"I admire writers who succeed at what I consider the first demand of art: that the artist vivisect himself without pity, without hesitation, determined to reveal whatever he might find."
"Monette grew up gay and closeted, and his courageous and honest struggle to embrace himself for what he is applies to every human being who has ever tried to live a life of secrecy or amputate a portion of their soul."
"Her (Duras') detached, almost documentary account of the illicit affair she had as an underage French girl with an older Chinese man is often called an “autobiographical novel.” As it’s written, the strangeness of her story has less to do with its exotic setting—Indochina in the thirties—than with an erotic fixation so profound it destroys the lovers’ autonomy."
"A lot of writers dwell on their relationships with their mothers, but only a few are worth reading. Gornick is one of them. The attachments she describes are funny, volatile, crazy-making, and … unkillable."
