Susan Choi Quotes & Sayings

“I think 'Gatsby' is hobbled, in part, by its status as a Great American Novel. People kind of roll their eyes before they've even opened it, treat it with a 'been there, done that' attitude. I know I did. It took me years to re-open the novel and see how much I'd missed.”

“I've at times in my past been so unhappy, and thought, like, 'I would give anything for this not to be happening.' And, you know, as people say, time passes, and then you think, 'I'm kind of glad that happened to me.'”

“Innocence as we understand it in our culture is very theatrical. The flip side is, if you're charming enough, you can get away with anything.”

“The complexity of the world is so overwhelming and so present to everyone.”

“I always try to avoid looking at the section where my books would be shelved, but I do know that my most reliable neighbor to the right is Kate Chopin's 'The Awakening', which is dispiriting. That's a book I don't want to re-read.”

“All sorts of creative communities are withering in New York because it's too hard to live here. It's ridiculous how expensive it is.”

“Graduate school is a really supportive environment, but in a way, it was only when that support vanished that I flourished.”

“I start with characters, and then I start writing, and then, if I'm lucky, things start to happen.”

“I stopped writing short fiction early on - I was never really good at it, and I never liked the results. So I stopped trying to fit the material I was working with into these tidy little short fiction packages.”

“I was the daughter of an immigrant, raised to feel that I needed to get excellent, flawless grades and a full scholarship and a graduate degree and a good job - all the stepping stones to conventional success.”