Q&A with Patrick Ryan  

I’m delighted to be doing this Q&A With Patrick Ryan. Patrick is the author of the short story collections Send Me & The Dream Life of Astronauts. His books for young adults include Saints of Augustine, In Mike We Trust, & Gemini Bites. Patrick’s novel, Buckeye, came out on  September 2^nd and became an instant NYT bestseller. It’s a Read With Jenna Book Club pick and the National Book Club for Barnes & Noble for September, and it’s available now wherever you  get your books!  

Q: Patrick, welcome to Book Notions! I’m happy to have you here! Would you please give a brief description of each of your books beginning with your recent release Buckeye?  

A: Thank you for speaking with me! Buckeye is a novel that opens the moment of the Allied victory in Europe during the Second World War, is set primarily in a small town in Ohio. It spans four decades and tells the story of two families whose lives become entwined and compounded by one bad mistake—which leads to a series of secrets that end up reshaping their lives and the lives of the generation to follow. 

One of my earlier books is a collection of linked short stories called Send Me. That book focuses on one family living in Florida. Another collection, The Dream Life of Astronauts, has a couple of stories involving characters from Send Me, but most of them are standalone stories. Also set in Florida. 

Q: Where do your ideas for your characters and stories come from? Out of all the characters you created, which one do you consider yourself to be most similar to and why?  

A: From living and interacting with people. I don’t usually get ideas from the news or something I’m reading. It’s usually from something I’ve observed or heard about. And from people I’ve observed. The older you get, the more people you must draw from, especially if you live in New York City. 

I don’t think I strongly identify with any one character more than the others. To write about any of them, you must identify with all of them. There’s a little of me in the eccentric character Frankie who appears in both story collections. And I guess there’s some of me in Cal (in  Buckeye). 

Q: How many hours a day do you spend writing & how long does it take for you to write your stories? 

A: It depends on my other commitments. If I go into the office for my job, which I do two days a week, I only get in an hour and a half. Sometimes less. On the days where I work from home and have more control over my time, I can put in three or four hours.  

I don’t think I’ve ever written a story in under a few weeks. Usually, I take a few months. Though I haven’t written a short story in a very long time, because Buckeye took eight years to write and revise.  

Q: What important messages & emotions do you hope readers learn and feel once they turn the final page?  

A: From Buckeye? I hope readers carry away from the book the idea that forgiveness, while being at times difficult, and at other times impossible seeming, is vital to our relationships. Also, people are defined not just by their good deeds, but by what they do with their mistakes. 

Q: Will your next book be a sequel to Buckeye or will it be a different plot this time around?  

A: It will be something new, but I don’t know what that is yet. All I have are ingredients, at this point. 

Q: How does it feel getting rave reviews of Buckeye from Publishers Weekly, Booklist and from some famous people like Ann Patchett, Alice McDermott & Tom Hanks?  

A: Unreal! I let go of the dream of having a book like this decades ago. I just kept writing. And I’ve written a lot of things I couldn’t publish. It’s very nice and very unexpected, this great response to the book. 

Q: How does it feel knowing that your book is a Read With Jenna Book Club Pick? Some authors who I’ve interviewed talk about how Jenna Bush Hager and Hoda Kotbe are such sweethearts and how amazing their experience was! 

A: Jenna is an incredibly smart, focused, kind, enthusiastic person, using her influence to spread the word about books that she loves. Hoda has retired. Sheinelle Jones was with us, and she was wonderful. It’s a heartwarming experience, publishing a book and then talking to smart people who’ve read it & loved it and want to share their reactions with you. On television, no less. I have to say, I thought I might be nervous, but I wasn’t. It was fun!