Julia’s Reviews > Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World > Status Update

“The sun sliced through the windshield, sealing me in light. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth on my eyelids. Sunlight traveled a long distance to reach this planet; an infinitesimal portion of that energy was enough to warm my eyelids. I was moved. That something as insignificant as an eyelid had its place in the workings of the universe, that the cosmic order did not overlook this momentary fact.” 395

“Two people can sleep in the same bed and still be alone when they close their eyes, if you know what I mean.” 388

“It’s not the best of all worlds,” says my shadow. “I make no promises, but it is the world where we belong. There will be good and bad. There will be neither good nor bad. It is where you were born and where you will live and where you will die. And when you die, I too will die. It’s the natural course of things.”

“Death leaves cans of shaving cream half-used.”

“Then I hugged her one more time, to etch her warmth indelibly into my brain.” 378

“I will drag my shadow after me as I once did. I will worry and suffer, grow old and die. I doubt you can understand, but I belong in that world, where I will be led around, even led astray, by my own mind." 349

“Losing you is most difficult for me, but the nature of my love for you is what matters. If it distorts into half-truth, then perhaps it is better not to love you…” 350

“But the absence of fighting or hatred or desire also means the opposites do not exist either. No joy, no communion, no love. Only where there is disillusionment and depression and sorrow does happiness arise; without the despair of loss, there is no hope.” 334

“Okay, I may have been destined to disintegrate in the very near future, but I wasn’t prepared to be pate for some creature from the black lagoon. I wanted to die under the sun.” 299

“Ah, to lie back and look at the sky. I’d go to the barber, get a shave, stroll over to Gaien Park, lie down and gaze up at the blue. Maybe sip an ice-cold beer. Just the thing, while waiting for the end of the world.” 305