Under the pen name Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler wrote the best-selling all-ages novels “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” in which the scheming Count Olaf tormented three orphaned siblings.
For the YA and adult fiction he publishes under his own name, Handler focuses on less archly melodramatic topics, including the complexities of relationships. He writes his latest book, the slim novel “All The Dirty Parts” (Bloomsbury Publishing. $22), from the perspective of Cole, a sex-obsessed teenager. Cole tends to romance and discard young women, but if he’s a villain, he’s a lot less obvious and more complicated than Count Olaf.
Handler says the novel originated with a recurring question he’d frequently encountered. “If you are an author and you write for children, you’re often asked ways to encourage young males to read,” he says. “There’s a substantial gender gap.”
Memories of his own teenage reading habits pointed him toward “All the Dirty Parts.” “My mother found a box of books that were my favorites when I was about 15 through 20 years old. I reread them all in a row, and I noticed that a lot of them had a lot of sex. It made me think about the extent to which we police sexual content for young people, as opposed to violent content.”
The title “All the Dirty Parts” is a misnomer, but just barely. Cole narrates his story in short scenes and observations that usually involve sexuality, almost as if someone had removed all the “boring parts” of a longer manuscript. Cole tries to seduce classmates, he remembers past experiences, he confides to his best friend and eventually he meets his match. The device effectively conveys the extent of his constant preoccupation in language that suits a contemporary high schooler. As he says of one of his brief girlfriends, “Her hair was wispy on the back of her smooth neck. It didn’t even want to touch her, it was so beautiful. But, you know, I did.”
RELATED: Take it from The Fonz: All kids have challenges and greatness, author Henry Winkler says
RELATED: What little kids, teens will find at 2017 AJC Decatur Book Festival
Handler sought to write about sexuality with more candor than old-fashioned fiction. “It took a long time to figure out exactly what the book would be,” he says. “There are so many novels about teen romance, or just romance, in which people kiss, they shut the door, and then there are three asterisks and it’s the next morning. When you’re young, it’s not like that at all.”
Handler doesn’t stint on ellipses himself, though. Despite its cheeky title, “All the Dirty Parts” isn’t very explicit. The author strikes an impressive balance of avoiding graphic language while leaving no doubt as to what’s happening (or just happened, or is about to happen). The results are less about fleeting physical sensations than the emotional impact and Cole’s gradual appreciation of empathy.
He describes it as a book that asks questions more than it offers answers, including whether Cole is typical of people his age or has a problem. “The male teenage brain can be shocking when transcribed, as any sexuality can be,” Handler says. “Some of my earliest readers, a lot of them men I know, have been writing to me recognizing themselves in some of the pages — and these are not men spending time in federal penitentiaries. Some have said, ‘I was exactly like this.’ Some have said, ‘I was three times worse than this.’ Others have said, ‘Cole’s a sex addict.’”
RELATED: Your guide to the 2017 AJC Decatur Book Festival
RELATED: Joyce Maynard shares great love, great loss in new memoir
During the AJC Decatur Book Festival, Handler will appear with author Adam Silvera for the panel "Love in the Time of Tech." Handler's book strives to convey the new ways teens interact with technology and each other, as well as their more timeless concerns. "I think there's a big difference in communication with young people today," he says. "With this book, I did something I swore I would never do: have dialogue with no quotation marks. In this, there are people on the phone, chatting in person, texting — it runs together with young people in ways it didn't before."
Credit: AJC
Handler’s alter ego, Lemony Snicket, has found a new life with a Netflix adaptation of “A Series of Unfortunate Events” that debuted in early 2017 and has been renewed for two more seasons. The show stars Neil Patrick Harris as flamboyant Count Olaf and “Seinfeld’s” Patrick Warburton as Snicket, the deadpan on-screen narrator.
Handler appreciates Warburton's ability to take such an unusual role in stride. "Something I hadn't thought of until I started adapting the book is that if you're an actor and not already a fan of the books, the part is a really weird one. He's a narrator, so he doesn't interact with anyone. There are actors who hear 'I'm playing the title role!" and are excited, but then realize 'Oh, I'm not talking to anyone?' But that's never been an issue with him."
Handler admits to finding it a challenge to switch between writing in voices as different as the sardonic Lemony Snicket or the libidinous Cole. “I guess it’s hard, but it’s not hard compared to any other job I could think of. It’s a lot easier than being an ER nurse. People might say that the book’s ‘risky’ — but what’s the risk, that The New York Times won’t like it?”
AJC DECATUR BOOK FESTIVAL
“Love in the Time of Tech” with Daniel Handler and Adam Silvera. Noon Sept. 3. Free. Marriott Conference Center B, 130 Clairmont Ave., Decatur.
Kidnote with Henry Winkler. 5 p.m. Sept. 1. Free, ticket required. Decatur High School Performing Arts Center, 310 N. McDonough St., Decatur.
Keynote with Brooke Gladstone, Wesley Lowery and Carolyn Ryan. 8 p.m. Sept. 1. Free, ticket required. Sold out. Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 N. Decatur Road, Atlanta.
Festival. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 2, noon-5:45 p.m. Sept. 3. Free. On and around the Decatur Square.
For a complete schedule of events, go to www.decaturbookfestival.com.
