Brook’s Reviews > Her Last Breath > Status Update

“…but she was also a storyteller, and an English teacher once told her that being a storyteller is a sort of pathological emptiness—when you feel something, you’re not satisfied until you’ve made other people feel it, too. You can’t just experience it yourself. You have to *share* it.”

“Allie told herself she’d solve one problem at a time. That’s all anyone can do. When plans went awry in unfamiliar places, she often remembered something her grandfather used to say: It is permitted you in time of grave danger to walk with the devil until you have crossed the bridge.”

“‘Tess, survival is victory. Maybe you think you don’t deserve it, or maybe you’re beating yourself up for fighting back because that’s how the world tells women to feel when they take charge of their fates. You aren’t disposable. You don’t owe anyone anything. No one else was looking out for you that day. Your last best hope was *you*.’”

…no one ever really knows anyone…think of people in layers, like a Russian nesting doll. We all have exterior versions of ourselves, polite and polished and professional…And there are interior layers, the parts of ourselves we only show our closest friends and family, and then even deeper, the secret person nested inside. The true self. Who we are in the dark, when no one’s looking and the light are out.”

“…the human mind is the ultimate unreliable narrator.”

“Washington has always found it disturbing how little it actually takes to unravel our minds—merely darkness and quiet.”

“Grief has aftershocks…They hit unpredictably when your guard is down. It can feel like a form of torture, rediscovering your loved one’s absence from every tedious angle…”

*spoiler alert*

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“Allie saved you. She bought you a few seconds to escape. That’s her gift to you…Your best friend loved you, and in that terrible moment she proved it. She’s a hero. Don’t take that away from her by blaming yourself.”

“It’s not fear or weakness that holds most people back from entering such dangerously confined spaces, but simple evolved instinct. Like jumping off a building or inhaling water, your body just *knows* it’s a bad idea and fights you if you try it.”

“Remember, when you feel afraid, think of all the little things your body is doing…For example, your pupils dilate so you can see better. Your breathing becomes more efficient so you can run faster. Blood pumps to your brain and muscles, so you’re stronger and more alert. Remember that being afraid doesn’t make you weak. In a measurable way, it actually makes you stronger. Fear is power.”