THE COMEBACK Book Club Kit

a conversation with ella berman What initially inspired you to write The Comeback?

My favorite fictional characters are often the most frustrating ones, and I knew that I wanted to tell the story of a successful woman who is paralyzed within her life, in terms of both her career, and her self-worth and relationships. At the start of the book, Grace is a tricky character to like—seemingly dissatisfied with her privileged existence and incapable of maintaining a meaningful relationship with anyone.

In terms of setting, I worked in the music industry for five years and was blown away by the sexism and double standards that still existed. It felt natural (and more of an exciting challenge) to transfer this to the film industry when I was writing The Comeback. I chose to examine the life of a child actor in particular because I’ve always been interested in what this sudden shift in power dynamics would do to a young person and how this could impact their relationships going forward. I also wanted to show a side to this type of privilege that we aren’t used to seeing, and how all the money and success in the world can’t replace human connection.

The fact that Grace’s experience involves sexual assault was inevitable, in terms of both her as a character and me being the person writing it. When the Weinstein story

© Felicity Griffiths

broke eight months after I started, I was unsure whether or not to continue, but I decided that the stream of heinous revelations about various abuses of power and privilege only reinforced the relevance of Grace’s story.

What kind of research, if any, did you do during the course of writing?

I wrote the first couple of drafts before doing any real research into celebrity, abuse or trauma so that Grace’s story would feel entirely authentic and personal to her. I needed Grace to feel like a person first and foremost, and the fact that she is also a famous actor is always ancillary to this. Grace is so deeply entrenched in her own experiences that she can’t always process them or see them objectively, and I didn’t ever want to break up the narrative flow by shoehorning in something I’d just learned that maybe didn’t fit with her experience.

During the editing process, however, I spent some time researching trauma, complex PTSD and narcissistic personality disorder (and abuse), mostly to back up and reassure myself that I was on the right track. The unstable, disorienting feeling Able elicits in Grace will be familiar to too many women, and writing about the tools Able used (the coercive control or gaslighting, the projection, the covert threats) hopefully gives a new perspective on the type of relationship that we have the tendency to romanticize as being “passionate” or “fiery.”

I studied psychology at university, and my final paper was on Schadenfreude—pleasure derived from someone else’s misfortune. I studied the impact of emotional closeness on the phenomenon, i.e. whether we are more likely to experience Schadenfreude toward a

The stream of heinous revelations about various abuses of power and privilege only reinforced the relevance of Grace’s story. celebrity or a friend. I remember watching the media’s 24-hour coverage of Britney Spears’s mental distress around the same time, and feeling uncomfortable about whatever part I had to play in fueling it. I have always been fascinated by what our attitudes toward famous people say about us as a society, and I got to explore this in The Comeback.

Generally, the media’s (very different) treatment of Britney Spears, Natalie Portman, Millie Bobby Brown and Amanda Bynes inspired me when I was writing The Comeback. Whenever I lost momentum, I would watch clips of young actresses on late-night talk shows to rile me up. I also listened to countless interviews and podcasts with actors during this time to make sure that Grace’s experience was authentic.

I also did research into cults and, more specifically, cult leaders. Able takes on a powerful mentor/master role in Grace’s life that mirrors the relationship cult leaders have with their members. The methods of control are also the

same­— coercive control/gaslighting, creating disorganized attachments and isolating the subject from their existing support network. It’s almost impossible to unpick and identify these disorienting tactics when you are the subject, so I think it’s important to unmask them in this way.

The subject of sexual abuse in Hollywood and beyond is a prevalent topic of discussion in the wake of so many recent revelations. How does your novel tackle this issue in its own unique way?

