We are now part of this giant machine where every second we have to take out a device and contribute our thoughts and opinions.

A writer or any suffering artist-to-be is just an instrument too finely set to the human condition [...]

In a strange way, I expected Russia to become more like America since the Soviet Union collapsed, but the reverse is true. America has become more like Russia: a kleptocratic society.

You are not what you want. You are what wants you back.

I write five, six days a week. The thing is capturing the voice. I feel like I've been perfecting one voice - in different iterations, sure, but the Russian-ness has always been the undercurrent.

In contravention of my belief that any life ending in death is essentially pointless, I needed my friends to open up that plastic bag and take one last look at me. Someone had to remember me, if only for a few more minutes in the vast silent waiting room of time.

If you stop thinking, if you stop wondering, you die.