Ellen

“I've been told by a couple of knowledgeable elders that you should not wear red at a funeral, or for a year after someone close to you dies. Red is the fire, the doorway to the spirit world. Who knows how long until they are done walking. When the dead see flashes of red as they pass on their journey, they are confused. They think a door is opening and it distracts them from their task, which is to reach a place where we are nothing to them.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

“Did he like celery?’ ‘Does anybody?”
― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence: A Novel

“Once in a while I encounter that oblivion in the form of an unreal me. This unreal me is paralyzed by one bottomless thought: I didn't choose this format. I didn't choose to be organized into a Tookie. What, or who, made that happen? Why? What will happen if I do not accept this outrage? It isn't easy to stay organized in this shape. I can feel what it would be like to stop making the effort.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence

“Ever since I understood this life was to be mine, I have wanted only for it to continue in its precious routine.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Sentence: A Novel