The 'good' mother, with her fixed smile, her rigidity, her goody-goody outlook, her obsession with unnecessary hygiene, is in fact a fool. It is the 'bad' mother, unafraid of a joke and a glass of wine, richly self-expressive, scornful of suburban values, who is, in reality, good.

I remain fascinated by where you go as a woman once you are a mother, and if you ever come back.

Divorce also entails the beginning of a supposition that that familial reality might have obstructed one's ability to perceive others.

We who were born were not witnesses to our birth: like death, it is something we are forever after trying to catch sight of.

It is interesting how keen people are for you to do something they would never dream of doing themselves, how enthusiasticall y they drive you to your own destruction.

I suppose, I said, it is one definition of love, the belief in something that only the two of you can see.

There is always shame in the creation of an expressive work, whether it's a book or a clay pot. Every artist worries about how they will be seen by others through their work. When you create, you aspire to do justice to yourself, to remake yourself, and there is always the fear that you will expose the very thing that you hoped to transform.