Love Me
Gemma Weekes
Gemma Weekes was born in the East End of London in 1978; she has lived in England and St Lucia. She had her first short story published when she was 17 and has made a name for herself as a poet, short story writer and musician.. Gemma has featured on BBC Radio 3’s the Verb, ITV, supported the Black Eyed Peas at the Jazz Café, and performed at venues all over London, including The Royal Festival Hall.
I came across Love Me in the New Books section of Aesthetica – The Cultural Arts Magazine Dec/Jan 2009, Issue 26, and as soon as I read the extract, I knew I had to purchase a copy of Gemma’s book and I have been hooked to the book, read from cover to cover, to find this is not only an engaging and modern love story but a joy to take part in and really feel such beautiful exquisite and poetic prose. It is obvious Gemma Weekes is a gifted writer to have put together such a debut novel.
The novel is set between London and New York one hot, sticky summer. Eden is locked in a state of mid-20’s adolescence – directionless, insecure and hopelessly obsessed with her first love. When Zed, the subject of her affection, swoops into town, ‘flash in every line of his body’, spitting gangster rap and the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen, she knows she must have him back. Paralysed by lust, Eden hangs out at Zed’s gigs, squeezes into mini-dresses and drops as many hints as a girl can without losing her dignity, but with no result.
Zed’s more interested in Max- a blonde with perfect bone structure and as white as toothpaste. But is Max the real reason these two can’t get it together? As the story unfolds, glimpses of their St Lucian relatives and parents reveal that Eden and Zed have some serious history they need to face if they’re ever to understand what real love is. Weekes brings to life a world of cross-cultural relationships, passion and pain that zings with life and reveals her to be a major new talent.
I know it’s only March, but this is my favourite book (so far). I found myself identifying with Eden’s obsession with her first love in so many ways; the story took me with it and I vividly remembered those awkward adolescent and insecure moments when it seemed as if time stood still until ‘he’ called; until you spoke to and saw ‘him’ again and how it never seemed enough. It was like you were left in limbo, waiting and wanting more. I remember those crazy times when love sometimes hurt so much; such agony and pain. Not the kind of love to fall into too often!
Questions & Answers with Gemma Weekes, (Aesthetica Magazine):
How did you find writing your first novel?
It consumed me. It began in a fury of inspiration, and then the process quickly became as trying as it was rewarding. Everything else became a distraction from the work, but the work itself was usually maddening. Every draft, you gain something and you lose something. I basically stuck a brick on the gas pedal and let the rest of my life crash into a wall! And then, standing amidst the debris of broken relationships, unexplored opportunities, no fixed address, debt and miscellaneous everyday destruction, you get to the point of realising that the damned book is still probably never going to do justice to your initial vision (luckily, a vision no reader is privy to).
What was the process like?
Love Me emerged out of certain fascinating dynamics I had with people in my life, romantic and otherwise, moments that filled me with a dark species of excitement and a sense of the intangible. What binds one person to another? What’s the fabric of obsession? What’s it made of and what are its colours? Love is a ubiquitous topic that has been almost completely drained of meaning, but still it moves us, robs us, rewards us, inspires us… I was really interested in capturing fresh, real moments, and writing a novel that was dense and that locked the reader into a sensory experience of London and Brooklyn.
Tell me about the characters in Love Me?
Well there’s Eden, the main character, a photographer, living in a mid-20s adolescent fog: afraid, disappointed, emotive, and self-absorbed. Marie her mysterious, beautiful mother. Zed, Eden’s first love, who she hasn’t seen for 10 years and reappears in her life a charismatic but very guarded man. Aunt K, a woman of great spiritual power who hopefully adds a bit of magic. Max, a friend to Eden and lover to Zed, an angelic-looking fashion model with a foul cockney mouth. Spanish, a pure-living, conflicted rocker that Eden meets in Brooklyn. Then there’s Eden’s Bible-bashing father and her hilariously pragmatic best friend Juliet, a talented single mother called Violet and a transsexual philosophy student called Brandy (when in panties) and Brandon (when in boxers).
What are your future plans?
To write my second novel, which is already underway. And short stories, poems. A musical. I’m also determined to finally release some tracks, start giggling again, raise the munchkin, and be happy (whatever that means).
