JP

“They keep us fighting among ourselves like dogs for table scraps so we won’t catch them making off with the feast.”
― Dennis Lehane, Small Mercies

“The world was less forgiving of its fat, ugly women. I knew that from firsthand experience. At best, people ignored you. At worst, they insulted you. Your existence was barely tolerated. By virtue of your looks, you had nothing to offer. It didn't matter if you were smart, thoughtful, or funny - no one listened. No one cared.”
― Catherine Dang, Nice Girls

“He was Mo-Maw’s youngest son, but he was also her confidant, her lady’s maid, and errand boy. He was her one flattering mirror, and her teenage diary, her electric blanket, her doormat. He was her best pal, the dog she hardly walked, and her greatest romance. He was her cheer on a dreich morning, the only laughter in her audience. Jodie shunted him again but Mungo only grumbled and curled tighter around her. Her brother was her mother’s minor moon, her warmest sun, and at the exact same time, a tiny satellite that she had forgotten about. He would orbit her for an eternity, even as she, and then he, broke into bits.”
― Douglas Stuart, Young Mungo

“Grace stood up and turned off the tap. "Yes it was." she looked at Vanessa, at her glassy eyes and her petulant expression; Grace wanted to slap her. "Men like him...they have a special kind of contempt for women like me - ugly women. I've felt it all my life. An ugly woman is barely human to a man like your husband. It's sickening but not all that shocking. What's worse, what is utterly abject, is the way that women like you - the pretty, the chosen - the way you collude in that contempt. simpering like a schoolgirl, because a man has aid you some attention. Laughing cravenly at his cruelties. It's pathetic.”
― Paula Hawkins, The Blue Hour