The U.S. that I had imagined was nowhere near as crazy and as incredibly damaging and brutal and indifferent as the U.S. that we're currently living in. I thought I was being transgressive, apocalyptic, an out-there person. And then reality lapped me, it just lapped me.

Character is the plot in many ways

She was the kind of girlfriend God gives you young, so you'll know loss the rest of your life.

I find reading to be a delight, a source of comfort, a way to explore.

It's never the changes we want that change everything.

You know how it is when you get back with somebody you’ve loved. It felt better than it ever was, better than it ever could be again

In another universe I probably came out OK, ended up with mad novias and jobs and a sea of love in which to swim, but in this world I had a brother who was dying of cancer and a long dark patch of life like a mile of black ice waiting for me up ahead.