Petina Gappah Quotes

“There is only one illness that pushes both the well-wheeled and the un-wheeled to seek out the prophet. It is the big disease with the little name, the sickness that no one dies of, the disease whose real name is unspoken, the sickness that speaks its presence through the pink redness of lips, the slipperiness of hair, through the whites of the eyes whiter than nature intended.”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“A voice reminds us that the land is ours, it will not be taken from us again; the country will never be a colony again. - ‘Something Nice from London”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“Like the worthless dogs that are his countrymen, my husband believed that his penis was wasted if he was faithful to just one woman. - At the Sound of the Last Post”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“They had become a nation of traders.”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“[L]ife is one big jest at the expense of humanity. -
‘The Mupondawana Dancing Champion”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“Later, as she drove the children to school, she thought how worn the grooves were along which they moved their quarrels. She could feel herself saying all the clichéd phrases of a thousand injured women before her, but she could never stop herself. - ‘The Negotiated Settlement”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“She looked around for something with which to cut the cord. There was nothing, and the baby almost slipped from her hands. Through a film of tears she chewed on Martha’s flesh, closing her mind to the taste of blood, she chewed and tugged on the cord until the baby was free. She wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand. The baby cried, she held it to her chest, and felt an answering rise in her chest. – ‘An Elegy for Easterly”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“Wafa Wanaka, our elders say. Not only does this mean that death is the ultimate peace, it also means that we are not to speak ill of the dead. Once a person has crossed over to the real of the spirits, he takes his transgressions with him, and we speak only of the good. - 'Something Nice from London”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“Each heartbreak is a little death, all the same.”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“Fame is an elastic concept, especially in a place like this, where we all know the smell of each other’s armpits. - ‘The Mupondawana Dancing Champion”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories

“It may well be that there will be this socialism, Juliana,’ she said, ‘but I can tell you right now that no amount of socialism will make my madam was her own underwear.’ - ‘Aunt Juliana’s Indian”
― Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly: Stories