I wanted her to to go on talking and understand without me saying anything. I wanted her to love me enough to leave him, to pack us up and take us away from him, to kill him if need be. (107)

I put on the page a third look at what I've seen in life - the reinvented experience of a cross-eyed working-class lesbian, addicted to violence, language and hope, who has made the decision to live, is determined to live, on the page and on the street, for me and mine.

my life has been saved over and over again by picking up a book in which someone captured the whole experience of being despised and not dying.

I'll tell you the secret. When you begin with a character, you want to begin by creating a villain.

I was born trash in a land where the people all believe themselves natural aristocrats.

she got a reputation for an easy smile and a sharp tongue, and using one to balance the other, she seemed friendly but distant

Piece by piece, my mother is being stolen from me.