Local Author Tackles Cyberbullying in Latest Book

Margie Gelbwasser may not have grown up interacting with her classmates in the digital space like today’s teens, but the 35-year-old author has no trouble imagining the disastrous consequences that bullying can have when perpetrated online, where words and pictures exist in perpetuity.

“When I was a teen, people spread rumors about people all the time. And what they said was hurtful and untrue, and this was just words—no internet then, no texting, no videos, etc.” said Gelbwasser, whose new novel deals with the issue of cyberbullying.

“I thought this book was important to write for all the teens out there who have gotten hurt by words that went viral, that reached heights words were not able to reach in the past,” she said. “I wanted people to see how one action can affect others.”

Out March 8, Gelbwasser’s second young adult novel, “Pieces of Us,” tells the story of four teens – two pairs of siblings – who escape their tormented realities each summer at their families’ lakeside bungalows. 

Up at the lake, the troubled teens can be anything and anyone -- until one's secret gets out and forces all four to face reality.

Unlike her debut novel, “Inconvenient,” which Gelbwasser said is more autobiographical, “Pieces of Us,” is not based directly on her own experience, and thus allowed her more literary license.

“A lot of it was what I had seen as opposed to myself,” she said. “I think there’s a freedom with that where you can write and be more creative.”

Not bound by the constraints of a pre-existing narrative, Gelbwasser said she was able to challenge herself by experimenting with different writing styles in her new novel. 

“The narrative is told through four points of view, one of them second person,” she explained. “It deals with four stories. What happens to one affects another.”

While her debut appealed more to girls and women, “Pieces of Us,” with its more mature subject matter and focus on both male and female characters, has the ability to appeal to a wider audience. 

“I think this one definitely could cross genders and also has a more crossover to adults potential, too,” Gelbwasser said. “Just because of the kinds of characters and the subject matter.”

The mature subject matter – which includes sexual abuse, physical abuse and dating violence – has elicited a mixed response from readers.

“Some people have felt that it was really good that I wrote about that and tapped into that scary part that teens do have to confront daily,” Gelbwasser said.  “While some people said, ‘Yes, this kind of stuff happens, but it shouldn’t be written about. Why paint such a bleak picture?’”

Gelbwasser said she finds the latter response troubling.

“By saying it shouldn’t be written about and the bleakness shouldn’t be shared, what does that say about the teen’s experience?” she said. “They just have to continue living in silence and no one can expose that part of a teen’s life? I see that as a huge problem.”

Growing up, Gelbwasser said she preferred to read realistic young adult fiction, and her own writing reflects that.

“The authors I liked were Norma Klein and Norma Fox Mazer,” said Gelbwasser, who’s wanted to be a writer since she was in second grade. “I said when I become a writer, I’m going to write like the Normas.”

Although she briefly dabbled with writing for a more “sophisticated” adult audience, Gelbwasser said writing from a teen’s perspective is something that’s always come naturally to her.

“When you look back to high school, some emotion is still so raw and it’s just so easy tap into,” explained Gelbwasser, who said she feels many of the emotions associated with adolescence are really universal lifelong emotions. “Feelings of isolation and loneliness, being neglected by peers or family, I feel are things people can relate to at one point or another.”

While she said she realizes her books aren't for everyone, Gelbwasser hopes “Pieces of Us,” will strike a chord with some teens and allow them to grasp just how damaging and wide-ranging the ramifications of cyberbullying can be.

"I feel it's so much worse for kids these days," she said. "There's really no place for them to escape and there's less of a safe place to be."

If you're interested in meeting Gelbwasser or picking up a copy of "Pieces of Us," she'll be promoting her new release at on March 22.

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About the author:

A native of Belarus who moved to the United States when she was 3, Gelbwasser grew up in Fair Lawn and graduated from Fair Lawn High School. She studied English at the College of New Jersey (then Trenton State College) and completed a Master's in English with a concentration in writing from William Paterson University in 2003.

After living for a time in Scotch Plains and Morristown, Gelbwasser returned to Fair Lawn with her husband in 2005. The couple have a four-year-old son.

Gelbwasser got her big break a few years ago when she received a two-book deal from Flux on the strength of her debut novel, "Inconvenient," about a Russian-Jewish girl with an alcoholic mother. The book is set in the fictional town of Glenfair, N.J. -- described in the book as "New Jersey's Little Moscow." In 2010, when Gelbwasser was promoting her first novel, she .

"Inconvenient" was named a 2011 Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens.

In addition to teaching English at Berkeley College and promoting her new book "Pieces of Us," Gelbwasser is also working on a third novel about a young man caught in an abusive relationship with his girlfriend.