“She had abruptly flipped from the southern belle and was now putting on the extremely businesslike air of those perfectionist women who'd only worked in the professional world for two or three years before stopping to have children and were… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“These were wise, modern children, and they knew: a mother could be a witch, a child could be a criminal. A librarian could be… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“Because what it's come down to, after that whole messy spring, that whole tortured summer, all the time since, is this: I no longer believe I can save people. I've tried, and I've failed, and while I'm sure there are people out in the world with that particular gift, I'm not one of them. I make too much of a… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share
“He started Number the Stars before we were even out of the store. "The only problem is, I already know how it ends," he said. "Because once when I looked at it back at the library, I found out." "I do that too," I said. "It's a bad habit." "But I never mean to." He was walking, talking, and reading… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share
“So here, patient listener: your soothing epilogue. Imagine him happy. Imagine him spinning in circles... Imagine his heaven, where he can float through characters… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“And for what portion of human history had people even had desk jobs? Maybe the last four hundred years, out of four million? It… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“...all I knew were novels. It gave me pause, for a moment, that all my reference points were fiction, that all my narratives were… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“I could put a book in his hands, but I couldn't take him by the ankles and dip him headfirst in another world. And… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“On my mental instant replay, I realized that obliquely comparing his family to the Nazis was maybe not my finest moment. He was quiet a second, and then he said, 'Did you know that Hitler anted to be an artist, but since he couldn't get into art school, he turned into a Nazi?' 'Yes, I remember that.' 'Just imagine if… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share
“The whole damn century would've made more sense backwards. Where we ended is worse than where we began.” — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“But here at Laurelfield, there was something more in the mornings, a buzzing sensation about the whole house, as if it weren't the servants… — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
“Very few writers thank their mothers for keen editorial insight; I'm happy to be the exception.” — Rebecca Makkai Copy Share Image
