Geography of Pluto cover | Photo credit: Cormorant Books
The Geography of Pluto (Cormorant Books, 2014) took nearly 14 years to complete. It is now on retail bookshelves — and online.
“The book deals with a moment of surprise,” says DiRaddo, who works as a writer and content editor at the CBC in Montreal.
“I went through a breakup. Something I used to think was true wasn’t anymore.”
This change in reality is reflected through the fictional book’s protagonist, a young geography teacher named Will. The work, which employs a non-linear storyline, moves between periods surrounding the character’s breakup.
The protagonist — who is gay — also grapples with revealing his sexuality to his mother. In the novel, the mother battles colon cancer.
“I wanted to write about that fine line where you’re close with a parent, yet can’t tell them something very important,” says DiRaddo, who came out as gay when he was 20.
“I think it’s a really unexplored area, the relationships men, in particular gay men, have with their mothers,” says DiRaddo.
An excerpt from the book reads: “I’d imagined many times how I’d tell her, what I’d say, yet here I was, unprepared and unscripted, sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, tripping on the words as they came out.”
Christopher DiRaddo, BA 98, author of The Geography of Pluto
| Photo credit: Paul Specht