George Saunders

If you are beating the shit out of another human being and I say to you, Ezra, I'm here and I love you.

that's bullshit.

That's false.

So, so you, I think in her situation, she says, I'm here and I love you and I don't care what you did.

Okay.

Now from his point of view, I'd say KJ Boone does, he knows what he did and he cares.

And as the book goes on, he's increasingly tormented by this denial.

So I think in there, certainly saying, I love you.

I'm here is a hundred percent beautiful in the right condition, but it also, her, her problem is I think she's got a bit of denial built into herself too.

Um,

So, you know, for example, the end condition, let's say that he was a murdering rapist and she came down to his bed and said, I'm here.

You know, that somehow doesn't seem sufficient.

Although by her definition, it is.

So this is where the book really exploded into being interesting to me because I don't really know the answer to these things.

Right, right.

And I think she would say in her peak elevation, she'd say, yeah, yeah.

But we feel, I mean, I think in the book, readers have talked to me about in the middle section, like, God, Jill, you're pissing me off, you know.

That's a result of the fact that she isn't really giving comfort.

She's doing what in Buddhism we call idiot compassion, right?

You know, or like somebody drives a spike through your head and you say, thanks for the coat rack, that thing.