All my life, I'd been around men. That night, I discovered the tenderness of a woman.

I see America has infused you with the optimism that has made her so great

it always hurts more to have and lose than to not have in the first place.

and every day I thank [God] that I am alive, not because I fear death, but because my wife has a husband and my son is not an orphan.

I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in a turmoil of uncertainty

For a novelist, it’s kind of an onerous burden to represent an entire culture. That said, I’m in a unique position to speak on behalf of Afghanistan on certain issues that I feel are important, particularly the issue of Afghan refugees.

That's how children deal with terror, they fall asleep.