Ray

“We drove down Corydon avenue towards my mother's apartment. How are you doing, she asked me? Fine, fine, I said. I wanted to tell her that I felt I was dying from rage and that I felt guilty about everything and that when I was a kid I woke up every morning singing, that I couldn't wait to leap out of bed and rush out of the house into the magical kingdom that was my world, that dust made visible in sunbeams gave me real authentic joy, that my sparkly golden banana-seated bike with the very high sissy bar took my breath away, the majesty of it, that it was mine, that there was no freer soul in the world than me at age nine, and that now I wake up every morning reminding myself that control is an illusion, taking deep breaths and counting to ten trying to ward off panic attacks and hoping that my own hands hadn't managed to strangle me while I slept.”
― Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows

“Do you know that hobo is an acronym for Homeward Bound?”
― Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows

“Nic loves Elf's odd requests, each one is like a holiday for him...and he's not a Mennonite, which is important--in a man-- for Elf. Mennonite men have wasted too much of her time already, trying to harvest her soul and shackle her to shame.”
― Miriam Toews

“Where does violence go, if not directly back into our blood and bones?”
― Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows