In the Cut Quotes

“I think memories are like dreams. Not reliable proof of anything. I can't prove a memory any more than I can prove a dream.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“The egg was too spinsterly-looking a snack, too lonely-seeming, and I did not want to be lectured about my diet. Or my loneliness.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I know the sort of man who likes me. So I wondered, not for the first time, what secret I might possess, what magic charm or talisman had allowed me to get Malloy's attention in the first place. To get him to fuck me. I am not the kind of woman he likes.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“The trees in the park swayed and shuddered in anticipation, with delight or dread I do not know.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“My belated recognition of his desire actually served the purpose of provoking me to consider him, if only for a moment. It was like high school when just to hear that a boy liked you was sufficient encouragement to agree to go steady with him by the end of the day. Now that I think of it, it is just like life. Not high school.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I reminded myself that Pauline says they have to despise us in order to come near us, in order to overcome their terrible fear of us. She has some very romantic ideas.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Give me my Scallop shell of quiet.
You know, they did not print the whole of the Indian song in the subway. Only a few lines. But I know the poem.
“It’s off in the distance. It came into the room. It’s here in the circle.”
I know the poem.
She knows the poem”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“essay on the language of the dying”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“His scar?” My skirt was heavy with blood, pooled between my thighs, seeping slowly through the cotton. It tickled when it dripped onto my skin, into my pubic hair, over the labia. I was not wearing underwear. You remember. “He never would tell me.”
“That fucking Malloy.” He laughed. “He ruptured his appendix when he was a kid.”
My hand over my chest, the blood finding its way between my closed fingers, my ribs light in my warm hand, my breast lighter without the rose nipple to give it weight, to give it meaning.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
It was difficult to move my head. “All right,” I said. “It’s all right”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“His scar?” My skirt was heavy with blood, pooled between my thighs, seeping slowly through the cotton. It tickled when it dripped onto my skin, into my pubic hair, over the labia. I was not wearing underwear. You remember. “He never would tell me.”
“That fucking Malloy.” He laughed. “He ruptured his appendix when he was a kid”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I have new words for the dictionary.
to knock boots, phr., to have sexual intercourse
tracks, n., contract (as in “I got a track to kill him”)
to do, v., to fuck
to do, v., to kill
clean, adj., handsome
to Brodie, v., to jump, usually from a building or a bridge; taken from a Mr. Brodie who claimed to have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge
to lash, v., to urinate
chronic, n., marijuana, esp. high-quality
smudge, n., black person
Ape Avenue, n., Eighth Avenue (police slang)
puppy, n., handgun (Jamaican word)
scrambler, n., low-level runner for a drug dealer
cocola, n., black person (Puerto Rican word)
spliv, n., black person
to be hung like a horse, phr., to have influential connections in the police department; also a guy who is hung like a horse
ground ball, phr., something easy or simple
to pull a train, v., to have group sex, gang-bang
stinger, n., drug dealer
to inflash, v., to inform (as in “he inflash me with the bitch’s scenario”)
to double, v., to double-park
to sleep in a tent, exp., to have a large penis
to be built like a tripod, phr., to have a large penis
dixie cup, n., a person who is considered disposable
her, she, pron., wife”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Not a good word, sibling.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I’m seeing Eugene Onegin.” After the letter scene, Tatiana pours a ewer of water over her head. I think you’d like it.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“feeling that it was some betrayal of the awful trust I’d inherited from Pauline’s promiscuous aunt.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Oh,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“When are you seeing Pauline?”
“Oh, she’ll eat me alive. Are you kidding? She’s worse than you.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“It’s like trying to remember a dream,” I said. “It’s in me somewhere.”
“I wish I were in you somewhere,” he said.
To my surprise, I was a little disappointed. Too easy, I thought. “Where are you instead?”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I pretended not to be too interested in the gun.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“That’s not what I meant.”
“What?”
“I want to know what you did with her.”
He looked at me. “Why?” he asked at last.
“I don’t know. So I can imagine it. So I can sleep.”
He started to speak, then stopped himself. Then he began again.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“She knows the poem.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Give me my Scallop shell of quiet.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“There is an essay on the language of the dying. The dying sometimes speak of themselves in the third person. I was not speaking that way. I said: I am bleeding. I am going to bleed to death. And I will be lucky if I die before he returns.

Give me my Scallop shell of quiet.

You know, they did not print the whole of the Indian song in the subway. Only a few lines. But I know the poem.

'It's off in the distance. It came into the room. It's here in the circle.'

I know the poem.

She knows the poem.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I asked him not to hurt me. It seems to be what women say. And men. It did not stop him.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I felt such desire for him, such murderous and vengeful desire, that I was trembling.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Listen, you don't want me. Only you don't know it. You just think you do. I've been thrown out of a lot of places.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Afraid, now that I knew what I wanted. What I did not want. I did not want him to hurt me.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I'd kissed him on the mouth, put my tongue in his mouth, and I knew that I did not know how to stop it. I had forgotten how to stop it.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“I was thinking about that, my heart suddenly full of despair.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“Nowhere could I find peace.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut

“He was looking at me in a way that he never had before. Impatient. A little bored. As if I were not so smart after all.”
― Susanna Moore, In the Cut