User:Caitlyn Braunschweig/sandbox

Influences
Lauren Grodstein's inspirations and influences for her novel A Friend of the Family, stemmed from the double neonaticides that hit the united states with such shock during the 1990's. Amy Grossberg and Melissa Drexler, two high school girls both well-known for taking the life of their newborn babies shortly after they had given birth. Drexler gave birth at her senior prom and Grossberg delivered a baby in a hotel room with the help of her boyfriend, then disposed of it. This situation was the start for her ideas in the main storyline as well as one of her main characters, Laura Stern. Laura Stern was based off of both Melissa Drexler and Amy Grossberg. Grodstein's intentions however, were not to make her audience feel like the actions of young women who commit these neonaticides were wrong nor right but to make her readers understand a different side to the "murders" not just the death of a baby but everything behind that, everything that started such a plan to get rid of a life. Grodstein wanted people to feel what it felt like in their positions, how they felt when they first discovered they were pregnant, and/or how they felt after they delivered.

Her inspirations and influences went into and determined huge parts of the book just like the layout and setup of the novel, A Friend of the Family  Grodstein's novel gave her audience small bits of reveal throughout the story to hold the attention of her readers and keep them on the edge of their seats. The random spurts of truth is not something Grodstein invented; However, Edgar Allen Poe her very important influence played a huge role in her layout. Poe explained that a book or novel is more effective in shorter lengths with a constant flow of surprises just like Lauren Grodstein's A Friend of the Family.