Jasper Jones

by Craig Silvey

Everyone can learn a trade and pay taxes and have a family. But that’s not growin up. It’s about how you act when your shit gets shaken up, it’s about how much you see around you. That’s what makes a man.

I think it’s that most people don’t like that lonely feeling. People don’t like looking up and feeling small or lost. That’s what I think prayer is all about. It doesn’t matter which stories they believe in, they’re all doing that same thing, kind of casting a line out to outer space, like there’s something out there to connect to. It’s like people make themselves part of something bigger that way, and maybe it makes them less afraid.”