Welcome back to "Made to Last," the lost feature here on the blog. I swear I'm actually going to keep up on this from now on. I must finish this book.
Chapter ten:
-I never thought of Lindsey as a brain. Hmm...
-She might just be my favorite character. She does seem smart and like she can take care of herself.
-Because of that, she and Samuel had better last. I really like them together. Young love, *sighs*
-Ooh. Will Ruth and Lindsey perhaps be friends? Maybe?
-Ruth's gay. Hmm. I feel bad for her as this book takes place in the 70's - a time in the US's not so tolerant past. Not saying that we're great now, but still.
-And she thinks she has to "hide". That's horrible.
"If you stop asking why you were killed instead of someone else, stop investigating the vacuum left by your loss, stop wondering what everyone left on Earth is feeling," she said, "you can be free. Simply put, you have to give up on Earth."
-Do you think you would be able to do that? Give up on Earth? For me that would be nearly impossible. The very idea is hard to fathom.
-"How To Commit The Perfect Murder"? What kind of school has that kind of challenge? Sick.
-Poor Lindsey.
"In the walls of my sex there was horror and blood, in the walls of hers there were windows."
-It's strange how a simple act can have such meaning for some people and such hollowness for others.
Chapter Eleven:
-I always hate hearing about those murder/disappearance cases that never get resolved. To live almost a year without concretely knowing the fate of your daughter would be hell. Complete hell.
-Mr.Harvey really covered his tracks well.
-Living in a simple house your whole life does make you dream of a house with staircases and balconies, window seats and attics. I should know.
-Was the rape and murder really worth the trouble that Mr. Harvey's putting himself through? I mean, he has clocks set for when to open and close his blinds. Police cars still drive past his house.
-He keeps tokens from his girls. Sick sick sick.
-I love Susie's father. He's real. But he IS going over the edge a little. Then again, I don't blame him...
-As I've been reading this book, I'm continually amazed by the flow and the words. Alice Sebold is nothing short of an amazing author. She really knows how to write. Everything just falls eloquently into place. I'm kind of in awe of this whole book so far.
-Mr. Salmon kind of brings to light the altar that we set our parents on. They seem almost untouchable. He proves that despite his familial responsibilities, he's just an ordinary man who experiences ordinary pain and suffering.
-A kind of pain and suffering that's making him insane.
Chapter Twelve:
-The surgeon's thoughts are really interesting. When you hear about terrible things happening to people like you, it puts everything in perspective and shows you that you're just like everyone else; just as able to be hurt.
-The thing that makes this story real to me is that it's so normal. The characters are regular people put into revealing situations. It's kind of hard to read.
"When the dead are done with the living," Franny said to me, "the living can go on to other things."
"What about the dead?" I asked. "Where do we go?"
She wouldn't answer me.
-That's too big a concept for me to even try to wrap my brain around.
-Len's wife died of suicide and Abigail's husband "died" of grief. What a perfect match. Shoot me now.
-I hope I'll be a better mother than Abigail. She's so empty and robotic. Until she met Len of course. Urgh.
-SHE HAS A HUSBAND. A PERFECTLY GOOD HUSBAND
-That Hal's my kind of guy. Smart and observant and centered. Thank god for him.
But I felt them before I saw them, small warm sparks along my arms. Then there they were, fireflies lighting up and expanding in howls and swirls as they abandoned human flesh.
"Like snowflakes," Franny said, "none of them the same and yet each one, from where we stand, exactly like the one before."
(They're describing souls leaving their bodies.)
-Mmm. I can just imagine it.
