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Julie Buntin

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May 2010

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Julie, Just finished Marlena about a week ago. A question I have is what year does the novel take place in Cat's present life? It is difficult to place because there are mentions of youtube, myspace, and facebook, but she was 15, and is 35 now. Youtube was created in 2005, Facebook in 2004. If Cat was 15 in 2005 she would only be about 27. Does the present day take place in the future?

Julie Buntin Hey Stephanie, thanks for asking, and for reading the book. I left out concrete time stamps (email dates, etc) because I wanted time to feel blurry an…moreHey Stephanie, thanks for asking, and for reading the book. I left out concrete time stamps (email dates, etc) because I wanted time to feel blurry and impressionistic, the way it so often does in memory - though of course I understand this question. The teenage scenes take place circa 2006 - during the rise of the opioid epidemic, a surge in social media, and in the years before the housing bubble collapsed. The adulthood scenes in the narrative present take place ~18 years later, so a handful of years from now. For me, it was important in developing Cat's character that the years in the past feel distinct and vivid, and the narrative present a little numb in comparison. I also wanted her to be old enough to be on a real precipice in her life, with regards to her own drinking. (less)

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I loved Marlena. Do you have any new books coming out?

Julie Buntin Thank you so much, Mollie! It means the world to hear that. I am working on a novel now and hope to have a draft finished very soon.

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Julie Buntin’s books

Average rating: 3.69 · 14,890 ratings · 1,780 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	Marlena 3.69 avg rating — 14,883 ratings — published 2017 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Thing Between Us: An excerpt from the novel MARLENA (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading Book 250) by Julie Buntin (Goodreads Author), Rachel Fershleiser (Foreword) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Appetite (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading Book 298) by Danielle Lazarin (Goodreads Author), Julie Buntin (Goodreads Author) (Foreword) 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Marlena 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Marlena: A Novel 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Sea of Hooks

by Lindsay Hill (Goodreads Author)

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Aug 15, 2014 05:00PM

Quotes by Julie Buntin (?)

“Tell me what you can't forget, and I'll tell you who you are. I switch off my apartment light and she comes with the dark.”
― Julie Buntin, Marlena

48 likes

“I've never believed in the idea of an innocent bystander. The act of watching changes what happens. Just because you don't touch anything doesn't mean you are exempt. You might be tempted to forgive me for being just fifteen, in over my head, for not knowing what to do, for not understanding, yet, the way even the tiniest choices domino, until you're irretrievably grown up, the person you were always going to be. Or in Marlena's case, the person you'll never have a chance to be. The world doesn't care that you're just a girl.

Let the record show that I was smarter than I looked. And anyway, I touched.”
― Julie Buntin, Marlena

37 likes

“When you grow up, who you were as a teenage either takes on a mythical importance or it's completely laughable. I wanted to be the kind of person who wiped those years away; instead, I feared, they defined me.”
― Julie Buntin, Marlena

32 likes

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Polls

January BoTM Side Read Nominations ~ 1st Round

Top 5 books move onto Final Round

The Dry

by Jane Harper

9 votes, 18.8%

The Last Time I Lied

by Riley Sager

8 votes, 16.7%

The Things They Carried

by Tim O'Brien

8 votes, 16.7%

Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls

by Lauren Graham

6 votes, 12.5%

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe

by Melissa de la Cruz

5 votes, 10.4%

Marlena

by Julie Buntin

4 votes, 8.3%

Notes from a Public Typewriter

by Michael Gustafson

3 votes, 6.3%

Strangers on a Train

by Patricia Highsmith

3 votes, 6.3%

Doll House

by John Hunt

2 votes, 4.2%

Heart of Darkness

by Joseph Conrad

0 votes, 0.0%

48 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Tournament of Books: Marlena Book Discussion	9	114	Jul 17, 2017 06:02PM
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The Seasonal Read...: Completed Tasks: PLEASE DO NOT DELETE ANY POST IN THIS THREAD	2999	399	Aug 31, 2018 09:00PM