Cami’s Reviews > Open Me > Status Update

“She has also learned that the things people say at funerals have little to do with the true story of the deceased’s life and more to do with the parts the survivors can remember, the parts they want to remember, a patchwork of stories on top of a whole truth” (137).

(Cont.) “…specific, very unpredictable moments” (92).

“It is amazing to Mem how unreliable most other words can be, amazing the things one mouth can create, surprises popping out like tricks pulled from a magician’s hat. Even more amazing what a mouth can become: scissors, spikes, salve, guru, envy, comfort, chain, door. Open door. Locked door. A door with ten thousand keyholes and no keys. One keyhole and ten thousand keys that each can fit but only at very…”

“Heart attack. Did he love someone too much until his heart exploded? Did no one love him, so his heart stopped? Mem puts her hand over her own heart, she feels it thump against her ribs like a small animal that wants to get out. Heart attack. It seems to Mem like a perfectly plausible way to die. ‘Did the heart attack hurt?’ asks Mem. Her mother nods absently. She says, ‘It always hurts to die’” (43-44).

“Crying is a three-dimensional language, a language that tells a story one can touch as well as see, a native tongue that all children know as they gasp their way out of the womb. It is a true language that survives evolution, technology, and time. It is the only language that survives translation” (12).