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Her mother never liked the idea of traveling anywhere far. She rarely spoke of the past, but she had once told Margot that at the age of four, she had fled with her family from the north during the Korean War. Somehow, she had been separated from her parents permanently in that bloody time. Movement for her mother was essentially an experience of loss that Margot, American-born, could never imagine.

They love us fiercely, too fiercely, their love a distorted one that believes that it is okay to hurt if that hurt forces us to change for the better. It is okay to wound, put down, criticize us for our bodies and the parts of our characters that seem at fault, if it will shame us into losing weight because they believe that will mean better lives for us, more opportunities, less external hurt and rejection.

We live in a biographical moment, and if you look hard enough at anyone, you can probably find at least a little stain. Everyone who has a biography—that is, everyone alive—is either canceled or about to be canceled.

Tokyo is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, yet—or maybe because of it—there are so many people who have no one to confide in, no one to trust or burden with their secrets, worries, or disappointments.

“For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?” “For all of your parts. Those inward and out,” he answered, pulling me closer so that he could press a kiss onto my forehead.

Time is a thing we feel, and our days are ordered accordingly.

Teachers were in the habit of saying that girls are smarter. Students also thought that girls were smarter, more mature, and better with detailed work, but they somehow always elected boys to be class monitors.

“Farming is depressing,” Joe said. “But once it gets in you, you can’t put it down.” “Farming is the new acting,” Duke said.

I imagined each Belgian as a section of a book and wondered what story they would tell if they were all sewn together.

“Before I played chess I wasn’t motivated to think, but when I learned the game I really liked how it gave me so many challenges. I feel so comfortable when I am at the board. Even when I lose, I don’t want to leave the board. I feel a happiness whenever I am playing the game, doing what I do best.”