Rakesh Satyal

"Grafting solitude onto a character who would live it on the page seemed to provide me with a sense of catharsis."

"In all my work, the things I’m invested in are empathy and compassion and trying to put human experiences on the page that I haven’t read before."

"I think levity and humor can be used to tackle larger themes that are darker. Loneliness can be damaging, but when you’re feeling lonely, you do some of your most productive thinking. I wanted to show the idea of loneliness in that light – that humor works in tandem with the joy to be found in self-examination."

"One thing that I came to learn about myself as a writer in working on this book is that my writing is often about who is happening moreso than what is happening. That is, I love creating characters who feel very true-to-life but who are almost so specific as to be mysteries to themselves as they are to other people."