The Bali Blues

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TIME: Why did you write Andrew and Joey?
James: I had the idea for some time of an epistolary novel using e-mails. I could never have come to live in Asia without e-mail. Before e-mail, over the course of 30 years, my father probably wrote me two letters both with a short note scrawled saying something like "Dear Son, Here's the check." But now he is e-mail-obsessed. People really let their guard down in e-mail, more than in conversation.

TIME: But why set the story in Bali?
James: Bali has this long tradition of people who come to the island and buy into this idea that it is the center of the universe. Balinese are such tolerant and kind-hearted people that sometimes people think there are never any problems. People come to Bali and lose rational perspective.

TIME: Was Bali ever paradise?
James: Bali has changed less than journalists are saying. People forget that there were bad things happening before. It may not be a bombing, but a flood or a riot. We tend to romanticize when we look back on any place and time. People forget all the bad stuff and only remember the exotic.

TIME: Have you been back to Bali since Oct. 12?
James: Yes. The people of Bali are in total denial. When they find out I'm a travel writer, they say, "Tell them it's safe. Tell them we had nothing to do with the bomb." It will take a couple of years for Bali to come back—assuming the security situation improves. But it's never wise to look too far ahead.