Jade Zimmerman’s Reviews > A Gesture Life > Status Update

My favorite quote, which reveals Doc Hata’s true desire and the meaning of the title: “‘All I wished for was to be a part (if but a millionth) of the massing, and that I pass through with something more than a life of gestures. And yet, I see now, I was in fact a critical part…Indeed the horror of it was how central we were…feeding ourselves and one another to the all consuming engine of the war.’”(299)

“‘After you have pushed aside and pushed aside and pushed aside again, the old beacons will bob up once more.’” pg. 284

If you have to make an effort to push something aside, that means that thing is making an effort to be noticed by you. It won’t resolve itself; you have to take the time to address it.

“‘I am not so naive as to be ignorant of how you must feel about things. You have not been anything but generous. But I know I’m on tenuous ground, and I accept it.’
‘Do you?’ she says, though not unkindly…
She goes on, ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think that you do…I won’t have you conveniently put away how you felt back then.’ pg. 282

“‘I wish that we could read one of those novels you mentioned, and then talk about it…Since I was a little girl, I always wanted to live a completely different life, even if it might be a hard one. I was sure I wasn’t meant to belong to mine…we could pretend we were in their lives, those European people in the novels, involved with their own particular problems.‘“
pg. 249