LJ

“All the times she has brushed against death, she's never given much thought to what might come after. Now she considers it. She supposes there will be nothing. She supposes each of us destroys the world. We close our eyes and snuff out all that has existed, all that will ever be.”
― Maggie Shipstead

“Everyone had secret corners and alleys that no one else saw -- what mattered were your major streets and boulevards, the stuff that showed up on other people's maps of you.”
― Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle

“It was true they'd always been like two adjacent locks in a canal, one opening into the other, pouring off excess feeling, seeking equilibrium, though she was usually the lock in danger of overflowing and he the one who absorbed excess, rose up as she sank down. People thought being twins made them the same, but it was balance, not sameness, she felt with him.”
― Maggie Shipstead, Great Circle

“The Theresa desegregated in 1940, long after the neighborhood tipped over from Jews and Italians and became the domain of Southern blacks and West Indians. Everyone who came uptown had crossed some variety of violent ocean.”
― Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle