Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.

I don't know - is everything the U.S. does a shocking embarrassment?

If to live is to progress, if you are lucky, from foolishness to wisdom, then to write novels is to broadcast the various stages of your foolishness.

'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be.

Love is a general emotion. Marriage is exactingly specific.

Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses