“Disaster is a natural part of my evolution toward tragedy and dissolution.”

“As young people we want something to slow us down and keep us trapped in one place long enough to look below the surface of the world. That disaster is a car crash or a war. To make us sit still. It can be getting cancer or getting pregnant. The important part is how it seems to catch us by surprise. That disaster stops us from living the life we'd planned as children - a life of constant dashing around.”

“The whole world is a disaster waiting to happen.”

“You have to jump into disaster with both feet.”

“The best fiction rises – yes, like a phoenix – out of the ashes of people’s sad, true disasters. We write in order to repeat the past.”

“Part of her doing suicide intervention is my caseworker has to mix me another gin and tonic.”

“Marla's philosophy of life, she told me, is that she can die at any moment. The tragedy of her life is that she doesn't.”