SHYLOH

“Sawyer was quiet. She watched Nick's face, but he was staring out over the water, lost in thought.
"To you, those stories we heard at the Tenement Museum were interesting," Nick said, nodding in approval. "To me, those stories are... I don't know-familiar. I can feel the yearning in them; my mom's yearning to be here in America, mixed with her yearning for home.”
― Suzanne Rindell, Summer Fridays

“Nick nodded. "My mother said that always surprised her-all the houses made out of wood here, especially in the suburbs. She said growing up in the Soviet Union, it was all concrete and cinder blocks where she lived. Wooden houses were for old Russian fairy tales."
Sawyer reflected, mulling. "Have you ever wanted to go there?"
"Sure. But growing up, I was always told that's was impossible," he said. "At least for me and my mom, given her political history. But it's strange; there were times when I was super aware that she could never bring me back to where she was from, but other times I felt so completely that I have been there in my mind, I forget that I haven't, even now."
"Do you speak Russian?"
"Of course. My mom's English is perfectly fine, but we always wind up speaking in Russian together."
"Do you ever...dream in Russian?"
"I do.”
― Suzanne Rindell, Summer Fridays

“He says, “I’m going to take a stand,” and the world remains silent.”
― Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys

“You can't sit around expecting others to know what you want if you don't tell them. And you can't sit around waiting to be acknowledged. That's the chick way. You have to ask for what you want and demand acknowledgment. That's the dude way.”
― Suzanne Rindell, Summer Fridays