“It was hard not to realize what kind of kid his parents wished they'd had, and when he thought about that kind… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
I'm attracted to how fraught the parent-child relationship is, swerving so easily between love and hostility, with almost no plausible way to… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“I needed my daughter to disappear from my sight. If I could have had a wish, I would have wished her away.” — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“The other kids formed a roving pack, moving like one of those clusters of birds that seem to share a single, frantic… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“We shared a daughter? I'd not thought about it that way before. If we shared a daughter, and something happened to Claire,… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
Fiction becomes a place where I face certain fears such as losing language or losing my children. — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
To refrain from storytelling is perhaps one of the highest forms of respect we can pay. Those people, with no stories to circle them,… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“..., and he told a story once after intercourse, to the person who had just politely hoisted him while he hyperventilated in their space… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“Terms BEN MARCUS, THE 1. False map, scroll, caul, or parchment. It is comprised of the first skin. In ancient times, it hung from… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“Loud people have thin, hollow bones. They can be broken in half and discarded into a pit. They snap as easily as children do,… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
I like big doses of grief when I read: Richard Yates, Flannery O'Connor, Kenzabaro Oe, Thomas Bernhard. — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“This first. To understand this. Then maybe." Julian was impressed. The doctor had devised a pretty good tombstone. This first. To understand this. Then… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“Who is setting the bar for what you call accessibility? The definition of “accessible” is “easy to understand,” and so much of the fiction… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“People are considered as areas that resist light, mistakes in the air, collision sweet spots.” — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“The true elitists in the literary world are the ones who have become annoyed by literary ambition in any form, who have converted the… — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
“Together we were something less, which felt like such a relief, to not be ourselves for a while.” — Ben Marcus Copy Share Image
