Technically, I split my time between N.Y.C. and Boston. Junot Diaz More Quotes by Junot Diaz More Quotes From Junot Diaz I was neither black enough for the black kids or Dominican enough for the Dominican kids. I didn't have a safe category. Junot Diaz blacksafekids I think one of the paradoxes of writing fiction is when people enjoy it, they want it to be real. So they look for connections. Junot Diaz realwritingthinking I sleep way too much and I read tremendously. Junot Diaz too-muchsleepway I seem to have to make my characters family before I can access their hearts in any way that matters. Junot Diaz matterheartcharacter I seem to enjoy telling stories with a central absence, with a lacuna tunnelled into them. Junot Diaz enjoyabsencestories I love “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” That was like the only black book we read in high school... Junot Diaz blackbookschool I grew up in the shadow of the Trujillato, saw how the regime had ravaged so many families. Junot Diaz sawsshadowgrew-up I don't think you can be from the Caribbean and not know a certain amount about the apocalypse. Junot Diaz apocalypsecertainthinking Love is understood, in a historical way, as one of the great human vocations - but its counterspell has always been infidelity. This terrible, terrible betrayal that can tear apart not only another person, not only oneself, but whole families. Junot Diaz betrayalhistoricallove-is Like most lit nerds, I'm a voracious reader. I never got enough poetry under my belt growing up but I do read it - some of my favorites, Gina Franco and Angela Shaw and Cornelius Eady and Kevin Young, remind me daily that unless the words sing and dance, what's the use of putting them down on paper. Junot Diaz nerdgrowing-upuse There is a lot of scepticism today as to whether memoir is real. But when fiction is done at a certain level there is scepticism as to whether it is really fiction. Junot Diaz donerealfiction My thing is, I'm just way too harsh. It's an enormous impediment, and that's just the truth of it. It doesn't make me any better, make me any worse, it certainly isn't more valorous. I have a character defect, man. Junot Diaz charactermenway One of the many characteristics of the new is that, at first, it's very hard to recognize it for what it is. We're lucky if we recognize something as being new when it first appears. Usually I think we don't have that privilege. It's usually after the fact that we suddenly turn around and say, 'Wow, this thing is amazing.' Junot Diaz wowluckythinking Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family. Junot Diaz monstersgivingmemories My thing is every generation of Americans has to answer what we call the 'Superman Question.' Superman comes, lands in America. He's illegal. He's one of these kids. He's wrapped up in a red bullfighter's cape. And you've got to decide what we're gonna do with Superman. Junot Diaz landkidsamerica I'm one of those apocalyptics. From the start of my immigrant days, I've been fascinated by end-of-the-world stories, by outbreak narratives, and always wanted to set a world-ender on Hispaniola. Junot Diaz narrativestoriesworld My novel, which I had started with such hope shortly after publishing my first book of stories, wouldn't budge past the 75-page mark. Nothing I wrote past page 75 made any kind of sense. Nothing. Which would have been fine if the first 75 pages hadn't been pretty damn cool. Junot Diaz storiesbookpast My mother took care of us until my father scrammed, and then she ended up working in the small-factory sector of New Jersey with a lot of other immigrants. Junot Diaz caremotherfather In minority communities there's a sensitivity, often a knee-jerk reaction, to critical representations. There's a misunderstanding of what an artist does. Junot Diaz communityartistdoe In the end, all worlds, whether they're set in the future or in New Jersey of today, are fictions. Sure, you don't got to do too much work to build a mundane world, but don't get it twisted: you still got to do some work. Junot Diaz todayfictionworld
