Status Updates From The Reenactments

“Certain words, those based on the thing they describe, are wired into us—a snake is called a snake because of the way it moves, the way it hisses, how it wraps around your tongue as you name it.” (250)

“When I was eighteen I traded my spleen for a bottle of peppermint schnapps and a midnight motorcycle ride. You could say that the bottle functioned, for my father, and then for me, as an axe.” (169)

“They are, well, I don’t know where they are—I imagine a hotel room, maybe a restaurant—just voices without bodies, asking questions about my mother.”

“When I was Liam’s age something (depression?) drapes a wet wool blanket over our house—it threatened to suffocate us all, I knew the only way I’d be able to breathe was if I found a way to poke my fingers through it.” (55)