'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.

In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it.

The fact is that the same sequence of days can arrange themselves into a number of different stories.

A novelist has two lives-- a reading and writing life, and a lived life. he or she cannot be understood at all apart from this.

When I came home for the summer after my first year of college, I told my mother that my best friend and I were driving to California. She laughed out loud - 2,000 miles in a what? Well, my best friend had an old Chevy. What could go wrong?

Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question, and yet they all seem to. And they all seem to think human nature is basically good, or they wouldn't be surprised by the effects of deregulation.

The essence of charity ... was not deciding what others needed and giving it to them, but giving them what they wanted.