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Arts & Entertainment
'Today, You Are a Book'
Author's new novel took 13 years to write and get published.
So, of course, it's been launched with a "book mitzvah."
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
S
usan Shapiro had her confirmation
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield, but she always wanted
a bat mitzvah similar to the bar mitvah cel-
ebrations of her three brothers.
Shapiro, 49, raised in West Bloomfield,
recently modified her dream to make it
somewhat real and lighthearted with this
summer's publication of her second novel,
Overexposed (Thomas Dunne Books;
$24.99).
The novel, which took 13 years to com-
plete and sell to a publisher, just had a book
mitzvah instead of a book launch in New
York, where Shapiro's been living since
graduating as an English major from the
University of Michigan.
During an interview prior to the big day,
Shapiro told the Jewish News: "I'm going to
have a rabbi bless the novel and say, 'Today
you are a book.' My mother, Miriam Shapiro,
is sending trays of chocolates with my name
engraved and Jewish stars, and I'm having a
candle-lighting ceremony:'
The Shapiro family is involved not only in
the book celebration, which will continue at
Michigan events. The family story is at the
heart of Overexposed — with just enough
changes for fact to become fiction.
Shapiro, the daughter of internist Dr. Jack
Shapiro and sister of two doctors, fictional-
ized her relationship with
her sister-in-law
Monica, whom she
introduced to brother
Brian, a trauma surgeon
in Grand Blanc.
In reality, the women
met while both were work-
ing in editorial jobs at the
New Yorker. Monica Yates,
daughter of novelist Richard
Yates (Revolutionary Road),
became the Michigan wife
and mother Shapiro's parents
wanted their daughter to be.
In the book, the two main characters meet
through a magazine while sharing career
interests in photography. Elizabeth Mann,
the daughter of a famous photojournalist,
becomes the Illinois wife and mother that
Rachel Solomon's parents want her to be.
The book is filled with Jewish humor and
a reference that Michigan readers will recog-
nize. Shapiro is a fan of Star Deli tuna, and
her mother always has it on hand for visits.
The book moves Southfield's Star Deli to the
Chicago area.
"Although I'm not traditional, I feel every-
thing about me is Jewish, and everything I
write is Jewish',' says Shapiro, who earned
her master's degree in poetry at New York
University, freelanced for newspapers and
magazines and wrote memoirs before tack-
ling fiction.
The writer also teaches her favorite subject
The author's own family story is
at the heart of her comic novel
Overexposed.
at the New School and at her own
workshops.
"I tell my students to write
about their obsessions',' says
Shapiro, whose books have
covered her commitment
to writing (Only as Good as
Your Word) and old beaus (Five
Men Who Broke My Heart), the latter get-
ting her on national television shows. "I find
people bring theatrical freshness to things
they really care about"
What Shapiro really cares about will be
apparent at three Oakland County events.
Shapiro will be signing books Tuesday eve-
ning, Aug. 10, at Borders in Birmingham;
covering "The Art of Writing Fast, Writing
Well, Getting Published Again and Again"
for Women in Communications Wednesday
evening, Aug. 11, at the Park West Gallery in
Southfield; and leading a panel discussion,
"Writing Secrets of the Pros',' Thursday eve-
ning, Aug. 12, at her alma mater, the Roeper
School in Bloomfield Hills, where her hus-
band, TV and film writer Charlie Rubin, also
will appear.
"My idea of a good time is just being able
to read," says Shapiro, welcoming questions at
her website, www.susanshapiro.net , and cur-
Susan Shapiro: "Although I'm not
traditional, I feel everything about
me is Jewish, and everything I write
is Jewish."
rently turning first novel Speed Shrinking into
a screenplay while beginning two new books.
"I love coming home she adds,
"because I have so many close friends to
hang out with." 0
Susan Shapiro will sign books 7
p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10, at Borders,
34300 Woodward, in Birmingham.
(248) 203-0005. She speaks before
members and guests of Women in
Communications at a dinner meeting
6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 11, at Park
West Gallery, 29469 Northwestern
Hwy., in Southfield. $40-$50. (248)
369-0622; www.womcomdetroit.org .
She'll also lead a panel discussion 7-
9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at Roeper,
41190 Woodward, in Bloomfield Hills.
Free; donation suggested for library.
(248) 203-7300.
ews
41110 I Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News
aim
t Bouncing Back
Recently, I saw Inside Edition chief cor-
respondent Jim Moret do an intelligent
guest commentary
for MSNBC.
Curious, I googled
I)
Moret, 53, and was
surprised to learn
that he is the son
of James Darren,
the 1950sP60s
heartthrob actor/
Jim Moret
singer, who starred
in Gidget (as
Moondoggie), among other films.
I found out a lot more: Jim's Jewish
mother, Gloria (nee) Terlitsky, was the
%lan
A
on
C
44
August 5 • 2010
Philadelphia high-school sweetheart of
Darren, who is of Italian Catholic back-
ground. Their parents objected to their
match so the couple secretly eloped in
1955, when both were just 18.
The couple bitterly divorced in
1959. Gloria's second husband, Jerry
Moret, adopted Jim when he was 13.
(Jim Moret and James Darren are
now reconciled and quite friendly. He
considers both Jerry and James to
be his "dads").
Jim was raised Jewish and is a
practicing Jew. He was a Southern
California entertainment lawyer when
he joined CNN in the early '90s as
the host of Showbiz Today. In 1994,
he was CNN chief correspondent at
the O.J. Simpson trial.
Last January, Jim's memoir, The
Last Day of My Life, came out. It
describes how he overcame suicidal
depression in 2007. In 2001, he had
declined a CNN request that he
transfer from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
He couldn't find much other work
and fell deep into debt. But he talked
to himself, managed to find a new,
upbeat attitude to approach life and
got back in the game.
Moret and his Jewish wife have two
daughters and a son. In 2009, they
celebrated their 20th anniversary
by renewing their vows in a second
Jewish wedding.
Tube Notes
The History Channel premieres Stan
Lee's Superhumans on Thursday, Aug.
5, at 10 p.m.
Stan Lee, 87, is the
co-founder of Marvel
Comics and the co-
creator of literally a
score of iconic comic
book characters,
including X-Men and
Spider-Man.
Superhumans,
co-hosted by Lee,
begins with the basic
Darwinian premise that humans have
evolved through genetic mistakes that
produced physical changes and abili-
ties that have advanced our species.
The series' hook is that this process
is still happening today and can be
observed through examples of real liv-
ing people who have remarkable pow-
ers due to genetic differences.