friends who had read my drafts flagged some of it, too.
Both of these questions together make me realize that maybe there’s something to be said for not knowing too much about craft, at least in the beginning stages of writing. If I had taken a lot of writing classes and really studied things like narrator’s perspective and voice, I probably would have become mired down in those details just because that’s my personality. I’m sure studying craft deeply helps a lot of writers, but I think it probably would have just made me more anxious during the writing process.
We all have favorite memoirs, but do you have favorites that taught you moves you needed for your own memoir essays?
You and I have talked about this one before, Richard—Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a major influence upon my writing. I bought it when in came out in 2006, mostly because I was interested in the fact that she spent part of her childhood in a funeral home. I was blown away upon my initial reading and read it probably eight more times over the years. My copy is marked up and I spent weeks poring over it and writing down a map of its narrative flow. I haven’t come across a more perfect example of memoir both structurally and also in terms of inner/outer story. She also is simply a brilliant, smart writer, but her intelligence doesn’t come across as fake.
A couple of Midwestern-based memoirs also were influential. My dear friend Nicole Helget—also based in Mankato—wrote a beautiful, lyrical memoir, The Summer of Ordinary Ways, in 2006. Her story takes place in a town not far from where I grew up, so her memories of growing up in a rural area where a certain darkness permeated lives was very familiar. In terms of pure literary style, very few people do it better than Nicole.
I also enjoy Debra Marquart’s A Horizontal World, a story about growing up as a farmer’s daughter in North Dakota. As I was writing my memoir, I was curious as to how people wrote about rural places in a way that can be engaging to all readers. I have always been concerned that my story may be too “regional,” and I wanted to see what it was that made a writer break out of those confines and how he/she was able to tap into a larger story, even though the root of the story was Midwestern.
Reblogged this on We'll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down and commented:
I really appreciate Richard Gilbert’s review of my book. He also posed some thoughtful and insightful questions to me about writing.
Thanks for posting this interview, Richard. I’m looking forward to reading her memoir. A question for Rachael: Could you share the titles of the “screenplay-oriented” writing books you read that helped you get to that breakthrough moment? I would really appreciate it!
Hi Katherine,
I read “Screenplay” by Syd Field and “The Writer’s Journey” by Christopher Vogler. I also have “Story Structure Architect” by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, but I didn’t really consult it too much since it seems geared more toward fiction.
Good luck!
Rachael
Thanks, Rachael!
Loved this post and look forward to reading the book. I identified with so much — the attempt to build a DIY MFA, the subject of death and dying (related to my Boomer mission), and the hard, hard work of memoir. Also share your heretical thought that maybe too much study of craft might be an obstacle rather than an aid. I make an exception for Richard, of course. :-) Thank you both. All the best with your book, Rachael.
Great cover, btw.
Thank you, Shirley! I’m glad some of this sounded familiar to you.
I was really happy with the cover! I posted this blog entry a couple of weeks ago that explains more about the cover: http://rachaelhanel.me/2013/03/14/i-like-the-spine/
Wonderful post and interview, Richard. It’s refreshing to know it took thirteen years to write your memoir, Rachael. I think it’s more important to get it right. It took six years for me to co-write a memoir, but I had the benefit of working with a disciplined female boxing champ.
I’m working on my own memoir now, but I could see how it could take thirteen years. Like you, my relationships and responsibilities take most of my time. I also write fiction, so I take long breaks from the memoir.
I look forward to reading We’ll Be The Last Ones To Let You Down. Death is something we are too sheltered from today. I loved the series Six Feet Under, but I had to watch the first season with one eye closed. By the end of the series, I watched wide-eyed and was sorry to see it end.
Darrelyn, Had to jump in to endorse Six Feet Under, too. In the last year, I believe, where David picks up a psychopath was the most dramatic and upsetting film I’ve ever watched. The creators had done such a good job of drawing his character that watching him attacked was almost unbearable.
Rachael’s admiration of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home I share as well. A remarkable memoir, as is Bechdel’s followup, Are You My Mother?
Agree! And thanks, Richard. I can’t wait to read all of your and Rachael’s recommendations.
Thank you, Darrelyn! I watched Six Feet Under in the beginning stages of writing my memoir. I remember feeling good that themes surrounding death were getting some exposure in pop culture! It was such a smart, compelling show. I have all the DVDs–I think it’s time to watch it again!
I loved Hanel’s writing in the excerpt you posted, Richard. And I found the interview interesting too. I think the question should have been “How did you write it so quickly?” And even though I constantly am hawking craft, I think Rachel is right on about not knowing too much, not over thinking it, not becoming too self-conscious about how to do it or doing it “right” — but letting the writing lead you. I’m so happy U. of MN Press is publishing this memoir! Congratulations, Rachel!
Thank you, Paulette! Maybe 13 years is quick–that’s a great perspective!
I do think knowing a lot about craft from the beginning would have resulted in me overthinking things.
I hope we get to meet someday!
Rachael
Rachel, I just ordered your book from Amazon, and will look forward to reading it and reviewing on Amazon/Goodreads. I also mentioned it in the curriculum of the online book-length memoir course I’ll be teaching in April — I bet the students will be interested in it. Put me on your mailing list so I can pop up at one of your readings.
Thank you so much, Paulette! I’m glad you think your students may be interested. I really appreciate that!
And no worries about my name :) For whatever reason, my mother chose an odd spelling. Funny story–my name was actually misspelled on the first cover design they sent to me! As long as it’s spelled correctly on the book, that’s all that matters!
Oops, I apologize for misspelling your name every time, Rachael!