I think ex-Soviet or Russian-Jewish women are tougher and that comes through. And if they are more pragmatic than the men, it's because they are obliged to be. They have all the female responsibilities and all the male responsibilities.

Language is a personality as well. People are different when they speak different languages.

When you write a book, you want to have fidelity to the character. Characters and their emotions guide the structure of the novel. The author is aware that there's a certain amount of information she/he has to provide in order to satisfy the reader, knowing that she/he has set something up that must be paid off, but this payment must be made while maintaining fidelity to the characters.

We are taught that we can be better than we are. But is there a limit to how good we can be?

When you write a book, you want to have fidelity to the character. Characters and their emotions guide the structure of the novel.

There are different types of readers. People draw lines at which three things intersect: the character, the author, and the reader.

In my experience of women, women have a greater capacity. Maybe women, even very pragmatic ones, are less guarded about showing emotions.