Amy Stuart > Quotes

“It was Margot who taught me that rule: Never let them see your ellipses. Also from Margot: Never respond right away to a text message that's made you emotional. Wait at least an hour, preferably longer. Why? Because 90% of the time, according to Margot, you'll come to see that no response is the best response. The cruelest, even. The most powerful.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“Sometimes it's just easier to lie as a means to end a conversation.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“Over the years I’ve gathered a handful of people who’ve crossed us or let us down or betrayed us in ways big and small. That’s what happens with age, I guess. With successes or failures, with memories of events, betrayals, and tragedies that shift with time and perspective, with new information. The list of people no longer worth your energy grows longer. People with whom the pretense of friendship, or even just cordiality, erodes me every time I’m forced to play along.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“It takes some digging to locate a pulse. I catch a sudden sob in my throat then press two fingers into his jugular notch. It's faint, fluttery. He breathes, long gaps between sharp inhales. One of his hands clenches into a fist then relaxes. I pull my phone from the pocket of my silk jumpsuit and unlock it. My thumb twitches, hovering over the numbers. I won't dial. I won't call for help”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“Once in a rare while, you'll find yourself in a situation that calls for poise when poise feels utterly impossible”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“He’s a person I’d miss a lot if he were no longer in my life. A person I trust despite no real evidence that I should.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“Sometimes the world feels really small. It's miraculous, really. The tentacles of fate and coincidence”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“When you know your neighbours well, it often feels like you're under watchful eyes the moment you step out the front door”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“It's okay. I understand. You held on to a secret for so long that it started to feel like the truth”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“But the longer you spend imagining such things, the less satisfying it is when they come to be.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“I worry about my two kids equally. Most parents do. But if I had to delineate it crudely across gender lines, the truth is that I worry about things that might happen to Isobel, and with Damien, I worry about the things he might do”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“But the numbers on marriage just don't crunch. Did you know that, statistically, murdering someone is a safer bet than marrying them?”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“my days commemorated by tasks both menial and meaningful.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“Never respond right away to a text message that’s made you emotional. Wait at least an hour, preferably longer. Why? Because 90 percent of the time, according to Margot, you’ll come to see that no response is the best response. The cruelest, even. The most powerful.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“That's what happens with age, I guess. With successes or failures, with memories of events, betrayals, and tragedies that shift with time and perspective, with new information. The list of people no longer worth your energy grows longer. People with whom the pretense of friendship, or even just cordiality, erodes me every time I'm forced to play along. People I'd just rather have gone.”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party

“I know it's partly that recent events have stirred up more in me than I can bear - more than she can bear too. How do you temper your child's grief when it unexpectedly triggers your own?”
― Amy Stuart, A Death at the Party