“Size matters in fiction, but so does lack of size. Everything else being equal, fat novels tend to be perceived as serious, very thin ones as more honest, more real. Writers address these age-old expectations by filling their big books with philosophy and cramming their little ones with feeling.”

American novelist, literary critic, and essayist

Walter Kirn is an American novelist, literary critic, and essayist. He is known for his fiction and criticism, and for writing the novel Up in the Air, which was later adapted into a film starring George Clooney. Kirn has written eight books in all, and his work spans novels, literary criticism, and essays. He is best known for Up in the Air, the book that brought him the widest recognition and reached an even larger audience through its film version.