She had awakened something in him that had slumbered far too long. Not only did he feel passion, he felt the return of hope.

My mother thought of my father as half barbarian and half blunt instrument, and she isolated him from his children.

But no one walks out of his family without reprisals: a family is too disciplined an army to offer compassion to its deserters.

I was born to be a point guard, but not a very good one.

One of the greatest gifts you can get as a writer is to be born into an unhappy family.

But even her demons she invested with inordinate beauty, consecrated them with the dignity of her attention.

College was to teach me that I was one of life's journeymen, eager to excel but lacking the requisite gifts.