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David Gilmour's Open Book

© Paula E. Kirman

David Gilmour always puts a lot of himself in his writing. Literally. On the day that I interviewed him over the phone from his home in Toronto, he admitted that his fourth novel, Lost Between Houses (Random House) was his most personal work to date, and for good reasons. The main character, 15 year old Simon, is very much like Gilmour was at that age. Simon comes from a priveleged background, and when his family's financial situation threatens to crumble, he is sent to boarding school. He later attempts to run away, much like when Gilmour went on the lam from Upper Canada College. Simon experiences his first heartbreak, as did Gilmour around that time. The mental health of Simon's father declines to the point of suicide. Gilmour's father, a stockbroker who suffered from alcoholism and depression, took his life.

However, Gilmour, best known as the former film critic for CBC's The Journal and the host of Newsworld's Gemini Award-winning On The Arts, insists that his novels should not be confused with diaries. Even so, if Gilmour writes another one, the odds are his inspiration will again be his roller coaster ride of a life.

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Kirman: It's been six years since your last novel. Why the long break?

Gilmour: It took me six years because when I finished the last book, An Affair with the Moon [Random House, 1993], I didn't like it, I didn't think it worked. When I read the galleys for it I thought "oh, I am screwed, I am really screwed." It was an example of writing a book that didn't need to be written. It was just that I enjoyed all the popularity that my second novel, How Boys See Girls [Random House, 1991], got. I wanted more parties and more pats on the head, so I kind of blasted this book out. It came out and I didn't like it, it didn't do well. No one else liked it either and that was fine, they shouldn't have. So I thought I would take my time with this book and I waited a couple of years to start it. I wrote it for three years and I sold it. Then a month after I sold it I read it again and I thought "This is a piece of shit; this is no good at all. Everyone is going to know that I am just a kind of sex obsessed old guy in a really unattractive way." I had a terrible romantic breakup with someone and I think I was trying to solve my terrible sexual jealousy about her on the page and it gave the book a really clammy, creepy feel.