Intrusions [Paperback]

Ursula Hegi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

This novel within a novel explores doubts, decisions and "might-have-beens" that mark not only the writing process but life itself. As her "author" and fictional heroine deal with their intrusions into each other's lives, Hegi reveals much about the often surprising ways reality and fiction merge.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Victoria Kohl Los Angeles Herald Examiner Hegi's sharp perceptions, humor and talent...have created a unique and satisfying read about the burden of being responsible for ourselves. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Ursula Hegi is the author of The Worst Thing I've Done, Sacred Time, Hotel of the Saints, The Vision of Emma Blau, Tearing the Silence, Salt Dancers, Stones from the River, Floating in My Mother's Palm, Unearned Pleasures and Other Stories, Intrusions, and Trudi & Pia. She teaches writing at Stonybrook's Southhampton Campus and she is the recipient of more than thirty grants and awards. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Scribner Paper Fiction; 1ST edition (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684801361
• ISBN-13: 978-0684801360
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,295,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intrusions is a must have book for writers!, September 20, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intrusions (Paperback)

It has been said that art often imitates life. For a writer, the difference between the two is a fine line of creativity, one that is often crossed without even realizing it. In Ursula Hegi's book INTRUSIONS, Hegi writes about the struggles of writing a novel while being invaded by the thoughts and opinions of the very characters she is trying to create.

There is a grown man riding in Hegi's shopping cart, freezing beneath frozen vegetables as he demands a re-write of his character. A soggy, distressed woman sits in a tub for three weeks while Hegi tries to come up with ideas over what to do with her next. An old professor demands hot and torrid sex of Hegi's characters, attempting to turn even the most delicate of chapters into lewd pornographic pulp.

This melting of reality into fiction has resulted in a fast reading, well written novel that will strike a familiar chord with writers everywhere. Since this is one of the first books Ursula Hegi wrote, it may be difficult to find. But keep looking. Just like Hegi's best selling novel STONES FROM THE RIVER, this book is well worth the search.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fresh and new, February 14, 2000

By 

"yankee76" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Intrusions (Paperback)

If you are a writer, a wife, a mother, or a woman, you must read this book. Ursula Hegi has done something amazing with Intrustions-interspersed in her story about a young wife and mother, Megan Stone, Hegi writes about her own life, as a writer, mother, and wife, and what intrusions each of these roles bring to her writing. It's somewhat choppy, and difficult to follow at first, because it's so unusual, but upon hitting Chapter Three, you won't be able to put it down. Not only do you get to explore the life of Megan-her childhood, her marriage, the birth of her son, her dreams, doubts and adventures-but we are allowed to follow the writing process in one extraordinary author's mind. Hegi has conversations with her characters, with other writers, and with her family, each peppered between the scenes of Megan's life.

As a writer myself, I was relieved and reassured to see someone else go through all the excitement, the disappointment, the discouragement, and triumph of writing a novel. And I found several of her methods highly effective in getting past writer's block.

Even if you're not a writer, you'll like this book. Following Megan's story and Hegi's progress is both fulfilling and inspirational. Don't miss this one.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars must read for writers and readers, April 3, 2000

By 

Chess Heart "paxbear" (Canton, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Intrusions (Paperback)

The late and very great Erma Bombeck once compared the process of writing to being pregnant: one is "with book" in the same way that one is "with child." Anyone who has done any sort of serious writing of fiction more than 10 pages long will know this feeling. Stories about the writing process and books on how to write better are abundant (even as an elementary school teacher, I was required to take a course in which we intensely studied the whole process and history of writing from Plato to Derrida). No one is arguing that there isn't enough to read, but of the books written, especially fiction, rarely is there a glimpse of the whole world that goes on behind the writing itself.

Enter "Intrusions", a truly remarkable novel where we get into EVERYONE'S head, including the author's. "Intrusions" begins almost immediately with the unabashed acknowledgement that you (the person reading the book) is reading the book. That is, from the very beginning the author establishes early on that this is a book and the main character is a woman named Megan. The author is writing the book as it unfolds, NOW, with life going on around her all the time. Her children (the author's, not Megan's) interrupt her at her typewriter demanding attention, lunch, Popsicles, trips to the playground, etc.

Megan's children similarly intrude upon HER, demanding her time, her attention. Megan's husband has his own set of demands as well, mostly advice on what he should wear to work and what he wants for breakfast (Megan is not a big on fixing breakfast). Against this background of characters she's created who have their own lives unfolding we also see the author's unfold.

Soon, author and characters begin intruding on each other and each other's lives: one day the author (who is not identified and therefore might be Hegi or might be another character she's invented) strikes up a conversation with Megan. Megan, like so many female characters, has lived a sheltered life, and is beginning to think that there is more to life than what she's been getting. This leads the author into the first of a series of fascinating arguments/conversations with her own characters.

Soon, the author and her characters are with each other all the time, even when the author tries to leave them be. Megan's husband intermittently appears to the author demanding different treatment of Megan, rewrites of his chapters, nips and tucks in the plot. All the while the author is dealing with the very real intrusions of her own children, husband and life as well as the guilt-laden intrusions of her characters who want both for the author to give them autonomy and to script their lives in a favorable way.

For readers who are used to an even flow of text and plot, this book may seem chaotic, choppy or even poorly written-- the chapters are often short, everyone's talking to each other, and most of us are not used to authors who freely talk to their characters *in the book.* We may expect authors to privately "talk" to their characters while writing, but rarely does the author jump right into the narrative itself and tell us, the reader, what is going on in their private, authorly lives at the moment of writing.

But the act of intrusion is constant and in everything-- I myself have had intruded on my own writing for this review to do 2 loads of laundry, eat dinner and was *intruded upon* by a phone call. Just like majestic cathedrals or skyscrapers that are wonders to behold once they're finished but take a long time to build, great books take time to build. Where most books are like finished buildings that the reader tours and admires, "Intrusions" is like a masterpiece in the making-- we get to experience the author taking steps back to make sure that the building is going according to plan. At then end, then, is when we, the readers, can look both back at all that has been accomplished and admire what has been created.