“Raffy has this magical, abracadabrical ability to transform all his "ifs" into "whens".” — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I swim with all my strength. No superhuman surge, or pony heroics; it's just me at my most desperate.” — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“i haf the sownd of more words butt i coud not remember the shaps of the letters.” — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Granana lives on the other side of the island. She's eighty-four, I'm twelve, and Wallow's fourteen, so it's a little ambiguous as… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I ignored her and continued down the hall. I had only four more hours to perfect the Sausalito. I was worried only… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“ INERTIA: Unless an object is acted on by friction from an outside force, it will spiral through space, in the same… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“ Music is pleasant not only because of the sound of many voices, but because of the silence that is in it. ” — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“He looks me to pieces … I realize now that I have been glimpsed and corner-of-the-eyed before, by the Chief and my… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“The lake water was reinventing the forest and the white moon above it, and wolves lapped up the cold reflection of the… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“We keep giggling, happy and nervous, tickled by an incomplete innocence. We both sense that some dark joke is being played on… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“On Sundays, the pretending felt almost as natural as nature. The chapel was our favorite place. Long before we could understand what… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“She was still loping around on all fours, her fists blue-white from the strain. As if she were holding a secret tight… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Even as a young man, Sawtooth had a hard time talking to women. Since moving to Out-to-Sea, he's become tight-lipped as an… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“We sang at the chapel annexed to the home every morning. We understood that this was the humans' moon, the place for… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Increasingly, Sawtooth's own memories are a loud bright muddle, like opening the door on a party full of strangers. He lies awake… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I just want to tell her that I'm sorry," Wallow says softly. He doesn't know that I'm awake. He's talking to himself,… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I wish I could say I gulp pure courage as I run, like those brave little girls you read about in stories,… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Etiquette was so confounding in this country. Still, looking at Mirabella-her fists balled together like small, white porcupines, her brows knitted in… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“The baby turtles are turning away from the ocean. It's easy to see why. The black waves lap up the moonbeams, and… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“My fingers curl through the holes in the wicker, through the wet grass beneath it, trying to hold tight to the sharp… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I could have warned her. If we were back home, and Mirabella had come under attack by territorial beavers or snow-blind bears,… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“It's go time.' He takes my elbow and gentles me down the planks with such tenderness that I am suddenly very afraid.… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“We know that Rangi can at least mutter because Digger Gibson says he used to talk to the bear. In his group… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“It's unclear whether Brauser was trying to hit Franz Josef or Rangi. I hope it was the former. There's one difference between… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I had been eagerly waiting just such a disaster. Storms, wolves, snakebite, floods-these are the occasions to find out how your father… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Sawtooth slumps into his deck chair and stares up at the sky. It's a drunken sky, the stars hiccupping light. Great gusty… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“In the beginning, fifty hours sounded like a bleak ocean of time, more hours than Sawtooth wanted to spend with himself, let… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“On her last visit, the girl stole one of his family photographs right out of the frame. He thinks this means she… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“But her favorite is the Houdini fantasy. Big Red disagrees with his biographers, who say that he was driven by his longing… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“He feels flattered by the attention. Most people look anywhere but his lower body. They pretend not to notice when he limps… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“I had an ear for languages, and I could read before I could adequately wash myself. I probably could have vied with… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“There's something pitiable and terrifying about the unconscious bully. His crumpled nose and hat. ... This is the first true thing that… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“If Sawtooth could put words to the brambled knot forming in his throat, he would tell her: Girl, don't go. I am… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Far away, I can hear Mouflon, our last sheep, bleating in the dark. I wonder if Annie is still out to protect… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“Even at this altitude, the substitute pilot's bathed in sweat, sweat running down his chin and neck. Fear must be the fountain… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“The Avalanche," peacemaker Rachel recites, "is very important . It's a privilege to sing it. It's a celebration of our past." Everybody… — Karen Russell Copy Share Image
“As a kid I heard the word malignancy as "Malig-Nancy" like an evil woman's name, no matter how many times Kiwi and the Chief… — Karen Russell Copy Share
“Once Mom and Ossie and I spent an afternoon alone together in her hospital room. We were watching the small TV above her head… — Karen Russell Copy Share
People really get myopic as they get older. We're not a culture that encourages dreaming or distraction. We're not ever good at just being.… — Karen Russell Copy Share
“She used to suffer these intense bouts of homesickness in her own bedroom. When she was very small, she would wake up tearing at… — Karen Russell Copy Share
“At ten, I couldn't articulate much but I got the message: to be a true historian, you had to mourn amply and well. (spoken… — Karen Russell Copy Share
“ Forever , just the word fills Beverly with an unaccountable, schoolmarmish sort of rage. Forever, that's got to be bad math, right? Such terrifying math.” — Karen Russell Copy Share
“I swim with all my strength. No superhuman surge, or pony heroics; it's just me at my most desperate.” — Karen Russell Copy Share
So much of the way books get classified has to do with marketing decisions. I think it's more useful to think of literary books… — Karen Russell Copy Share
The beginning of the end can feel a lot like the middle when you are living in it. — Karen Russell Copy Share
“I had an ear for languages, and I could read before I could adequately wash myself. I probably could have vied with Jeanette for… — Karen Russell Copy Share
“Etiquette was so confounding in this country. Still, looking at Mirabella-her fists balled together like small, white porcupines, her brows knitted in animal confusion-I… — Karen Russell Copy Share
It's funny, for a long time I would go watermelon-red and deny that I was a magical realist. It felt imprecise to me, a… — Karen Russell Copy Share