The Comeback, while a story about privilege and material success on the surface, is really a personal story about one young woman coming to grips with her trauma. Parts of Grace’s experience, while seemingly extraordinary due to her status, will feel all too familiar to many Americans. According to a 2015 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 1 in 3 women and nearly 1 in 4 men in the US have experienced some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime.* The emotional manipulation and psychological abuse statistics are harder to quantify, but on an anecdotal level, it’s clear that this isn’t just theoretical to many of us. I particularly wanted to explicitly show the coercive control and psychological tricks used by Able to make Grace doubt herself, because these are the more slippery, disorienting techniques—the ones that are often harder to identify (and therefore harder to escape).

I knew from the start that Grace would never be completely liberated by the truth. There isn’t a magic solution to having experienced trauma like Grace has, as much as we want there to be one.

Speaking out is by no means a solve-all for everyone, even though I think we have the tendency to laud it as one, particularly in the last couple of years. Throughout the process of editing and preparing for publication, I’ve listened closely to coverage of the Me Too movement, and I’ve heard both men and women talk about how sick they are of hearing about sexual violence and mental health, and how they just want to “move on.” I do understand this sense of fatigue because very little is actually being done to improve the situation on a structural level. Instead, the burden falls on women to speak out about their traumatic experiences, and the current reality is that most survivors will see no retribution whatsoever. For some, sharing their stories will have been cathartic, but for others, it will have been an exhausting and gutting process. We also can’t ignore the fact that it is a lot easier for someone like Grace to speak out than for someone who is less inherently privileged and who will face very different, riskier repercussions. All we can ever do is listen, and be respectful of others’ processes.

I hope that as the book progresses, Grace’s choices and behavior start to make more sense and that she becomes easier to root for, but her being “likable” was never a priority for me. Instead, I wanted to shine a light on the impact of abuse and how its aftershocks can be felt for a lifetime.

What do you hope readers take away after reading The Comeback?

I always wanted the book to show a realistic depiction of abuse but with the creative freedom fic-

*Source: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/datasources/nisvs/2015NISVSdatabrief.html

tion affords. The book instantly throws you into the mind of a young woman coming to terms with her past, and the reader experiences the ups and downs of the aftermath of trauma alongside Grace.

Despite the heavy subject matter, I also wanted the story to live in the subtleties that make up so much of real life. I tried to make it funny wherever I could to show that life isn’t always one thing or the other—dark or light, since it’s often the nuances and gray areas that interest me the most. While it has never been important to me that readers like Grace, I do want them to understand her and to understand more about the mechanisms of trauma, abuse and control in the process. It felt important for me to show Grace’s journey from denial, repression and numbness through to the moment she finds the strength to set fire to her old life. Healing isn’t a linear process, and I wanted to reflect that, but I also wanted readers to feel a true sense of hope for Grace at the end, alongside the reality of the situation, which is that Grace’s real journey is only just beginning.

What does the word “comeback” mean to you and to Grace?

For both Grace and myself, this particular comeback story is about transformation and shedding the past like an old skin. On a personal level, I experienced rejection after rejection with the first novel I wrote, before finding my agent with The Comeback. I knew that there was only so much rejection I could take before I gave up, so I poured everything I had into writing this book. It’s a truly personal story to me as I’ve had claustrophobia and anxiety since I was a teenager, and this book started

as my way of fighting back and creating something positive out of a dark time. The same can also be said for Grace. At the start of the book, she is sifting through the rubble of her former life in Los Angeles, trying to find something worth fighting for. She has a few false starts along the way, but in the end, that something turns out to be herself and her future.

How important for you was it to show female friendships and relationships in all their complexities in The Comeback?

I always knew that the women would be more important than the men in The Comeback. I find women (in general) to be more complex, often contradictory and fascinating, and I have always had a strong group of female friends and allies around me. Women have such rich interior lives, and it’s only relatively recently that we’ve been allowed to show the true, often much less palatable extent of this in literature and, more recently, through social media.

We can be obnoxious and disagreeable, cruel, self-destructive, or lazy, and our behavior shouldn’t always have to be softened or diminished for the male gaze. In real life, I find that as soon as I understand someone’s motivations, I can forgive almost anything, and I love writing characters like this, too, where it takes a lot of digging to get to their heart but it feels worth it in the end.

