Noam’s Reviews > The Morning Star > Status Update

'My knees were wet, and soil stuck to them.
And in the mud on the bank were prints. Footprints at first, then the indentations made by a pair of knees.
Were they mine?
They had to be. There was no one else here.
Did I live here?
In the forest?
Or was I just out?
Who was I, anyway?
Didn't I know?
'Hello, my name's...' I said in the hope a name would come. But it didn't.' p.584

''Have you looked outside?' I said. 'On the terrace? There are thousands of ladybirds out there.'
He turned and walked towards the door at the other end of the room.
'Good Lord,' he said. 'That's amazing!'
'I get an end-of-the-world sort of feeling.' I said.' p.483

'Could a person live without a name? I wondered at once.
Without identity?
Could a person exist without being connected to anything?
Unbound to any past or history, family or society?
Could a person simply be a human being on earth, who could go wher ever they wished without interpreting what they saw in terms of any kind of system, but thinking quite freely?' p.406

'You must be impatient,' a voice said behind me.
What?
I spun round. It was the guy who'd been staring at me. I'd thought he was somewhere in his twenties, only now I could see he was forty at least, if not fifty.
'Are you talking to me?' I said.
All he did was smile. He didn't look drunk at all. So what did he want? Was he a homo, or what?
"Yes,' he said. "There's no one else here.' p.351

'As the road swung north, the star was above us in the sky.
It was beautiful.
As beautiful as death was beautiful.
'We haven't talked about the new star,' I said. 'It's a bit weird.'
'Maybe,' he said. 'But you've got other things to think about.'
'Yes,' I said.
There was a silence.' p.299

'He was sitting with his back to the door in that big ergonomic office chair of his, in the same grey shorts and black T-shirt he'd had on all week.
'Everything all right, love?' I said.
He swivelled halfway round in the chair and looked up at me.
He was different, I could tell straight away. It was written all over him.
'Yes,' he said, and smiled. 'Now it is.'
Had something happened? What had happened?' p.257-8

'At the same moment, I noticed one of the city's writers coming along with a trail of youngsters after him. Students from the writing academy, no doubt.
As they passed our table, he lifted an index finger to his forehead in a kind of salute.
'Lindland,' he said.
He managed to make my name sound almost like an insult, and I straight-faced him.' p.228-229

'My mouth was watering as I carried the tray over to one of the tables further inside and sat down.
I opened as wide as I could but still couldn't get the whole burger in for the first bite, the bun crumpled against my top lip as the juicy meat filled my mouth and everything melted together, bacon, beef, bun, onion, tomato, lettuce, ketchup.' p.117

'It annoyed me intensely, all of it. When at last she had some energy, why couldn't she channel it in a way that could benefit us all? At the same time, I often felt sorry for her. She was like a little girl who'd got lost and kept telling herself everything was all right.' p.8