I do wish I could write like some of the American women, who can be clever and heartfelt and hopeful; people like Lorrie Moore and Jennifer Egan. But Ireland messed me up too much, I think, so I can't.

Only bad writers think that their work is really good.

If you can just actually let the character be for a bit, then you get the right sense.

I do not think we remember our family in any real sense. We live in them instead

I love the characters not knowing everything and the reader knowing more than them. There's more mischief in that and more room for seriousness, too.

I do wish I could write like some of the American women, who can be clever and heartfelt and hopeful; people like Lorrie Moore and Jennifer Egan. But Ireland messed me up too much, I think, so I can't.

There's quite a big gap when it comes to that dual identity of mother and child, or even a pregnant woman, or a nursing woman. It kind of begs the question of that very strong Western idea of the individual self.