Quotessence
Home / Authors / Diana Abu-Jaber
Diana Abu-Jaber

Diana Abu-Jaber Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllAvis MuirFelice MuirMiddle Eastern CuisineBakingCookingStanley MuirWritingIngredientsPastriesSirine And Han

Famous Diana Abu-Jaber Quotes

“The obsession with food filled my childhood - that's what happens when your parents are from a place or time where people really might starve. In America, my Jordanian father spent decades cooking professionally and pursuing his dream of a restaurant, and it was one of the central ways that he explained himself to his American children. Even though he's a passionate talker, he has a hell of a time with listening. His cooking gave him a way of having a conversation - which was a really interesting thing for a writer to look at.”

PeopleChildrenDreamFatherParentInterestingHellChildhoodListeningCookingPassionateObsessionReally Interesting
Author:Diana Abu-Jaber
Create image

“The question of identity has always been a murky issue in my own life and my writing bounces that right back. My father was adamant that my sisters and I were "Arab," and even though our house was in Syracuse, it was filled with the food, language, music, and overbearing relatives of Jordan. Unlike my gorgeous sisters, though, I inherited my mother's lighter complexion - it really is amazing what a difference a little bit of pigment can make on a person's experience!”

WritingFatherHouseLanguageIdentityMy SisterGorgeous
Author:Diana Abu-Jaber
Create image

“I heard friends and strangers saying, "You don't look Arab - what are you supposed to be?" It really is a tired old problem for children of immigrants and kids of mixed race, constantly trying to explain yourself. Eventually, you give up and say, "Okay, what do you think I am?" When you're in the midst of it, you come to understand that "race" is a loose social construct, a series of visual impressions, and that your identity can be whatever the hell crazy thing you want it to be, you just have to grow a sense of humor and cultivate selective deafness.”

ThinkingGivingTryingChildrenProblemKidsHellCrazyIdentityGiving UpOkayTiredStrangerImpressionSense Of Humor
Author:Diana Abu-Jaber
Create image

“The daily writing practice is something I used to hear batted around a lot in writing workshops - which is probably why I dropped out of all the writing workshops. I wish I could take credit for innovating a new approach to writing, but the truth is that I've managed to write books despite myself. I'm lazy and ungovernable and undisciplined, but I do have a lot of anxiety about never amounting to anything and ending up as a bag lady.”

WritingBookWishTruth IsAnxietyLazy
Author:Diana Abu-Jaber
Create image

“Here is something you have to understand about stories: They point you in the right direction but they can't take you all the way there. Stories are crescent moons; they glimmer in the night sky, but they are most exquisite in their incomplete state. Because people crave the beauty of not-knowing, the excitement of suggestion, and the sweet tragedy of mystery.”

PeopleWayStatesStoriesNightKnowingMysterySkySweetMoonTragedyExcitementNot KnowingSuggestionsCraveExquisiteIncompleteNight SkyRight DirectionCrescentCrescent Moon
Book:Crescent: A Novel
Create image