Joyce’s Reviews > The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell > Status Update

If anything, I’d classify myself as a Buddhist. I believed that every living thing came from the earth and was to be respected.

running from a faith that seemed to solve every problem not with a solution but with an excuse.

“It’s God’s will.”

“Most people who own a gun never have to use it. It’s the threat of the gun that deters the need.“

When asked why he never deviated from his attack, no matter the opponent, Tyson replied, “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.”

“How are you holding up?” Ernie asked.

“Like an actor backstage in the green room waiting to go on again.”

Their presence gave me back my identity and validated my existence beyond the role of the unknown grieving boyfriend.

good person. bad person wouldn’t be that honest. They wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. bad person would have punted responsibility and told her family that he wanted nothing to do with any of it. But I know you. And I know that you’ll go to your grave and never tell another living soul that she cheated on you. Her parents will bury daughter they loved & get to keep all memories.

Eva’s beautiful face had been spared damage, and that was all the attendee showed me. But as a doctor, I understood from the way the sheet draped her body that much of her torso had been crushed and disfigured, bones broken. She’d likely died instantly.

He sobbed, great gasps and moans that prevented words but that I understood. He’d been bearing up for his wife, for Eva’s sisters, for the entire family. With the details of Eva’s remains taken from him, he could mourn his daughter.

I filled a second bowl with water and set it out of harm’s way; Bandit tended to slide his bowl all over my tile floor seeking every nugget.