I’m particularly interested in women who give up the burden of emotional labor and people-pleasing, and defy the stereotype of chasing the fairy-tale ending. Grace’s relationship with Dylan isn’t a priority for her in a conventional way, and it’s the women in her life (Esme, Laurel, Emilia, her mother) who save her. In their own way, each of these women helps

Women have such rich interior lives, and it’s only relatively recently that we’ve been allowed to show the true, often much less palatable extent of this in literature and, more recently, through social media.

Grace to rediscover herself, whether it’s by bringing out Grace’s protective instincts, like Esme does; or through the genuine affection that Laurel shows to her; or through Emilia’s attention and generosity during Grace’s darkest hours; or by taking one’s own share of accountability, like her mother does when Grace returns home. These are the women who end up giving Grace a sense of hope, setting in motion the real transformation in her.

What is your connection to Los Angeles, and why do you think it makes a good setting for this book in particular?

Even though Grace often talks about how much she hates Los Angeles, the book is very much an ode to the city. I was born in London and lived in LA for a few years before my family moved back to London. I spent a few months a year in LA from that point onwards. LA was always the one that got away.

My sister and I set up a clothing brand called London Loves LA after university, selling vintage pieces and new designs inspired by the city. We’ve done photo shoots all over LA, from deep in the Hollywood Hills to an empty Dodgers stadium as part of a collaboration with MLB. As an adult, I have a slightly more complicated relationship with Los Angeles. For somewhere so open and beautiful, it can feel pretty lonely. More than any other place I’ve known, the city reflects your state of mind back at you, magnifying whatever you’re feeling at that moment. That can make for some isolating times but also moments of magic and euphoria. It made the perfect setting for The Comeback for exactly this reason. Everyone is always telling Grace how lucky she is, and the setting reflects that back at her, taunting her with its beauty. You can be in one of the most aspirational cities in the world, eating at the best restaurants and staying in a suite at Chateau Marmont, but you can still feel like a complete failure.

These images represent various locations, themes, and passages in the book.

Do any of them resonate with you? What do they remind you of ?

1.

The Comeback has female relationships at its core. Do you agree that Grace fails all the women in her life (her mom, Esme, Camila, Wren, Emilia, Laurel) at various points in the book? And in what ways does she redeem herself ? What do others see in Grace?

2. At one point, Grace says of Esme: “I un-

derstand that I’m letting her down, and that I have a chance to fix something in her that is already broken in me.” Do you think Grace succeeds in this? In what ways do Grace and Esme differ?

3. What do you think motivated Emilia to

spend so much time with Grace? Do you believe that her affection was genuine?

And vice versa for Grace with Emilia?

4. What do you think of Grace’s feeling that she “owes” the public for making her famous? Do you believe that we are owed something by the celebrities we admire?

5. Grace refuses to explore the motivations behind Able’s actions, including his childhood. Do you agree with this decision, or do you think it can be helpful to look to the past when examining the cycle of abuse?

6.

Shame is a recurring theme in Grace’s journey, and she often questions her own complicity in her abuse. Why do you think she does this?

7. Has the cultural shift around the Me Too movement forced you to look at any of your own experiences in a new light? Do you think that it’s been helpful?

questions for discussion 8. What did you think about the author’s

decision not to reveal “the line”? What is “the line” for you?

9.

How did the flashback scenes help you to better understand Grace in the present?

10. “This whole generation is screwed.” Do

you agree with Esme’s statement on the impact of social media on her generation?

11. Did the book reveal anything about the

aftermath of trauma that you hadn’t considered? Did you ever feel frustrated with the way Grace coped?

12. “Look, you may not know this yet, but

there are some bad people in the world, and while some of them get exactly what they deserve, others just don’t.” Do you think Grace’s opinion on this has changed by the end of the book? What do you think finally compels her to stand up to Able?