David

“It's not like in a story. In stories, the endings are ones we can handle, even if they aren't so happy, because they let you linger, they let you go on, sustaining you with morsels of wonder and hope.”
― Chang-rae Lee, My Year Abroad

“Yeah, my dad picked [ the name Olga]. Wanted to make me 'ambitious.' But my mother worried that I would take after the Olga from Puerto Rican Obituary. That Olga was ashamed of her identity and died dreaming of money and being anything other than herself.”
― Xóchitl González, Olga Dies Dreaming

“I suppose though," Matteo offered, "most of us in New York live double lives, with a secret of some sort living behind closed doors."
"Really? What's your secret?"
"I already told you. I'm a hoarder."
She giggled.
"So, what's your secret?" Matteo asked.
"I'm a terrible person.”
― Xóchitl González, Olga Dies Dreaming

“And so, Olga, you must see yourself and my absence not as one little girl missing her mother, but as a brave young woman who knows that in a world of oppression, achieving liberation will require sacrifice. You can't stay in your room and cry. You can't keep Abuelita up at night with your tears. You have to keep your head held high, you have to be strong. Like the revolutionary we raised you to be.”
― Xóchitl González, Olga Dies Dreaming