The enslavement, humiliation, torture, and ultimate destruction of thousands upon thousands of human beings for a project for which there was ultimately no purpose is a horror that's very hard to imagine, far less understand.

I think sometimes writers must attempt to communicate the incommunicable, because, whether they wish it or not, they're the ones to whom it falls.

I do not share the pessimism of the age about the novel. They are one of our greatest spiritual, aesthetic and intellectual inventions. As a species it is story that distinguishes us, and one of the supreme expressions of story is the novel. Novels are not content. Nor are they are a mirror to life or an explanation of life or a guide to life. Novels are life, or they are nothing.

Writing is not lying, nor is it theft. It is a journey and search for transparency between one’s words and one’s soul.

The monsters demand less of you as a writer because they're probably closer to who you are.

Literary prizes serve a purpose if they allow for discussion of books.

A good book ... leaves you wanting to reread the book. A great book compels you to reread your own soul.