Tom Perrotta

"I read 'The Great Gatsby' in high school and was hypnotized by the beauty of the sentences and moved by the story about the irrevocability of lost love."

"I have actual dreams of Bruce Springsteen calling me up on stage to wear a bandanna and play rhythm guitar next to Little Steven."

"I've been a little bit obsessed with religion, without being a religious person, for about a decade."

"I think I'm fascinated by the power of religion in our culture. Like a lot of secular, liberal people, I ignored it for a long time. Lately, of course, just from a political perspective, it's impossible to ignore."

"I don't really distinguish between sympathy and honesty when I'm writing. The two go together - I'm interested in inhabiting my characters, seeing the world through their eyes."

"When I was writing 'The Abstinence Teacher,' I really tried to immerse myself in contemporary American evangelical culture."