Steve

“Gone was the pleasure of re-educating my voice, my gestures, my way of dressing and walking, as if I were competing for the prize of best disguise, the mask worn so well that it was almost a face.”
― Elena Ferrante, The Story of a New Name

“she must, Anna thought, need to sleep with some kind of pads over them to keep her eyeballs moist. Whatever nose had once sat in the middle of her face had melted into a small, pug-like muzzle, while oversized cheek implants added an almost whimsical touch of chipmunk. Lips too lush for even a twenty-year-old were the finishing touch, ballooning out from her face, turning up at the ends, and making a normal chin look weak and recessive atop a tight, corded neck. The Joker, Anna thought. The thick curls of a platinum wig tumbled about this hodgepodge of readjusted features, undoubtedly hiding a hairline a good five”
― Suzanne Munshower, Younger

“Marriage by now seemed to me an institution that, contrary to what one might think, stripped coitus of all humanity.”
― Elena Ferrante, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

“adore having you. It’s only Ian; he was saying tonight he wondered if you wouldn’t feel more comfortable if you paid something…”
― Evelyn Waugh, Unconditional Surrender