Novelist

I never thought what I wrote was good enough to be published. I thought of myself as completely detached from that constellation of real writers. It was completely for myself.

I never thought what I wrote was good enough to be published. I thought of myself as completely detached from that constellation of real writers. It was completely for myself.

Hidup adalah sebuah kereta, naiklah.

To me, families are puzzles that take a lifetime to work out - or not, as often is the case - and I like to explore how people within them try to connect, be it through love, duty, or circumstance.

For me as a writer, the story has always taken precedence over everything else. I have never sat down to write with broad, sweeping ideas in mind, and certainly never with a specific agenda.

My wife is my in-home editor and reads everything I write.

I hate resting. I feel restless. My preference is to be working.

You write because you have an idea in your mind that feels so genuine, so important, so true. And yet, by the time this idea passes through the different filters of your mind, and into your hand, and onto the page or computer screen - it becomes distorted, and it's been diminished.

I have this almost pathological fear of boring the reader.

I give novels as gifts, and there is nothing I like to receive more as a gift.

It's a very nice kind of quasi-fame being a writer, because you remain largely anonymous and you can have a private life, which I really cherish. I don't like to be in the public light all that much. I don't crave the whole fame thing at all.

The only two places where I can read for long stretches are in airplanes and in bed at nighttime.

My books are love stories at core, really. But I am interested in manifestations of love beyond the traditional romantic notion. In fact, I seem not particularly inclined to write romantic love as a narrative motive or as an easy source of happiness for my characters.

Saya menduga kebenaran adalah apa yang sedang kita tunggu, kita semua, menghadapi rintangan yang tidak dapat diatasi, untuk sesuatu yang luar biasa yang telah terjadi pada kita.

Suatu masyarakat tidak memiliki peluang untuk berhasil jika para wanitanya tidak berpendidikan.

Selalu lebih menyakitkan memiliki dan kehilangan daripada tidak memiliki di tempat pertama.

My books never go where I think they're going.

I'm fascinated by the way early experiences haunt and revisit you, remain present in your life for decades and decades - they can even shape who you ultimately become.

Qualities you need to get through medical school and residency: Discipline. Patience. Perseverance. A willingness to forgo sleep. A penchant for sadomasochism. Ability to weather crises of faith and self-confidence. Accept exhaustion as fact of life. Addiction to caffeine a definite plus. Unfailing optimism that the end is in sight.

In my 20s, life seemed endless. At 49, I've had a chance to see how dark life can be, and I am far more aware of the constraints of time than when I wrote 'The Kite Runner.' I realise there is only a limited number of things I can do.