Belle’s Reviews > Turtles All the Way Down > Status Update

Love is not a tragedy or a failure, but a gift.

You remember your first love because they show you, prove to you, that you can love and be loved, that nothing in this world is deserved except for love, that love is both how you become a person, and why.

You pick your endings, and your beginnings. You get to pick the frame, you know? Maybe you don't choose the picture, but you decide on the frame."

"The problem with happy endings," I said, "is that they're either not really happy, or not really endings, you know? In real life, some things get better and some things get worse."

But gravity differs from affection: Only one is constant.

Every loss is unprecedented. You can't ever know someone else's hurt, not really.

"But you're giving your thoughts too much power, Aza. Thoughts are only thoughts. They are not you. You do belong to yourself, even when your thoughts don't."

A change in personal circumstances, even a positive one, can trigger anxiety.

"I guess at some point, you realize that whoever takes care of you is just a person, and that they have no superpowers and can't actually protect you from getting hurt."

"It seemed to me that one of the defining features of parents is that they don't get paid to love you."

"Adults think they're wielding power, but really power is wielding them."
"The parasite believes itself to be the host," I said.