Tama Janowitz

Why would I want to read something about somebody that's just a really nice, decent person who overcomes terrible trials? That's not…

— Tama Janowitz

“I don't like him...he makes me feel like he's going to throw me in a coffin and walk around on top of…

— Tama Janowitz

The older a woman gets, the more invisible you become.

— Tama Janowitz

Brownstein's is a fresh and jaunty voice, with a jazz snap all his own.

— Tama Janowitz

I felt my whole life was a facsimile of a life.

— Tama Janowitz

I was like a social worker for lepers. My clients had a chunk of their body they wanted to give away; for…

— Tama Janowitz

If you want to write about a person who isn't nice, people say, "This is a bad book. It's about somebody I…

— Tama Janowitz

I think in a lot of ways, writing, when you're really in there, is like being an actress because you're in somebody…

— Tama Janowitz

I think it's true about people now being closer to their parents, since the '60s, really. The parents are no longer from…

— Tama Janowitz

I'm writing what I want to write. But it's almost an act of rebellion on my part. Because as a person, I've…

— Tama Janowitz

Long after the bomb falls and you and your good deeds are gone, cockroaches will still be here, prowling the streets like…

— Tama Janowitz

“I had a hunger for things I knew realistically I didn't actually care for.”

— Tama Janowitz

Whether I'm critically well received, whether or not I sell books - of course it becomes progressively harder to get them published…

— Tama Janowitz

Most of my life is just spent lying in bed. I mean, it's enough pressure to write the words. Do I need…

— Tama Janowitz

I think it's more difficult writing what it's like to be a child. You can pretend you know what it's like, but…

— Tama Janowitz

I think powerful women don't care whether or not they're liked.

— Tama Janowitz

“...and it made me uncomfortable the way this guy was eating a scrawny chicken wing and looking at me. You know, I…

— Tama Janowitz

Fame is really great in a lot of ways, you know? People are a lot nicer to you. Like, the more famous…

— Tama Janowitz

In my writing I wanted to be liked for writing really unlikeable stuff. There were books that people, particularly women, hated so…

— Tama Janowitz

If you want to be a writer, all you need is a piece of paper and a pencil, and I had a…

— Tama Janowitz

Every book I write, the media just keeps punching me in the face.

— Tama Janowitz

“It was strange how most of the time we got along so well, but then there were these periods when it was…

— Tama Janowitz

I don't want my novel to be like Madame Bovary, finely crafted with the life edited out of it. I want my…

— Tama Janowitz

With publicity comes humiliation.

— Tama Janowitz

Crimes, sins, nightmares, hunks of hair: it was surprising how many of them has something to dispose of. The more I charged,…

— Tama Janowitz