Gather the Daughters Quotes

“She can’t see the point of the repetitiveness of it all, people living to create more people and then dying when they’re useless, to make room for even more new people. She’s not sure why they keep making new people to replace themselves, except—of course—that the ancestors said to.”
― Jennie Melamed, Gather the Daughters

“If she could start her life over again, she decides, she would shout more. She would bite like the dream dogs. She wouldn’t be so scared of everything all the time. She wouldn’t come when Father called, she would stay where she was. She wouldn’t lose her breath when Mr. Abraham said her name, but speak boldly. She would stomp and yell and be loud and big, eat until she grew six feet tall and then run away. She rolls into a”
― Jennie Melamed, Gather the Daughters

“Gathering her courage, she raises her voice gleefully and sings Father’s favorite swear word, which would get her smacked if any adult heard her say it. “So fuck! Fuck! Fuck you, Father and Mother, fuck you, little brother, fuck all the others, fuck the ferry and the fog, fuck school and fuck church and fuck the ancestors and fuck fruition, fuck you, fuck the island too.”
― Jennie Melamed, Gather the Daughters

“If she could start her life over again, she decides, she would shout more. She would bite like the dream dogs. She wouldn’t be so scared of everything all the time. She wouldn’t come when Father called, she would stay where she was. She wouldn’t lose her breath when Mr. Abraham said her name, but speak boldly. She would stomp and yell and be loud and big, eat until she grew six feet tall and then run away.”
― Jennie Melamed, Gather the Daughters