IssyD23 > Recent Status Updates

“A distillation of trauma into something eternal. Give. me your bruises and hurts, she told us,and I will return to your diamond. Only she never cared that once that was made, once the person became spectacle, the pain was still there.” (pg. 280-81).

‘He can’t help Marianne, no matter what he does. There’s something frightening about her, some huge emptiness in the pit of her being. It’s like waiting for a lift to arrive and when the doors open nothing is there, just a terrible dark emptiness of the elevator shaft, on and on forever.’ (pg. 247).

‘In a series of emails they exchanged recently about their own friendship, Marianne expressed her feelings about Connell mainly in terms of her sustained interest in his opinions and beliefs, the curiosity she feels about his life, and her instinct to survey his thoughts whenever she feels conflicted about anything.’ (pg. 162).

‘To be known as [Helen’s] boyfriend plants him firmly in the social world, establishes him as an acceptable person, someone with a particular status, someone whose conversational silence is thoughtful rather than socially awkward.” (pg. 155).

‘I lay the there in the quiet darkness of the blanket fort, overwhelmed with homesickness - for him, for her, for the family we’d once been. They’d been divorced for years, yet I still felt this gaping hole of grief as life kept changing up on me, kept finding new ways to make me melancholy and wistful’. (pg. 349)

“Marx’s life had been filled with such abundance that he was one of those people who found a natural to care for those around him. In this case, what Marx received in return was a pleasure of Sam’s company.” (pg. 55)

‘The dude looks at you like he’s going blind in an hour and he’s trying to memorise every detail of your face’ (pg. 271).

“ I feel guilty. That’s so much of me does not feel bad for her. And stupid for the part of me that does.” (page 367).

‘You,of all people, should know that you can’t tell a single thing about a person’s true character if you both want the same thing. That’s like a cat and dog getting along because they both want to kill a mouse.’ (page 209)

‘It’s a hard business, reconciling with what the truth used to be and what the truth is now.’ (page 159)

“That’s the part I was stuck in, the part where you accept the apology because it’s easier than addressing the root of the problem” (page 82). Evelyn talking about her domestic violence at the hands of her second husband, Don Adler.

“Which is another problem…her (Madeline’s) height is making the boys feel bad about themselves.” (page 238)- the fragile egos of boys mean women must put themselves in a box?

“They (men) either wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her, or tell her what to do.” (page 237).

“ I think you might be the only woman at Hastings – out of three thousand employees, mind you – that is a secretary. I can’t imagine how that could’ve happened… by the way, do you know why the institute says we ladies aren’t good investment? It’s because we’re always running off and having babies. Like you did.” (page 177.).
I despise the way Miss Frask degrades other woman.

“When you think about it, rowing is almost exactly like raising kids. Both require patience, endurance, strength, and commitment. And neither allow us to see where we’re going - only where we’ve been.” (page 166).

“Only Mr. Sloane was ugly, and that was because he was unattractive on the inside” (page 151).

‘You know very well women do not continue to work when pregnant. But you – you’re not only with child, you’re unwed. It’s disgraceful.’ (page 113)

‘Physical suffering…bonds people in a way everyday life can’t.’ (page 46).

‘You stabbed the man. It’ll go better if you show some remorse.’ (page 19). A POLICE OFFICER telling Elizabeth to apologise after defending herself against rape.

‘In an instant, I’d lost a grieving buddy and gained a woman who was nothing like the mom I’d cried for every night.’