Author Interview: Deb Fitzpatrick

Deb Fitzpatrick is a West Australian author who I have had the pleasure of meeting a number of times. Her debut novel, 90 Packets of Instant Noodles, is a refreshing story about 16-year-old Joel, who is sent to live in a bush shack for 90 days after making some poor life choices. It is a story about peer pressure, but also about how sometimes, it's not too late to change your ways.

90 Packets was named a Notable Book for Older Readers by the Children’s Book Council of Australia in 2011, as was her second novel, Have Your Seen Ally Queen? in 2012. Deb's third book, The Amazing Spencer Gray, is her first middle grade story and will be out May 2013.

Please welcome Deb Fitzpatrick to The Tales Compendium for Aussie Author Month!

I was the kind of kid who… talked in class so much I was often told off. I was also the kind of kid whose hand went up hard and fast to be the first to answer the teacher's questions. Also the kind of kid who just missed out on the netball team – every time.
 

My mother always told me… "Money doesn't make you happy."
 

The biggest lesson I learnt at school was… that I could write.

My first big crush was… on the fish 'n' chips guy in Kalbarri when I was about 14. I think I wrote him a love letter when I got home to Perth. Poor guy.

I earnt my first pay cheque… at my local newsagency, where I worked on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings in high school. It was a family business and they really looked after me.

I really hate it when… There are so many ways I could finish this sentence it disturbs me! But I'll just choose one: when people tailgate. It's an accident waiting to happen, for nothing.

I’m very good at… talking too much.

The hardest thing I’ve ever done… was spend four years living in a shack with no phone and no internet connection in the cloud forest in Costa Rica while my husband did his PhD research there. The first two years nearly killed me; the last two made me.
 

I’m frightened of… someone doing something bad to one of my kids.
 

When I’m in the shower I sing… a lot. My kids beg me to stop.
 

My road to publication was… being shortlisted for the 2006 TAG Hungerford Award. I didn't win, but it opened up so many doors for me. I'm forever grateful.
 

The last book I read was… "The House of Fiction" by Susan Swingler, about Elizabeth Jolley's family.
 

I would love to meet… Tim Winton, and have a bottle of good wine with him over a very long chat.
 

When I get the munchies I eat… cheese and biscuits.
 

I’m currently working on… a YA novel.
 

I hope I never… become a snob, or get too big for my boots, or lose my mind, or stop writing.

Life is… incredible – and scary, if you think about it for too long. And way, way too short.

Thankyou so much for being part of Aussie Author Month, Deb!

Deb's Website

Deb on Goodreads

My review of 90 Packets of Instant Noodles

My review of Have You Seen Ally Queen?

90 Packets of Instant Noodles by Deb Fitzpatrick

Title: 90 Packets of Instant Noodles
Author: Deb Fitzpatrick

Release Date: 31st May 2010

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:

Joel and Craggs are in it together. They drink booze together, they flirt with petty theft together and, when Craggs turns violent, they face the consequences together too. That’s until Joel’s dad makes a deal with the police. Craggs is off to juvenile detention and Joel to solitary confinement. Ninety days of fending for himself in a remote bush shack with no radio, telephone or fridge.

Miles from anywhere, Joel starts to like his own company, till one day the past tracks him down. Craggs is on his doorstep and he hasn’t changed a bit.

My Review:
90 Packets of Instant Noodles is refreshing story about 16-year old Joel, who has made some bad decisions in life. It is a novel primarily about peer pressure but also about how sometimes, it's not too late to change your ways. Told from Joel's point of view, we see the negative impact having a certain type of friend can have and the difficulty of cutting the ties of friendship. How far do the bonds of mate-ship go? When is it finally time to say 'enough'?

Joel, stuck in an isolated bush shack south of Perth, Western Australia, and comforted only by weekly letters from his girlfriend Bella, rather revealing letters from his dad, and a pesky fox he has christened 'Foxy', is at first miserable and angry at his dad for such an arrangement. He soon realises though, what a blessing the forced isolation is and discovers his own self worth. He realises that his life doesn't have to disappear down the toilet and end up in jail like his friends Craggs and Sull.

Just when he thinks everything is going to be alright though, Craggs shows up and is ready to get back to their old ways, starting with the remote town that has semi-befriended Joel since the start of his three month exile. While the good in Joel had just been buried for a while and he wasn't 'too far gone' , Craggs's time in juvenile detention only made things worse and fuelled the fire burning inside him.

Craggs has no desire to change and wants to drag his friends along for the ride. He needs someone else to be running amok with him because if he's not doing it alone then it has to be ok. How can Joel escape from this kind of friend when he knows how Craggs will lash out? The fear holds him back and that is exactly how Joel ends up in the shack in the first place, when Craggs goes too far and Joel doesn't do anything to stop him. Joel had even developed a stutter over the years because of his unconscious fear and nervousness of Craggs.

I really liked Joel's dad. He is a good guy who really wants to help his son. I like how their relationship gets stronger throughout the book even through the circumstances are not ideal. Same with Bella, she brought out the other side of Joel, the good side, and it was somewhat due to her that Joel wanted to turn his life around.

90 Packets does contain quite a bit of swearing as well as some drug use but aside from this, and the obvious unsavoury behaviour, I think this would be a good text for upper high school students to study. You can find Teachers Notes, courtesy of Fremantle Press, here.