Melissa Payne's "The Night of Many Endings," the movie

Featured at My Book, The Movie: The Night of Many Endings: A Novel by Melissa Payne.

The entry begins:

The Night of Many Endings is told from the perspectives of three characters. There’s Nora, the librarian, who is consumed by her brother’s addiction. Her life revolves around his ups and downs, his successes and failures. Marlene, an elderly woman who makes assumptions about people she doesn’t know and uses her sharp words to push people away. And Lewis, a man experiencing homelessness and addiction, who believes that everyone he loves is better off without him. I loved the challenge of writing all three of these characters, even if at times I struggled to relate to a decision they made or how they treated one another. But it reminded me of what their journeys were all about. We can’t truly understand another person until we learn their story first. The storm, the dark, and being stranded forces each of them to listen and learn from each other. But when the storm ends, will their lives have changed?

Sometimes when I write, I automatically have a picture in my head of who would play a character. After all, while I’m writing, my characters are as real to me as my family and friends. This book was no different and it was fun to pair a famous face with the characters. So here goes. For Nora, I’d cast America Ferrera. I adored her in Ugly Betty and think she would bring the right balance of fierce devotion, internal grief, and loving care for others. For Marlene, I think...[read on]

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--Marshal Zeringue