Gemma Weekes
Gemma Weekes was born in the East End of London in 1978; she has lived in England and St Lucia. She had her first short story published when she was 17 and has made a name for herself as a poet, short story writer and musician.. Gemma has featured on BBC Radio 3’s the Verb, ITV, supported the Black Eyed Peas at the Jazz Café, and performed at venues all over London, including The Royal Festival Hall.
I came across Love Me in the New Books section of Aesthetica – The Cultural Arts Magazine Dec/Jan 2009, Issue 26, and as soon as I read the extract, I knew I had to purchase a copy of Gemma’s book and I have been hooked to the book, read from cover to cover, to find this is not only an engaging and modern love story but a joy to take part in and really feel such beautiful exquisite and poetic prose. It is obvious Gemma Weekes is a gifted writer to have put together such a debut novel.
The novel is set between London and New York one hot, sticky summer. Eden is locked in a state of mid-20’s adolescence – directionless, insecure and hopelessly obsessed with her first love. When Zed, the subject of her affection, swoops into town, ‘flash in every line of his body’, spitting gangster rap and the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen, she knows she must have him back. Paralysed by lust, Eden hangs out at Zed’s gigs, squeezes into mini-dresses and drops as many hints as a girl can without losing her dignity, but with no result.
Zed’s more interested in Max- a blonde with perfect bone structure and as white as toothpaste. But is Max the real reason these two can’t get it together? As the story unfolds, glimpses of their St Lucian relatives and parents reveal that Eden and Zed have some serious history they need to face if they’re ever to understand what real love is. Weekes brings to life a world of cross-cultural relationships, passion and pain that zings with life and reveals her to be a major new talent.
I know it’s only March, but this is my favourite book (so far). I found myself identifying with Eden’s obsession with her first love in so many ways; the story took me with it and I vividly remembered those awkward adolescent and insecure moments when it seemed as if time stood still until ‘he’ called; until you spoke to and saw ‘him’ again and how it never seemed enough. It was like you were left in limbo, waiting and wanting more. I remember those crazy times when love sometimes hurt so much; such agony and pain. Not the kind of love to fall into too often!
Questions & Answers with Gemma Weekes, (Aesthetica Magazine):
How did you find writing your first novel?
It consumed me. It began in a fury of inspiration, and then the process quickly became as trying as it was rewarding. Everything else became a distraction from the work, but the work itself was usually maddening. Every draft, you gain something and you lose something. I basically stuck a brick on the gas pedal and let the rest of my life crash into a wall! And then, standing amidst the debris of broken relationships, unexplored opportunities, no fixed address, debt and miscellaneous everyday destruction, you get to the point of realising that the damned book is still probably never going to do justice to your initial vision (luckily, a vision no reader is privy to).
What was the process like?
Love Me emerged out of certain fascinating dynamics I had with people in my life, romantic and otherwise, moments that filled me with a dark species of excitement and a sense of the intangible. What binds one person to another? What’s the fabric of obsession? What’s it made of and what are its colours? Love is a ubiquitous topic that has been almost completely drained of meaning, but still it moves us, robs us, rewards us, inspires us… I was really interested in capturing fresh, real moments, and writing a novel that was dense and that locked the reader into a sensory experience of London and Brooklyn.
Tell me about the characters in Love Me?
Well there’s Eden, the main character, a photographer, living in a mid-20s adolescent fog: afraid, disappointed, emotive, and self-absorbed. Marie her mysterious, beautiful mother. Zed, Eden’s first love, who she hasn’t seen for 10 years and reappears in her life a charismatic but very guarded man. Aunt K, a woman of great spiritual power who hopefully adds a bit of magic. Max, a friend to Eden and lover to Zed, an angelic-looking fashion model with a foul cockney mouth. Spanish, a pure-living, conflicted rocker that Eden meets in Brooklyn. Then there’s Eden’s Bible-bashing father and her hilariously pragmatic best friend Juliet, a talented single mother called Violet and a transsexual philosophy student called Brandy (when in panties) and Brandon (when in boxers).
What are your future plans?
To write my second novel, which is already underway. And short stories, poems. A musical. I’m also determined to finally release some tracks, start giggling again, raise the munchkin, and be happy (whatever that means).
Love Me is published by Chatto & Windus (2009)
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