Katrina was one of those things that rips the clothes off of the guy who keeps saying he's a saint, and underneath you see that he's a monster.

If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level any reflection of themselves

A person doesn't mourn forever.

I was surrounded by a lot of male writers of color who have this incredibly bizarre relationship to masculinity. It's like we were all mega-nerds but you would never know that if you listened to the way they talk about themselves.

People can say what they want, but historically, feminism in the Dominican Republic has been extremely strong.

You don't want to let go, but don't want to be hurt, either. It's not a great place to be but what can I tell you?

The thing is - do we really need another writer who writes a book every eighteen months, whether the quality is wonderful or not? I mean, maybe. But I can name twenty off the top of my head who do it. Maybe what we need is a writer like me who goes very slow, as well.