If anything, he seemed a little lonely, all too ready to open his heart at the slightest sign of interst.

It's like the human race has been programmed for misery.

Maybe that's what we look for in the people we love, the spark of unhappiness we think we know how to extinguish.

They both seemed to understand that describing it was beyond their powers, the gratitude that spreads through your body when a burden gets lifted, and the sense of homecoming that follows, when you suddenly remember what it feels like to be yourself.

My novels are certainly more exciting than my own life.

I read 'The Great Gatsby' in high school and was hypnotized by the beauty of the sentences and moved by the story about the irrevocability of lost love.

I'm not sure that it's possible to write a novel about people who don't transgress or stumble, people who don't surprise themselves with the things they do, people who can explain all their actions with perfect logical consistency. At least it's not possible for me to write that sort of novel.