"I come from a very poor family, with sisters. I never really knew my father, so I miss this strong image of a man in my life."

Previous Quote

Obviously loss of family is huge and critical, but I think really it's more about losing a sense of family. The horror of that kind of incompleteness. Writing this book, I tried not to think about my father, which does no one any good fictionally. I did try to imagine not just the horror of that moment, but the horror of having witnessed it, and the lifelong void. And I think that's what's so frightening.

— Chang-Rae Lee