Chetna

“He had a conventional notion of culture. He thought that going to the theater or ballet and keeping up-to-date with the movie listings made you cultured. I, on the other hand, learned to believe in the depth of experience: returning ten times to the art gallery near my house to look at that Kandinsky again because I identified with its shapes, on a deep level, in my soul. I didn’t care at all whether it was fashionable and I didn’t attend the concerts my father timidly suggested. For me music worked better in the solitude of my room than it did live.”
― Marcela Serrano, Ten Women

“Being poor or being lonely could be either fortunate or unfortunate, but the truth is that the distinction was meaningless. Whether we were fortunate or not, we were still different, and that’s all there was to it.”
― Bae Suah, Nowhere to Be Found

“Stefano seemed to seek in her the most palpable symbol of the future of wealth and power that he intended; and she seemed to use the seal that he was placing on her to make herself, her brother, her parents, her other relatives safe from all that she had confusedly confronted and challenges since she was a child.”
― Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend

“Physical tiredness is a magnifying glass.”
― Elena Ferrante, The Lost Daughter