“I don't think of myself as a gearhead or a motorcyclist. I'm not that ...” — Rachel Kushner Quote

“I don't think of myself as a gearhead or a motorcyclist. I'm not that young, and this is like another life of mine. But the people I know from that era think of me that way.”

“The great thing about writing is that it has to work without that invisible layer of the reader's added knowledge.”

“When one is the type of writer who cares about the meaning of the historically specific setting, the history itself is not something that I would call backdrop. It's not window dressing for a timeless relationship about love and betrayal. For me, the setting and the specific history are active co-agents with me in trying to form the novel.”

“I love working with older actors because number one, I can learn so much from them because they have so much experience. And it's fun to hear their stories from their era, some of the jokes.”

“The real mariachis in Mexico are singers like Agustin Lara and Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete - the Golden Era of Mexican Filmmaking. Mariachis sing very soft and very beautiful. That's old-school mariachi. They are caressing the songs.”

“The gospel funk soul era, that's what I'm obsessed with - pretty much all the '70s through early '80s.”