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328 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2017
“I like the library… I like it better than most people. It’s quiet. It has substance.”
“All it does is remind me of all that I will never have: simple touching. Warm skin on warm skin. No fucking fractals.”
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around.
I think about when we met and I asked him his name and he made that Venn diagram with his hands. I probably fell in love with him right on the spot. I think about how our circles once seemed to barely overlap. Two separate lives with a tiny sliver of math tutoring in common. But now it's like my whole circle and his whole circle are the same: our past, our present and maybe even our future.
My mom fills the tub and strips the girls down while I put on a VeggieTales video for Ethan and Eli. I watch with them for a bit and Larry is singing one of his silly songs about a hairbrush when Essie waddles back into the room wrapped in a towel, her pink cheeks shining.
Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh, where is my hairbrush? Oh, where
Oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh, where, oh
Where oh, where is my hairbrush?)
- "Once in a while a vision will start like an algo and then go all Jekyll and Hyde on me."
So from studying Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at university, I gathered that the book was about Jekyll who had a split personality and Hyde was the side to himself that was dangerous in society and was demonised. I'm not sure that used split personality disorder as a passive joke is funny...
- "How a C is good enough for anyone, I’m not sure I’ll ever understand. But somehow he will be satisfied by his own mediocrity"
How is getting a 'C' grade bad? Just because she is a maths genius, doesn't mean everyone is dumb because they're not at college level straight away... I got a B in maths; does that make me mediocre? No.
- "occasional coat of mascara when I’m feeling nutty. I mean, I’m not Amish, after all."
Is she calling Amish people crazy? If so, I really really don't think that's funny.
- "Which makes me think I might consider bearing his children immediately."
We're 41 pages in... You shouldn't be thinking about bearing anyone's children at this point...
- "The car slows politely. Then it slows more, pulling up next to me. My stomach drops and I wonder if anyone will hear me scream when the rapist yanks me into his car."
Yeah, because being kidnapped and raped is hilarious
- "I mean, I am a quarter Asian, after all.” (When Zenn is talking about himself being an honour-role child)
The "I'm-asian-therefore-i'm-clever" trope is getting really old...
- "What the hell did he do? Murder a few people? Run a drug ring? Sexually abuse some kid?"
Again, I didn't realise that murder or sexual abuse was something that you could just make a flippant comment about...
"The university websites are wonderful, all the text written in an informal, laid-back voice that makes you fall in love with them. They say things like, If you are admitted to *insert school name here*, we will make sure that you can afford to come to *school name* and We will help meet every single cent of your family’s demonstrated need. Um, yeah. Right. Maybe if I sell my soul. How can they possibly promise that?"
- Wendy Brant, Zenn Diagram