Elaine Castillo, the brilliant Filipino-American author behind America Is Not the Heart, has everyone talking about her new novel, Moderation. It’s a razor-sharp look at the madness of the online age and is smart, funny, and brutally relevant. Critics are hailing it as one of the defining novels of the digital era, so we’re thrilled she’s answered our eight questions this week. And we’re even more thrilled at her love of rescue hounds!
What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year. And why?
Well, I finally finished the copy of Tolstoy’s War and Peace that I bought in 1999, and can confirm its place in the canon: its magnificent scope, humane curiosity and especially its still-relevant take on the pettiness of Napoleon and the dictatorial temperament. But for contemporary books? Susan Barker’s Old Soul, a tremendous work of literary horror that made even a horror scaredy-cat like me want to read more in the genre.
How do you keep fit?
Walking my 34kg German shepherd Vincent every day!
Weeknight, low-key restaurant go-to?
I’m a homebody and a cook, but if my partner and I do go out, it has to be something I don’t make at home – we love a good arepa (Ed’s note: that’s a South American stuffed flatbread).
The one artwork you’ll always love, and why?
It’s by the Angolan-Portuguese artist Francisco Vidal, called Variation No. 7 (2015, oil paint on machetes). It’s a stunning work of art, all pink stems and red veined leaves and green, but painted on machetes. I first saw it while living in London, at the Royal Academy of Art’s Summer Exhibition, after quite a difficult time in hospital. And it felt like exactly the work of art I needed then and still return to. Life does feel like that, sometimes: heartrending beauty and vitality, painted on machetes.
Do you have a hobby? What is it?
If not spending time with my dog, then dog rescue and dog training! While I was procrastinating on writing Moderation, I wrote a 100-page essay on dog rescue and the history of German shepherds and their training, so it’s become a bit of a passion of mine. And of course I had to put a German shepherd in Moderation.
The one unusual item you can’t live without?
On the subject of dogs: a silicone pouch that clips to one’s trouser waist, that usually holds (in my case) freeze dried chicken breast to be used for positive reinforcement dog training. It’s the height of fashion, really.
Who was your high school celeb crush?
Patrick Stewart – my father and I loved Star Trek: The Next Generation, and then years later I saw him at a play in London at The Young Vic and fell for him all over again. I always say the two angels on my shoulders are Captain Picard, or the T800 from Terminator 2. Every day the question is: is it more of a Picard day, or a T800 day?
Three songs that you’d take to a desert island?
Mariah, Shisen: by a cult but obscure 80s Japanese band, with lyrics mostly in Armenian. Mysterious and haunting.
Alice Coltrane, Going Home: a slice of transcendence that never fails to make me – someone who’s called a lot of places home – get teary.
Diomedes Maturan, Dahil Sa Iyo: A classic kundiman, or Filipino love song, that’s been misappropriated in the last century or so – but my late father loved this song, and Maturan’s voice sounds the most like his when he sang, so listening to it is almost like hearing his voice.
Top image: supplied.
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