NPR Radio Interview Analysis

I listened to Terry Gross interview novelist, Curtis Sittenfeld, on Fresh Air, from October 13, 2008. Gross interviewed Sittenfeld, about her new best seller, “American Wife.” This book is about a woman who marries a man who later becomes president, and is based off of the life of Laura Bush. Gross was very knowledgeable about Sittenfeld’s novel. From the interview, the listener can conclude that Gross did in fact read the book and is well informed on the material. Gross also spoke about Sittenfeld’s previous novel, “Prep.” Mentioning specific details and incidents that took place in the book, Gross asked questions pertaining to the information.
Gross referred to the book a lot asking questions that caused Sittenfeld to explain certain excerpts. These questions revealed how Sittenfeld felt about them and as to why she included the material or if she felt after the book was published, there were any repercussions from what she included in her novel. Gross asked all open-ended questions that left room for Sittenfeld to answer. Sittenfeld was very talkative and thoroughly answered all the questions she was presented with in detail. Some questions Gross asked caused Sittenfeld to look through other peoples’ point of view. For example, would the reader make assumptions and believe the fictitious novel to be true about Bush’s life, and whether or not the line between reality and fiction was blurry in this novel.

Gross asked questions based off ones she asked previously therefore demonstrating good follow up and getting answers to new information that provided new insight. Her first questions were not as hard to answer, until they got further into the interview. Gross did a good job of establishing trust and a calm environment to ask heavier questions. She wanted Sittenfeld’s opinion on the book and why she included certain information. Gross also pried to see if Sittenfeld included information based off of her own life. There was no apparent previous relationship before the interview between Gross and Sittenfeld. They were professional through the interview’s entirety.

From this interview I learned the importance of asking direct, specific questions. If the question is vague, the answer will not be what I was looking for. For future interviews I will make sure to ask open-ended, specific questions.