Steph Cha > Quotes

“Every day there had been rotten cops in the news and still she had been bamboozled.

‘I mean, they’re supposed to protect people, right? How can they be so bad at their jobs?’

‘They protect people from other people. Question is, who are people, and who are other people?”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“Smoke rose in a pillar like something from the Bible, dark and alive and climbing, becoming one with the gray sky.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“There wasn’t much around: a warehouse, a wire fence, scrubby bushes on hard yellow ground, power lines draped across an empty, burning sky.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“Palmdale was a far cry from the old place. No hustle, no bustle. No corner stores, no helicopters, no laughing teens running wild. Just arid suburbia with a coarse, plain face. It was boring here, and Shawn had come to love the bland peace of it over the years.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“How dare this girl come to their table, pleading about injustice, acting like his sister was a dead body she'd discovered, one they had to help her do something about right now. When they'd buried her a thousand times over. When they'd done their best, the only ways they knew how, to keep her alive.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“Grace had never seen her mother look so scared, and she felt pity for her for a moment, and a cruel, ecstatic thrill of power.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“Grace snapped. “And what, you’re so great? Because you turned on the woman who raised you? Who sacrificed everything to come to a foreign country so her kids could have a better life? Why do you think you’re so goddamned enlightened in the first place? It’s because Mom and Dad busted their asses so you could go to a fancy Ivy League college. Have you ever worked in a convenience store in South Central? Have you ever even been inside a convenience store in South Central?” Grace heard Miriam open her mouth and close it again, and Grace could tell that she’d been inside a convenience store in South Central but thought better of saying it. Probably research for an essay.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“He was forever a black child who'd been publicly wronged, and so he was an altar for the well-meaning pilgrims, who wanted his grace in exchange for their patronage.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“He called Nisha, ready to be relieved. She picked up instantly. “What’s wrong?” Shawn asked. “He’s okay,” said Nisha, and Shawn knew what she meant was “He’s alive.” “He’s not even hurt. But he got in a car accident.” “When?” “Just now.” Shawn pulled the phone from his face to check the time. It was just after 1:30. “He cut school again,” he said. “Yup.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“What he wanted now was what he already had: his hard-earned plot of life, tilled daily with diligence and dignity. His family. His home. His job.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“When they figure out who she is, they gonna wonder why some sweet old Korean lady got herself shot. They gonna ask if she got enemies. And here we are, two black-ass felons with a blood grudge.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“She could feel it like a glass wall, real and dangerous, but only made visible in certain lights—by dirt or fingerprints, or the glint of things reflected. Alfonso Curiel flashed against it, throwing its contours into relief, and she wanted to reach out and touch it. To confirm it was there and feel its resistance. To learn its shape and size, so she might find a way to remove it without shatter.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“But she held tight to all her principles, and the most important of these was that family came first.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“What she had instead was a share in a mass burial site, marked by a big granite tombstone engraved with the words: WHOMEVER​FOREVER WHEREVER REST IN PEACE This stone, at least, was in better shape than most of the others. It looked like it got cleaned once in a while, despite the mildew and bird shit; there were even a few remembrances at its base: an American flag, a cluster of plastic roses. Shawn leaned a tiny potted succulent against the stone and closed his eyes. When he was little—between one and three years old, they never did quite nail it down—Ava made him high-five a cactus. She set it up with a series of high fives that had him chasing her hand like a cat chases a light. Up high, down low, too slow! For her finale, she extended her hand, palm out flat, over a potted cactus, and when he slammed down as fast and eager as he could, she whisked her hand away.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“No, there was something else there, something bigger, she was sure of it. She could feel it like a glass wall, real and dangerous, but only made visible in certain lights—by dirt or fingerprints, or the glint of things reflected”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“Don’t martyr yourself. Your workers’ comp won’t cover it.'

--Shawn's boss, Manny.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“Her slippers slapped the ground.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“For a second, she perked up, a Pavlovian response wired into her since childhood. The sound of the garage that meant Umma or Appa was home.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“She didn’t have the resources to compete with the kids who practiced for hours each day, the ones who’d been playing since they were five, with professional teachers, with parents to prod them and pay for their lessons.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“It had been a low-speed collision, Darryl turning in front of the Durango with what he thought was plenty of room, the woman hitting the brakes in time to slow down before smashing into the back wheel of Ray’s sedan. Darryl had told her he’d left his license at home, and the lady wasn’t buying his bald-faced bullshit—said she didn’t raise three boys to get lied to by some other mother’s son.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay

“He called you?” “Yeah, he called me, not that he had any choice. It was either deal with me or deal with the police, and I guess I’m not that scary.” “At least he didn’t try to run.” “We don’t know he didn’t try it.” She laughed a little, and Shawn was glad to hear it. “But I hope I didn’t raise him that stupid.” “How did he sound?” “Oh, he sounded shook, Shawn. I think he was crying.” She laughed again. “Serves him right, the little liar. I don’t think I’ve ever been so mad at him.”
― Steph Cha, Your House Will Pay