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" I think cultures of conformity produce vast quantities of shame, both in people who simply can't conform and people who do conform, but underneath, they're not feeling conformist. "

Jonathan Franzen

Think

Conformity

People

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" But as far as being popular, yeah, I think Dave Barry is really funny. "

" 's one of the perversities of the age: I'm embarrassed by its success, but I'm happy it's selling. "

" I hate the word 'partner' so much. "

" I was a late child from my parents, so I grew up surrounded by people a lot older than me. I think even when I was 21, I felt like I was a 70-year-old man. "

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" The technology I like is the American paperback edition of 'Freedom.' I can spill water on it, and it would still work! So it's pretty good technology. "

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" And Silence of the Lambs is a really smart book. "

" I'm not a sexist. "

Jonathan Franzen

Sexist

" I really enjoy doing both, but I didn't write nonfiction until 1994. "

" It seems to me self-evident that if you have a life, things happen in it, and certain things do change; certain things end. People you know die. "

Jonathan Franzen

People

Life

" I was about 13, in some ways, when I wrote the first book. Approximately 18 when I wrote the second. "

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" We may freak out globally, but we suffer locally. "

" To read is to have experiences; every book changes my life at least a little bit. The first time I can remember this happening was when I was 10, with a biography of Thomas Edison. "

" I don't even read positive reviews unless they are absolutely certified by eight different people to not contain one thing that could upset me. "

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" It's not surprising to see in my own work, looking back, and in the work of some of my peers, an attention to family. It's nice to write a book that does tend toward significance and meaning, and where else are you sure of finding it? "

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" It's very liberating for me to realize that I don't have to step up to the plate with a plot that involves the U.N. Security Council. "

Jonathan Franzen

Plot

Step

" I hate that word dysfunction. "