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It has carried shouts of love, and it has dried tears to salt tracks on more faces than it can number.
“Prohibition? I drink to its health whenever I can.”
All around him, Harlem was alive with writers, musicians, poets, and thinkers. They were changing the world. Memphis wanted to be part of that change.
We’re going to have a nation of creationists with no grasp of history.”
They couldn’t bring their families over. They weren’t protected by our laws. They were on their own.” “Doesn’t sound terribly American.” “On the contrary, it’s very American,” Will said bitterly.
If she was right about Isaiah Campbell, the power was coming back. What did that mean? How many others like him were there? What were they capable of? And how long before they were found?
On a side table, Evie spied a Bible holding up a potted fern. “And Mother says I’m a heathen.”
“Life don’t come to you, Memphis. You gotta take it. We have to take it. Because ain’t nobody handing it to us. You understand?
“How do you invent a religion?” Evie asked. Will looked over the top of his spectacles. “You say, ‘God told me the following,’ and then wait for people to sign up.”
“Charity begins at home.” “So does mental illness.”
Reason was for suckers and Presbyterians.
“The line between faith and fanaticism is a constantly shifting one,” Dr. Poblocki said. “When does belief become justification? When does right become rationale and crusade become crime?”
Some mornings, she’d wake and vow, Today, I will get it right. I won’t be such an awful mess of a girl. I won’t lose my temper or make unkind remarks. I won’t go too far with a joke and feel the room go quiet with disapproval. I’ll be good and kind and sensible and patient. The sort everyone loves. But by evening, her good intentions would have unraveled. She’d say the wrong thing or talk a little too loudly. She’d take a dare she shouldn’t, just to be noticed.
But what was the point of living so quietly you made no noise at all? “Oh, Evie, you’re too much,” people said, and it wasn’t complimentary. Yes, she was too much. She felt like too much inside all the time. So why wasn’t she ever enough?
This is why i like Evie so much. She has so many faults but this one section resonates with me so much. Always too much but never enough at the same time
In New York’s more fashionable quarters, the smart set, who were too swell to admit fear, organized “Murder Clubs” where they swilled cocktails with names like Pentacle Poison, Voodoo Varnish, and The Killer’s Cocktail—a potent mix of whiskey, champagne, orange juice, and crushed cherries said to make anyone wish she were dead the next morning. Murder was just another reason to drink and dance the night away. It
“You have a steady fella?” Sam asked after a bit. “No fella can hold me for long.” Sam gave her a sideways glance. “That a challenge?” “No. A statement of fact.”
Memphis didn’t want to get into it with Gabe, so he just said, “It’s a free country.” He walked into the kitchen to buy a couple of drinks, and Gabe followed. “No, it isn’t. You know that.” “Well, it should be.” “Should and is aren’t the same thing.
“There is no greater power on this earth than story.” Will paced the length of the room. “People think boundaries and borders build nations. Nonsense—words do. Beliefs, declarations, constitutions—words. Stories. Myths. Lies. Promises. History.”
“People tend to think that hate is the most dangerous emotion. But love is equally dangerous,”
“When the world moves forward too fast for some people, they try to pull us all back with their fear,”
There was no reasoning with these people. Evie could feel their hatred. Their conviction. They might destroy the pendant and the ghost of John Hobbes, but they couldn’t kill what lived on after. The world was a bully.
In them, she saw the sham of her life laid out like a book, the foolish belief that she, that anyone, could escape the consequences of this world, could flee from death. That was the deceit. The true serpent in the garden. And dust you shall eat all the days of your life.…
“People will believe anything if it means they can go on with their lives and not have to think too hard about it.”
