"It's easy when you grow up in fear to act out of fear. I don't want to embrace that fear; I prefer to be kind."
"I can't have composite characters. I can't attribute dialogue to someone based simply on my memory and not based on notes taken at the time that the words were spoken."
Source: Source: www.guernicamag.com
About the author
Akhil Sharma
Author
Akhil Sharma is an Indian-American author known for his poignant exploration of identity and belonging in works like 'Family Life.'
All quotes by Akhil Sharma →Same author
More quotes by Akhil Sharma
"For me, a memoir is nonfiction and nonfiction has to be absolutely true."
"When someone gets a success, and we, too, have done good work and sometimes even better work than the person who has just triumphed, we wonder: Why did success pass me by?"
"The little babies are missing their families from their past lives. The babies have old souls and the old souls have to shrink to become little babies. The tears loosen their memories so they can slide away. They cry at the life they have lost, and then they cry at everything they'll forget."
"People often need to describe things quickly and so they use a shorthand. The problem is that after they use a label, they begin to think only in terms of the label instead of the totality of the experience a novel provides."
"The monsoon is such a dominant part of Indian life that it is hard to overstate its importance. One's life completely changes based on the rain. After the monsoon, because the dust settles, one can see further and so it feels like one's eyesight has improved or that one is living in a different country where there is more light."