Ali Self

“I just mean that Edith doesn’t want to die—she’s not fully at peace with the idea—so she might not come to anything that feels satisfying. She might not make meaning of her life and death. She might, of course. I mean, we always hope for that because it makes us feel better. But she might not.”
― Catherine Newman, We All Want Impossible Things

“Not knowing seems to be all I know anymore.”
― Catherine Newman, We All Want Impossible Things

“I can still feel all that rage sloshing around. Even the word wife. I just picture all of us stirring oatmeal at the stove, knee-deep in everybody’s diapers and feelings.”
― Catherine Newman, We All Want Impossible Things

“Mostly," she says, "I'm just really, really thirsty." The body and its petty demands! Grief is crashing over our heads like a tsunami, this miraculous soul is about to be homeless, but thirst is thirst. So I fill her night - this one, beautiful night, the only here and now we've ever got - with Sprite.”
― Catherine Newman, We All Want Impossible Things