More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Marriage just ain’t the same for white folks as it is for us, Baby. White folks got all kinds of reasons to get married. Money, property, status. See, we only get married for one reason, that’s one thing we got special that they ain’t got.” “What’s the reason?” “Well, love, Baby. We ain’t got no other reason. And it’s the best reason of all, the one they’re all too blind to see.”
“You ain’t the only one with hurt, Junie. This world is full of it, and going through it thinking you’re the only one carrying something is an easy way to lose the bit of love you might have.”
“White folks are the way they want to be, ain’t they? That’s why they’re white folks.” “What way do you mean?” “Well, ruthless. Stealing people’s lives from ’em and making ’em work to make ’em money. The old folks back on the island used to say that’s why they were white; they lost all their color when they lost their souls. You gotta be a certain type of soulless to believe you can own somebody the way they do.”
She told me that when you first lose somebody, the grief feels like the strongest tea you’ve ever tasted, so bitter and sharp you don’t think you’ll ever be able to swallow. But that every day, another drop of water falls into that cup, and it gets a little easier to taste. That bitterness, that pain, it don’t ever go away or get smaller. But it does fade.”
“Yes. Of course I do. You’re my middle C.” “Middle C?” “The key between the lows and the highs, the balance of it all, the true center of the music. But it don’t matter, that’s the thing.”
