Parade Quotes

“I REALIZED SOMETHING IN THAT MOMENT. Yuko had somehow resigned herself to the situation. She had given up being sad or being disappointed. Just like my grandmother when she had taken her last breath, Yuko had purposely stopped feeling things.”
― Hiromi Kawakami, Parade: A Folktale

“Every so often, Yuko and I ended up together on the way home from abacus school. Whenever we parted ways, Yuko would always direct a “goodbye” to the space behind me. She did it even when neither of the tengu were there, but I didn’t tell her that. There was something very kind about Yuko’s “goodbye.” I wondered if my voice would ever sound as kind as that. If it did, would the tengu touch me, and would the spot where they touched sparkle? And if my voice ever did sound like that, would the tengu still be following me? This is what I always thought about while I watched Yuko’s retreating figure disappear around a corner.”
― Hiromi Kawakami, Parade: A Folktale

“When I looked up at Yuko, she was smiling. And yet her smiling face reminded me of the face of my grandmother, who had died the year before, and what she had looked like when she was laid out in her coffin.”
― Hiromi Kawakami, Parade: A Folktale

“Sometimes I think about stories that have ended. [...] Is that world really over and done with? [...] Did they go on more trips together? [...] The world that exists behind a story is never fully known, not even to the author.”
― Hiromi Kawakami, Parade

“The world that exists behind a story is never fully known, not even to the author. That is what I had in mind as I created this. I hope you have enjoyed reading this memento of a story that has ended.”
― Hiromi Kawakami, Parade: A Folktale