A Sharp Solitude Quotes

“It took me a long time to realize that our parents don’t necessarily have to define us. Still, like shadows, certain events from our childhood follow us everywhere we go.”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude

“like an image in the rearview mirror, appearing closer than they’ll ever let you actually be again.”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude

“For girls—it always begins with a shitty father.”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude

“But my sister has created her own hell. I know all the elements in our lives—the addicted, abusive father; the struggling working mom; the overbearing sister—formed the gaping wounds in my sister, the burning ache that pushed her from guy to guy, party to party, drug to drug. I’m not going to make excuses for my own strong will. Somehow, against the torn backdrop of my own upbringing, my anger and bullheadedness fueled me to keep my grades up and enabled me to push myself to go to college even though I never felt like I belonged there. It was the fire that drove me to overcome the temptations that my sister fell prey to so easily. My mom and I tried to help her in the way every concerned family member tries—spending way too much money (mostly mine) to get her help that didn’t stick.”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude

“Another thing I learned in psychology was exactly how dangerous it is to enable the destructive behavior of the people you love. It”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s the smaller wounds, like that one, that leave the deepest scars.”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude

“That was the moment I fell for him. I realized then that Sam’s death marked the death of Reeve’s childhood.”
― Christine Carbo, A Sharp Solitude