Artists are not cheerleaders, and we're not the heads of tourism boards. We expose and discuss what is problematic, what is contradictory, what is hurtful and what is silenced in the culture we're in.
Junot DiazRead
It's extraordinary how many people read a book that's new and weird and befriend it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
People are often drawn to unique and unfamiliar books, forming a connection with them.
In this quote, Junot Diaz highlights the remarkable tendency of individuals to engage with literature that challenges their norms and expectations. Often, these 'new and weird' books offer fresh perspectives and foster relationships with their readers, allowing them to explore new ideas and emotions that may not be present in more familiar narratives.
Themes
BooksReadingLiteratureConnectionFriendship
In practice
Example use cases
In a book club discussion about unconventional novels, one might use this quote to emphasize the joy of discovering unique stories.
More from Junot Diaz
All quotes →Run a hand through your hair, like the white boys do, even though the only thing that runs easily through your hair is Africa.
Junot DiazRead
I can see myself watching him shave every morning. And at other time I see us in that house and see how one bright day (or a day like this, so cold your mind shifts every time the wind does) he will wake up and decide it's all wrong. I'm sorry, he'll say. I have to leave now.
Junot DiazRead
Migration gives a blank cheque to put anything you don't feel like addressing in the memory hold. No neighbours can go against the monster narrative of your family.
Junot DiazRead
We all dream dreams of unity, of purity; we all dream that there's an authoritative voice out there that will explain things, including ourselves.
Junot DiazRead
I think 90% of my ideas evaporate because I have a terrible memory and because I seem to be committed to not scribble anything down. As soon as I write it down, my mind rejects it.
Junot DiazRead
Similar quotes
If you wrote a novel in South Africa which didn't concern the central issues, it wouldn't be worth publishing.
Alan PatonRead
Books--oh! no. I am sure we never read the same, or not with the same feelings." "I am sorry you think so; but if that be the case, there can at least be no want of subject. We may compare our different opinions.
Jane AustenRead
Short fiction and the novel, nonfiction and fiction, electronic texts and books - these are not opposites. One need not destroy the other to survive.
Celeste NgRead
People in my novels always have terrible problems. If they are not terrible, I make them more terrible.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Every good book should be entertaining. A good book will be more; it must not be less. Entertainment…is like a qualifying examination. If a fiction can’t provide that, we may be excused from inquiring into its higher qualities.
C. S. LewisRead
Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.
Mickey SpillaneRead