Jean Thompson says in her new novel "The Humanity Project" that the human race is not doing too well and could definitely do with some help.

Jean Thompson has released her new novel that has been titled "The Humanity Project". It tells the tale of two people who have their own stories intertwined into one novel revolving around the theme that humanity is suffering as a race and could certainly do with some help. The author talks to NPR about her book.

On the novel's two young protagonists

"[Linnea] goes from being ... mildly disaffected, to ragingly dysfunctional. ... The events of the [school shooting that Linnea survived] is something that hangs over the book as a kind of question - 'What really has happened there? - because she herself is not very forthcoming about it. ... Conner is a ... couple years older than Linnea ... living with his father. Conner is, because of his father's difficulties, which are medical and economic, is really forced to get off the path he was on. ... He has to start working. He eventually supports them through petty thievery. You have two younger characters who life has been blown off of course by events that are not of their making."

On the theme of economic unhinging

"Economic dislocation is certainly one of the things that I wanted to address in the book. I mean, that sounds really dry, but, the idea of the world that is just kind of beyond our control or understanding in these various ways - the economics that have been so hard on so many people. It's hard to wake up some mornings and look on the sunny side."

On Mrs. Foster, the wealthy widow, and her "Humanity Project"

"It is her vaguely conceived notion on how to "do good" with her considerable resources, and she is motivated, in part, I think, by doing something nice to spite her deceased husband, who was kind of a professional grump. So, her idea is to set up a foundation to benefit humanity. Into this very large speculative idea come the characters who have to figure out what she means and how to carry it out."

Raymond Carver's influence

"When I was a younger person writing, everything in fiction was about fashionable experimentation, and there was a lot of vogue for, oh, turning narrative upside-down and on its head and shredding it and reassembling it. Then, at some point, there was this kind of explosion that came from the writing of Raymond Carver: 'Oh, look, ordinary people speaking in ordinary ways. What a concept!' "