Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1301686
I N - D E P T H "As a reader, I appreciate dialogue that's worth it, that feels real, and I work hard on it. I'm Irish Catholic, so I'm quiet most of the time, I sit and listen to the way people speak. It's almost like eavesdropping." —David Moloney completely different environment" than a detective's or beat cop's. The gritty voices of the Beat Generation— Jack Kerouac's, especially—continue to inspire the fellow Lowell native the same way that they did when Moloney was in high school. Although he went to college at 18 to pursue a creative writing degree, his career trajectory has been as meandering as that of Sal Paradise in On the Road. Moloney left Salem State University after three semesters and got a job working overnights with troubled teens at Tewksbury Hospital. The bad hours, the patient restraints, and barbed wire on the fence were good preparation for his next job at the prison, he says—a gig that offered better pay and the chance to earn a pension. "But I didn't like how the job changed me. You see in the book how these characters and officers go through a lot and don't want to talk about it after work, so they just shut down and wall themselves off. That was true about me." The best words of advice he got were from a veteran sergeant. "He was just like, 'What are you doing here? Get the hell out, don't end up like me.' That made me think," says Moloney, who got a variety of odd jobs and went back to school at 26 with plans for a degree to teach high school English. Those plans changed when he met professor and author Andre Dubus III at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where Moloney got more life-altering advice to pursue his unique voice. "'You've got to do an MFA and keep this writing thing going,'" Moloney says of encouragement from Dubus. "But I didn't even know what an MFA was then—that wasn't part of my plan." Going to classes and workshops weekends, nights, and online to pursue a master's degree in fine arts yielded Barker House—a panoply of voices from corrections officers and the banter of cell mates Ray and Don, who provide rays of sunshine in some dark times. Each chapter captures the accent of the Merrimack Valley, with distinct affect and intonation, along with local landmarks whose names have been altered. "As a reader, I appreciate dialogue that's worth it, that feels real, and I work hard on it," says Moloney. "I'm Irish Catholic, so I'm quiet ChicConsignment.com Shop & Consign 44 Main St. Andover, MA Don't Settle For Less! The insurance company has an adjuster, shouldn't you? Our professional, licensed claims specialists and appraisers will negotiate the most favorable settlement for you. Fire | Water | Ice damage | Frozen Pipes Seltser & Goldstein Public Adjusters, Inc. Proudly representing thousands of clients since 1935 Windstorm | Lightning | Explosion | Collapses Beverly 900 Cummings Center, Suite 302-t Beverly, MA 01915 Charlestown 24 Spice St, Suite 102 Charlestown, MA 02129 www.seltser.com 800-PUB ADJS | 800-782-2357 Don't Settle For Less! Seltser & Goldstein Public Adjusters, Inc. Proudly representing thousands of clients since 1935 Fire | Water | Ice damage | Frozen Pipes The insurance company has an adjuster, shouldn't you? Our professional, licensed claims specialists and appraisers will negotiate the most favorable settlement for you. 900 Cummings Center, Suite 302T, Beverly, MA 01915 Toll Free, 24 Hours: 800-782-2357 www.seltser.com Licensed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with affiliates in Florida. Member of Better Business Bureau. Windstorm | Lightning | Explosion | Collapses When Disaster Strikes, We Work For You.