The Literary Mirror

You've said in earlier interviews that you distrust plot. What do you mean by that?

I mean I distrust the idea that a family's story has a shape. Most families I know don't resolve; they just keep going until someone stops being around to keep the argument alive. I try to write toward that instead of toward an ending.

The almirah is the one plotted object in an otherwise unplotted novel. Why let it carry that weight?

Because a house needs one thing that holds a secret honestly, and everything else can be allowed to just sit there. If every object in the novel was symbolic, the book would be exhausting. One almirah is enough work for one novel.

What's the hardest scene in the book to write?

The last chapter, obviously — opening it. I wrote four different versions of what was inside and threw out three of them for being too neat. The one that stayed is the one that disappointed me least, which is not the same as satisfying me.