Amina Akhtar > Quotes

“I’d done it, I killed her, but it didn’t feel like I had. You know that feeling? Like when you unplug your flatiron but then aren’t sure you did?”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“No one ever tells you how to get through grief, how to not let it take over your life. Because it does. Every part of your life is hit. And sometimes, just when you think you’re turning a corner, months after your loved one died, you get hit by something new all over again.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“It’s fashion. No one really gets along.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“She was saying yes to life, taking leaps of faith, and trying to be happy. To be well. She hated it.”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet

“My need for attention was going to ruin me. I had to play it cool. I drew a heart on his board. See? Nothing but love and positive vibes.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“Frantically, I mouthed WWMKAAD (What would Mary-Kate and Ashley do?) to myself over and over until the rage subsided a bit.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“Style bloggers were just so impermanent these days. One day they’re on top of the world, the next, they’re toe up in the morgue.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“Even ten minutes outside would make her tan, and hours would actually make her burn. She wanted neither thing to happen. She could practically hear her aunt’s voice saying, “Good desi girls don’t get tans.”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet

“And the animals that transgressed on the humans’ land, the animals who used old migration patterns that came from their ancestors, were killed. This was their land. The animals’ land. They were here before humans; they’d be here after. Not all of them, but the ones smart enough to adapt, to take what they needed. Like the ravens.”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet

“The urge to pick up the phone and call my mom and apologize was so strong, I felt a pain in my chest, like I couldn’t breathe. It was as if guilt from generations had been piled onto me, so that her disappointment in me was the only thing that sustained me. Gave me life. I was born to be a failure.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“I wondered what would shut her up the fastest: smashing her head through the glass window or agreeing with her. I decided to go with the latter. Why ruin her pretty face?”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“You know what they say—if you can’t join them, beat them.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“How do you grieve someone who hated you? I wasn’t sure how to, but I was trying.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“For Lorraine. Ronnie wanted to scream. All of this wasn’t for the community or safety. It was for Marley and her vanity and her need to have followers. Her blood wasn’t healing her friend; it had been used to make her face pretty. Ronnie was used to betrayal. All kinds of betrayal.”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet

“Because once your family thinks you’re the source of all things wrong, you can never convince them otherwise.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“I was so desperate to earn my mother’s approval—anyone’s approval, really—that I stayed in a relationship with someone like him. Petty. Jealous. Controlling. Like I’d exchanged my family for a man who behaved just like them.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“Kismet is a gleeful (and at times literal) skewering of influencer culture and clout chasing, as well as a deeply relevant look at how easily and often the white wellness world intersects with racism and cultural appropriation—and how blind we can be to that and to the stain it leaves on the world around us. A bold and insightful whodunnit that ensures you’ll never look at ravens the same way again.”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet

“Crime shows make you think every homicide will be solved thanks to a stray hair, a random skin cell. It wasn’t real. Nothing was as advanced as what we saw on TV.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“I wanted to devise a torture device that made Celia ride until she died. Or better yet, start my own class: Psycho Cycle. It’d be the ideal workout for today’s woman: half the class has to get away from crazed killers (spoiler alert: they die), and the rest of us come out looking like Kaia Gerber. Million-dollar idea.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“She was crying over shoes. I wanted to slap her. I wanted to take those shoes and smash her head in.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“Jack was fun, I liked him. And now I had to kill him. Why was making friends so hard as an adult?”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“Everyone knows that promotions are based on your social standing, no matter what Celia says. And you have none. You’re a total nobody. Seriously, no one knows who you are. Which is just so sad because you’re, like, really great.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“It was strange that the girl couldn’t remember what she had for lunch yet somehow knew every designer’s phone number by heart.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“I am not a victim. I am a survivor. And I will fight like hell.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“I was desperate for a Sarah win. But the more I craved it, the more annoyed I got. At Sarah, not myself. She would never be satisfied. I glanced at my Instagrammed selfie from the salon. My hair looked good, dammit. What would it take for Sarah Taft to tell me I was perfect?”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“I shrugged. “You know what they say. Sisters are the original frenemies.” “Who says that?” She laughed. “Me.”
― Amina Akhtar, Almost Surely Dead

“Worse than that, she was blaming me for Lisa’s death. Me? As if. She should be blaming Lisa. No, she should be thanking me—Lisa wore veils.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“Keep going! You can do it!” I was going to kill this bitch. “Everyone starts somewhere. Keep it up!” I was going to make her suffer. “Just ten more seconds!” I was going to rip her heart out and eat it on top of a giant plate of pasta.”
― Amina Akhtar, #FashionVictim

“That’s your intuition. You need to trust it. Listen to it. It’ll guide you. Want a tea?”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet

“And the animals that transgressed on the humans’ land, the animals who used old migration patterns that came from their ancestors, were killed.”
― Amina Akhtar, Kismet