Ocean Vuong

Or, you know, it's all war fit or creating poverty porn to build sympathy.

I say, no, this is just American life.

And in fact, we want the story of escape.

Our history books are filled with stories of escape, of revolutions, of people who overthrew things.

But history itself...

It's predominantly people who are stuck.

Stuck in marriages they never wanted to be in.

Stuck in wars they did not choose to fight in.

Stuck in coal mines they never thought they'd be in.

And some of them stuck in lives they never chose.

None of us are chosen to be born.

But we stay.

We stay around because we realize there's love here.

That's what I'm interested in.

None of us chose to be here.

None of my characters chose to be here.

But they stay because they discover love.

And it doesn't make poverty better.

It doesn't make it even tolerable.

But it gives your life a kind of significance when you realize that if nothing else, if nothing else, nothing improves, which for the most part in this book, spoiler alert, nothing much does, you are still capable of giving and receiving love.