Ghosts of Bergen County Quotes

“For adults, summer was different-- flatter, the way everything became flatter when you grew old, like the hills you once sledded and stood on your pedals to climb, like the Christmases and birthdays you once anticipated, even after you discovered they disappointed, again and again, until you became numb to their disappointment.”
― Dana Cann, Ghosts of Bergen County

“Collective burden, defined as the aggregate internalized guilt and complicity of a group of people, is the wellspring from which spirits arise.”
― Dana Cann, Ghosts of Bergen County

“There were no witnesses except the woman who'd been up all night, had consumed two beers and three vodka tonics before switching to (and sharing) the play-wright's Scotch, and she (the witness) could remember the morning only in snatches, like the digital stills and clips that cycled through her computer's screensaver.”
― Dana Cann, Ghosts of Bergen County

“April was a red balloon, flaccid in an open, pink palm. June was a red balloon, inflated and knotted and bopped by a knuckle on a warm current of air. August was a red balloon forgotten and collapsing in a dusty corner.”
― Dana Cann, Ghosts of Bergen County

“She was impatient, disappointed with herself, with the limitations imposed by her physical presence, by her height and weight, age and maturity, mortality and fragility. The earth spun on its axis, and gravity grounded her. She sensed that the girl could fly if she chose to, that she could disappear and reappear, and pass through objects... all while Mary Beth grew old, day after day, and some cruel god counted the rotations, the laps around the sun... A tree grew until it fell.”
― Dana Cann, Ghosts of Bergen County