Dionisia’s Reviews > Washington Black > Status Update

"You were more concerned that slavery should be a moral stain upon white men than by the actual damage it wreaks on black men."

"She loved me with a viciousness that kept me from ever feeling complacent, with the reminder that nothing was permanent, that we would one day be lost to each other. She loved me with the terror or separation, as someone who had lost all the riches of a scorched life. She loved me in spite of those past losses, as if to say, I will not surrender this time, you will not take this from me."

"Everything is bizarre, and everything has value. Or if not value, at least merits investigation."

"It had been a burst of incandescence, fleeting, radiant, every punch of light like a note of music."

"And so onward we went, northward."

"I knew the nature of evil; I knew it's benign, easy face. He would be a man, simply."

"My chest ached with anguish and wonder, an astonishment that went on and on, and I could not catch my breath."

"There he'd lie, his mouth slacking back to reveal a dark pink gullet, wheezing out the smell of sweet milk."

"I stared up at his glistening green eyes, the lashes matted, black as the legs of flies. And my smile was a smile of terror."