Mindy Holt

“If you looked at yourself in a mirror right now, could you see pieces of bone close to the surface? Is this how it will feel every day from now on? That you’re walking around with barely any skin, your bones and heart open to everyone, now that your mother is dead?”
― Kathleen Glasgow, How to Make Friends with the Dark

“Who would ever guess that it isn’t your bones or your blood or your heart that keeps everything humming along inside you, it’s your freaking mom, and when she’s dead, it all disappears.”
― Kathleen Glasgow, How to Make Friends with the Dark

“Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them. —Oscar Wilde”
― Ania Ahlborn, Brother

“she had to question Mariana’s assessment of him as a loving parent. The man Ruth heard described sounded authoritarian, cold, emotionally unavailable, often critical and highly unkind—even cruel. None of these qualities had anything to do with love. “Love isn’t conditional,” Ruth said. “It’s not dependent on jumping through hoops to please someone—and always failing. You can’t love someone if you’re afraid of them, Mariana. I know it’s hard to hear. It’s a kind of blindness—but unless you wake up and see clearly, it will persist throughout your whole life, affecting how you see yourself, and others too.” Mariana shook her head. “You’re wrong about my father,” she said. “I know he’s difficult—but he loves me. And I love him.” “No,” said Ruth firmly. “At best, let’s call it a desire to be loved. At worst, it’s a pathological attachment to a narcissistic man:”
― Alex Michaelides, The Maidens