Welcome, 'Ruby Tuesday'

Jennifer Kogler '03 knew what to do with a B.A. in English. She graduated from Princeton with creative thesis in hand and, in the following two years, this California native saw her manuscript grow by one hundred pages. By the time it was complete, Kogler had a contract with one of the most prestigious publishing houses in America.

The hardbound book was signed, sealed, delivered and complete with a glowing quotation from Joyce Carol Oates. It's more than a dream come true for a writer just out of college. "Ruby Tuesday," Kogler's book, is a job well done: it's fresh, funny and inventive, with entertaining, sharply described characters and wacky situations.

"My father was a handicapper and my uncle wasn't my uncle, he was Hollis' bookie," explains Ruby Tuesday, the thirteen-year-old protagonist tangled in a bizarre web of gambling, quirky family members and surreal events. Her unfortunate name, Ruby Tuesday, was given to her by her rock star-groupie mother, Darlene, who disappears out of her life most of the time, only to return every few months with wild stories and strange presents. Precocious and bookish, she nevertheless has a rather strange vocabulary for a girl on the verge of adolescence. Chalks, point spread, middleman: all terms from her dad's mysterious job.

On the eve of her brother Jack's wedding, the Dodgers win the World Series, her dad cuts off the tip of his finger in excitement, and all hell breaks loose. Soon Ruby discovers what her father does, but then "Uncle" Larry the bookie gets murdered and Ruby must flee to Las Vegas with a mother she hardly knows.

The characters in the book are at once eccentric and very real. This is perhaps because Kogler is helped by having excellent source material: her own family. Kogler calls her parents "the oldest rock and roll groupies in the world," and her great-aunt, much like Ruby's grandmother Nana Sue, lived in a Las Vegas hotel for over a decade.

Ruby's father thinks about numbers so much that he stops reading her "The Gift of the Magi" because he spots a mathematical error. And Ruby herself has a sharp mind and the wit to match: "Every one of my introductions was a reminder that Darlene had been more clever than thoughtful when naming me. A child's name was not, I concluded, a means for parents to demonstrate their musical preferences. I suppose it could have been worse. She could have named me Honky Tonk Woman."

What's more, "Ruby Tuesday" realizes what it is — a good, enjoyable story. Unlike many young, earnest writers today, Kogler is not trying to write the Great American Novel or win some sort of prize for being as "deep" as possible. No, what Kogler sets out to do is tell a fast-paced, amusing tale, and she does this well. This is not to say the book does not have its problems. First of all, it's sometimes hard to tell whether the book is being marketed or written for an adult or young adult audience. Also, while Kogler is not more purposefully literary than she has to be, a self-conscious device or two does occasionally creep in. Ruby will once in a while say something right out of hack movie exposition school, such as "I've never put much stock in the saying that all things have a beginning." You can just feel the camera panning out. Also, Ruby will occasionally apologize for the way she makes an observation, whether it is too cute, too clichéd or just poorly expressed. In a case like this, the author shouldn't apologize for a small instance of bad writing; she should just fix it.

However, "Ruby Tuesday" proves itself in the end to be a quick and satisfying read. Quite the accomplishment for a woman just out of college, and perfect for the upcoming summer days.

Kogler Q&A

What was your experience in the creative writing program like?

I had such a positive experience — the program is so welcoming. One of the reasons I was excited to go to Princeton was the Creative Writing Program. I think it's the best undergraduate program in the country. I had Joyce Carol Oates, Ed White and Lynne Tillman and all of them were great teachers — all with very different teaching and writing styles. Being in a workshop full of talented writers that is taught by someone who actually writes for a living — it's inspiring.

How did creative writing professors, like Joyce Carol Oates, help shape your novel?

I had Professor Oates for a couple of seminars but James Lasdun was my advisor. He gave a lot of feedback and really pointed me in the right direction — which is essential when you're taking on the monumental task of writing your first novel. Many of the characters, though, were created and honed in Professor Oates's class. And one thing people probably don't realize about Professor Oates is that she is drop-dead funny. She has a great sense of humor.

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How is this novel different from the thesis you turned in?

Because I wanted to graduate, I had to turn my thesis in before I had done everything I had wanted to do. When I graduated, I moved back home with my parents, and took about four months and worked exclusively on expanding and refining it before I tried to get it published. It grew about a hundred pages and I think it became more fluid. My editors at HarperCollins were great, and there were several stages of revision there, as well.

What extracurriculars did you participate in here, and which ones were helpful to your writing?

I was on the track team as a pole vaulter my freshman year. I also was an Orange Key Tour Guide. Other than the Creative Writing Program, the Princeton environment itself was most helpful to my writing — being around so many bright, motivated, thoughtful people (both professors and students) can't help but foster creativity. Because most writers are observers, being able to observe so many different kinds of people with so many different experiences was essential.