Susan Choi

If you're interested in this father figure, I refer you to my oeuvre, especially books one and three.

But with this book, I think...

That tendency to be hyper protective to the point of almost insanity is something that I remember really clearly.

And my mother would have her stories to tell.

I mean, you know, my father would just freak out if, I think I wasn't allowed to play with glitter, maybe until like the age of six or seven, because my father was convinced I would eat it as if I was some kind of idiot.

And then, you know, that it would prove toxic, which I think glitter is not really that.

It's not, obviously you shouldn't make it part of your regular diet, but I think it's not gonna kill you.

But he was like that, he was really fearful.

And I don't know where it came from.

And my mother, I think, was quite mystified by it too.

And it was touching, you know.

And even to adulthood, you know, he would call me and he would want to know about my life.

And if I mentioned anything involving a car trip, he would always say, oh, honey, drive carefully.

He was always so worried.

Yeah, I think it was very hard.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, I think with Louisa, because the circumstances of the book, again, are much more, you know, complicated and glamorous than the circumstances of my life, speaking of her,

I thought that as a kid, she would have an instinct that her parents were both secretive, but of course she's not gonna know what the secrets are.

But I felt like kids can feel that.

I really think they can sense that.