Díaz Interview

The amazing Dave Weich interviews Junot Díaz about his new novel, The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Toward the end of their chat, Dave asks Díaz what he would consider his greatest weakness as a writer. Díaz replies that “he doesn’t write enough,” but then later seems to remember something:

Díaz: – Oh, I suck at dialogue.

Dave: You suck at dialogue?

Díaz: Definitely. If I were better at dialogue, I’d probably be walking around with a fur coat.

This sounded so strange to me–I think Díaz is actually brilliant at dialogue and have used an exchange from “Fiesta, 1980” in a class on language. Funny how writers’ perceptions of their work can vary so greatly from those of their readers.