Jillian Rae

“As someone whose days were defined by the ten thousand ways a human can hurt, she needed, now and then, to remember that the nervous system didn't exist exclusively to feel pain.”
― Anthony Marra, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

“The death of a parent, he wrote, “despite our preparation, indeed, despite our age, dislodges things deep in us, sets off reactions that surprise us and that may cut free memories and feelings that we had thought gone to ground long ago. We might, in that indeterminate period they call mourning, be in a submarine, silent on the ocean’s bed, aware of the depth charges, now near and now far, buffeting us with recollections.”
― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking

“yes, he had been preoccupied, but hadn't that been what I was looking for--someone who wouldn't pay too much attention, someone who wouldn't look at me to closely?”
― Carol Goodman, The Lake of Dead Languages

“...it would hurt him to know that she had felt that way for a while, that her relationship with him was like being content in a house but always sitting by the window and looking out.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah