"Even at its most perceptive, sociology deals in abstractions." — Richard Russo

When I look back over my novels what I find is that when I think I'm finished with a theme, I'm generally not. And usually themes will recur from novel to novel in odd, new guises.

Some authors have a very hard time understanding that in order to be faithful to the spirit of the book, it's almost always impossible to remain faithful to the text. You have to make changes.

A short story is something that I think can be intuited and envisioned and held in your mind almost at once.

If there's an enduring theme in my work, it's probably the effects of class on American life.

I think a lot of what is going on with kids who get pushed too far and attempt either murder or suicide is that they are trying to deal with their own non-existence for the people who are supposed to care most for them.

Movies have to handle time very efficiently. They're about stringing scenes together in the present. Novels aren't necessarily about that.

When authors who write literary fiction begin to write screenplays, everybody assumes that's the end. Here's another who's never going to write well again.

I've never written nearly as much about place as people seem to think I do. I just write about class.

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Even at its most perceptive, sociology deals in abstractions.