Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth
10 quotes
"The knowledge of death seemed present in both sisters—it was something about the way they carried themselves, something that had broken too soon and had not mended, marking them in spite of their lightheartedness."
"But death, too, had the power to awe, she knew this now-that a human being could be alive for years and years, thinking and breathing and eating, full of a million worries and feelings and thoughts, taking up space in the world, and then, in an instant, become absent, invisible."
"He still had the power to stagger her at timessimply the fact that he was breathing that all his organs were in their proper places that blood flowed quietly and effectively through his small sturdy limbs. He was her flesh and blood her mother had told her in the hospital the day Akash was born."
"He owned an expensive camera that required thought before you pressed the shutter, and I quickly became his favorite subject, round-faced, missing teeth, my thick bangs in need of a trim. They are still the pictures of myself I like best, for they convey that confidence of youth I no longer possess, especially in front of a camera."
"Belonging to another man and therefore not even a little bit to him."
"In their silence they continued both to protect me and to punish me. The memory of that night was now the only tie between us, eclipsing everything else."
"I returned to my existence, the existence I had chosen instead of you."
"She had denied herself the pleasure of openly sharing life with the person she loved."
"I owed the greater apology, but at the same time I knew that was done was done, that no matter what I said now I would never be able to make it right."
"No more bells ringing in the middle of the afternoon demolishing the rest of the day. No more waiting for the situation to change."