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we are sitting in the library of the ambassade hotel, in amsterdam. marisol is the author of the successful 'the lady, the chef, and the courtesan', and we are doing our best in order to keep the interview as serious as possible. not easy, believe me. marisol is not only a really beautiful south american woman, but she is funny, she is a volcano of ideas, jokes, stories...

long, dark hair, dark eyes, a great smile, dressed up in a chic black dress. marisol is in europe to promote her latest (and first) book, and we have the privilege to spend one hour with her, talking about a lot of things. life, love, memories... and about the book, of course.

how much of marisol we see in pilar (the main character in the book) and how much is just artistic creation?
the book is not autobiographical. it is not about my life. I never lived in chicago like pilar… but what forms people writing a lot has to do with their culture. when you are bi-cultural like me, you do not feel quite that you belong any place. I live in the states as a south american woman. it is very challenging. pilar, the main character in my book also comes from venezuela and her feelings are formed by my discomfort, as some of the anecdotes in her story are inspired by my own life and experiences. but I do not know anyone named 'pilar'. I just thought it was an easy to remember name!

is there anything you would like to have of pilar's personality?
that is a very good question! you never think about it that way when you are writing. you know I never had that conversation - like pilar's - with my mother when I decided to stay in the united states where I moved to learn english. I just let it go and never told her I was not coming back to venezuela. eighteen years later my mother still asked me: 'are you moving back home?' and I said "i guess not…'. I wish I would have come out and told her before. but at least I told her now, with my book.

did you leave venezuela for the same reasons as pilar? to study?
i love to study and I was curious to know about other cultures, foreign cultures not being the south american culture. I wanted to experience something else. so I when to the usa. the journey to adjusting there was so hard, but going back would have been harder. so I ended up getting my undergraduate education, then master degree, and as I said eighteen years passed and I never actually decided to move back. but sometimes not deciding something is also a decision.

pilar kind of fled from venezuela, she did not like many things over there… did you also have something in venezuela you wanted to run away from?
not particularly. I was more running towards something than away from something. as they say: 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence'…

after 18 years do you still think that the grass is greener on the other side?
no, you know, it is interesting that I never looked at south america as rich, until I wrote this book. in the usa I get a lot of questions about the heritage that my grandmother passed me. the concept of family in the usa is very different from the concept in south america. because of feminism, in the usa, it is hard to find three generations of women alive and together. women first think about their carreer. only after that they think of having babies. by the time the baby is born, the grandmother often is not there anymore and the child will be raised by a nanny. it is a cultural expression. in south america - in the whole latin world, included italy, spain and portugal - it's very different. most of the time three generations of women have the chance to know eachother. I remember my grandmother... she was italian and had 12 children. she had always something on the stove, there was always something to eat for everybody. when I say this, I get goose bumps. I just so desperately miss the family aspect in the usa. everybody is stressed up… maybe that's why the book is so passionate.

and the food aspect in your book…
you say how much you love somebody by cooking for him or her…

in italy they say "you get to the heart of somebody through his stomach…"
yeah, also in south america! it is funny because when I met my husband I made 'crema pasticcera' for him and he said 'will you marry me?'

is your husband american?
yes!

why did you write this book?
i was employed as a corporate business woman in the usa. on 9 september 2001 I was supposed to be in new york for my job but for reason I did not go. as a good latin american, I am very superstitious. so I thought I had been spared. the next step was quitting my job and doing something more meaningful… I could not work one more day in corporate america. it was killing me. it is not my personality to be following rules. I promised myself I would have found something more meaningful before my 40th birthday. right before I turned 39 I bought a book called 'how to write and sell your first novel'. I read it, followed every step and the rest you know…

has this book been published in venezuela?
no, I think at home they will say: 'we already know this…'

this book will be a good promotion fo venezuela… kind of what 'a house in tuscany did for toscana'
maybe. I hope so, especially for macuto, the town at the seaside I write about in the book. two years ago it was destroyed by a flood. I used to go there with my grandfather when I was little. we used to have cocada (coconut and milk in the blender - you drink the mix from the coconut) and now there is no cocada anymore. with my book I want to keep macuto alife. my children's children will read about a place that they never knew existed. macuto was so beautiful…

all those rules in your book. are those something you grew up with?
yes…

and what did you do with those rules?
I broke them… that is a short answer, but it is challenging to move from all those rules to a society like america where there are no rules like in south america. in the usa the society is very even.

maybe in america they have less 'etiquette'
no etiquette in america! all is up to you, in south america nothing is up to you…

in your book you write about etiquette and social control. pilar breaks with both and refuses to marry the man her family has choosen for her...
yes, she does. the social control in south america is very strong. it is not that you are obbliged, but it is 'strongly insinuated', strongly suggested. it is like they say: 'do as we tell you. of course you can do differently but this will cost you…'

how do you create your characters? do you get inspiration from real life?
yes, definitely, I would not know how to write in any other way. for example, if I have to write about a butcher I have to go to the butcher's store and meet the butcher. I like to experience everything. to see before I write. I have to do a lot of research to let germinate my ideas. for instance, I now want to do a screenplay in italy, in positano. so I bought this black book and I am going to positano. in my little notebook I will write all my impressions which I later will use for my second book…

how long are you going to stay in italy?
seven days. the amalfi coast is so beautiful. when you see those places you cannot imagine there is anything wrong with the world..

until you turn on cnn…
yes…

have you ever thought this book could become a movie?
yes. two companies in the united states are interested in making a movie out of the book. but I would love it to be done in europe, by someone like pedro almodovar… I don't want it to become a standard hollywood film with black-and-white- characters. I don't want it to be superficial. I want passion in it, just like in the book.

adversus.com
november 2004