Familia Quotes

“If you write, you're a writer. If you paint, you're a painter. If you sing, you're a singer. You may be a total shit writer, or painter, or singer--but that doesn't make you any less of one.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Miguel, Beatríz, and Sister Blanca carried on with their lives, knowing they had been instruments of God, or fate, or the universe—depending on the person and the day.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Good thing she’s got some money, because she’s gonna need a really good therapist to work through this shitshow. We both are.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“I’m terribly sorry, I totally forgot I was supposed to report all my life events to you. Should I have alerted you to the fact that my daughter had a baby last summer?”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“I’ve known this woman for five minutes, and she’s just given some of the best, most powerful advice I’ve ever gotten in my life.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“So, you have to decide how much imperfection you are willing to live with.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“No matter how you slice it, the truth of one life turns the other into a lie.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Let’s all take a few seconds to consider the potential ramifications. Because—and correct me if I’m wrong here, Detective Alvarez—we’re talking fraud at best and kidnapping—possibly even murder, at worst.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Okay—so, just to be clear—because we must be absolutely clear on this—we are talking about doing something with serious consequences for everyone in this room. Let’s all take a few seconds to consider the potential ramifications. Because—and correct me if I’m wrong here, Detective Alvarez—we’re talking fraud at best and kidnapping—possibly even murder, at worst.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Marianna is taken from Alberto in lieu of payment by the enforcer named Yeti. Santiago wants nothing to do with it, but decides the child has to be killed to avoid the perception he’s weak.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“She will never know that he had been the one to choose the name with which she was reborn—Gabriella—for his beloved mother. She will never know the hopes and dreams that have been pinned on her survival.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“De la cuna a la tuma.” From the cradle to the grave.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“It’s ironic, isn’t it? For all these years, you’ve been looking for Marianna . . . and somewhere along the way, you lost Isabella.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“The Coquí is a little tree frog that croaks exactly the way its name sounds—co-KEE, co-KEE, co-KEE,” I”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Either way, facts are what can be proven. Truth is what you choose to believe—with or without the facts to back it up.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“But facts and truth aren’t the same thing, are they?” She continues before I have a chance to even think about responding. “Isn’t the truth about perception? My truth may not be the same as your truth—but they might still be . . . the truth.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“this isn’t about not being able to believe that I’m your sister. It’s about being able to believe I’m not their daughter.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“The vast swath of water below me transitions from azure to lapis, lapis to cerulean, cerulean to teal—each band of color as delicate and translucent as the finest Impressionist painting.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Maybe you British boys don’t know much about us Latina girls, but let me just tell you, unless you’re Hugh Grant, nobody’s got time to listen to you be all coy and stuttery and shit.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“There’s this misconception that truth is a fluid thing—that it morphs and changes”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“This is when I knew I must stop with the drinking and the drugs. Because I know then you would find her—you would find our Marianna and bring her home.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“I’ll be damned if the sonofabitch isn’t sober! My father looks like any other middle-aged Puerto Rican man. And I’m having trouble getting my head around it.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“If you live back there—back in the past—you’ll never get over the things that have happened to you. And if you live in the future—always imagining the perfect sister, or job, or family—you’ll never appreciate everything that’s right in front of you.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“But there are times . . . there are times when I get so frustrated, because the only thing standing in the way of your happiness is you. It’s as if you’re determined to stay that angry, lonely, distrusting girl I met all those years ago.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“My husband isn’t a loud man. And he’s not the kind of guy who loses his temper or his patience easily. So, for him to come to this place is very unusual for him—and very disconcerting for me.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“I’ve spoken to Matéo. I know about the grants and the interest from that advertising agency. So don’t you dare stand there and talk to me about being too afraid to put myself out there!”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“I experience anger, frustration, embarrassment, amusement, relief, gratitude, and awe. And it’s exhausting. Because being around Isabella is like being on a roller coaster—terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“Before Beatríz had become the whore of Satan.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“If he actually had killed the cocksucker, his mother would still be alive now. But Coquí hadn’t stopped him when he had the chance, and he’d lived with that guilt every moment of every day ever since.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia

“For as long as she could remember, Beatríz had been drawn to the bad boys. Who wanted to go to bed with dull and deferential when you could have dark and dangerous? And Santiago was nothing if not dark and dangerous.”
― Lauren E. Rico, Familia