Dava Shastri's Last Day Quotes

“But when you lose someone, or are about to lose someone, all you can be is grateful for the time you had. Death takes so much, but it never will rob you of your memories.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Marriage ends up as a hopeful, generous, infinitely kind gamble taken by two people who don’t know yet who they are or who the other might be, binding themselves to a future they cannot conceive of and have carefully avoided investigating.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“A lifetime of work would not be undermined by wagging tongues hungry for scandal. There must be a way to counter the narrative. And to do so, she needed to know exactly what was being said about her.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“I love my husband, but I don't need him. Not for my name to mean something. Not to feel whole. Years later, Dava would remember that moment and would berate herself for tempting fate-and losing.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“I don't care if she built a gold statue of herself in the middle of Times Square. Because she's actually made a real difference in the world, Arvie. It's not mere lip service. She's helped hundreds, maybe thousands of people”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“I need a wife for life”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“And to be this great, I'm going to need a wife. I'm going to need for you to be my wife. I know it's not what you signed up for. But this is what I want. And to get to that level, I'm going to need you to be the kind of person who will be in charge of all this-laundry, playdates, dinner parties. (Page 216)”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Compatibility is an achievement of love. It shouldn’t be its precondition.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Even with your strength, I think, at times, you might be too generous with your heart.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“What Sita wanted instead was a life that did not tether her and her family to the foundation, with her work schedule dictating their lives. She outlined her vision of a six-month sabbatical the following year, in which their family would journey around the world, with the idea she would homeschool them as they traveled.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“But Sandi seems more preoccupied with Amma’s will rather than the fact that I’m about to lose her. Not to mention the unending wall of shit we’re dealing with.” “Sandi’s not completely”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“had been the only time during their marriage she had hinted at the motivations behind her philanthropic work, revealing the dark heart of ego that beat underneath.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Dava Shastri is Wonder Woman, and Dava, the woman who went to SoHo every week, is Diana Prince. The two never inhabited the same space. One wanted to save the world, and the other was a human being who needed to eat and take naps and have sex. They were truly two different people,” Dava had said.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“But now she wished their relationship could exist outside of her mother’s ambitions, so she didn’t have to feel like the gift of knowing her true namesake was also about maneuvering Sita like a pawn on a chessboard.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“To Sita, for being our fearless leader. The foundation will be lucky to have you as its new head bitch.” Sita smiled with uncertainty, restraining herself from informing her sister the board would vote for a new CEO, and it would likely not be her.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“I was just trying to figure out what our baby would look like—that’s all,” Sandi said carefully. “I’ve been trying to imagine our baby based on your nieces and nephews, but that’s only making me more confused”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Arvie inwardly rolled his eyes. Kali’s dating history was like her artwork: colorful and baffling. He had never met her artsy couple, with whom she lived part-time in a log cabin in Poughkeepsie with their toddler, Jicama, and hoped he never would.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Must everything out of your mouth be so angry?” Kali said, wrinkling her nose. “We’re dealing with a lot, and your negativity isn’t helping.” “My kids are caught up in this craziness, so I can be as pissed off as I want.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“So this was the reason for the rushed engagement after only a few months of dating. And then a wave of sadness enveloped her. She would never meet Rev’s child, her new Shastri grandchild.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Dava rubbed her temples in frustration. She wondered if she should try to persuade them this was truly a last-minute decision, rather than one in a series of calculations she made in the aftermath of her visit to Dr. Barrett.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“As her only child who saw her with any regularity, Sita had been urging her for almost a year to slow down at work. And Sita had been telling her this despite having no idea about her mother’s episodes.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“She felt unstuck in time as her gaze traveled from the painting of her children—toothy smiles, kid-size suits and velvet dresses—to the adults grousing at the foot of her bed.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“She had wanted her bedroom to feel like a refuge, but within its walls she instead felt like a queen whose subjects were planning to overthrow her.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“What did they actually know about making a living on minimum wage, or choosing between buying groceries and paying the electric bill?”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Amma is paying an allowance to a grown man who only works at her nonprofit, like, three days a month?” Her brother’s lips twisted into a sneer, and she gave him a smug smile. “Oh, sorry—I meant ‘salary,’” she added, making quotation marks with her fingers.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“I can’t get a handle on what you’re mad about.” Rev kept his tone even, though Sandi could see him clenching his fists in his lap. “Is it that this house isn’t fancy enough for you, or that Amma has the means to build this place?”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“And yet the words were just sitting there, dull and useless on her tongue, while Arvie went on and on about the dumb shower.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“Sandi had two goals in mind for her stay at Beatrix Island: develop a relationship with Dava and enjoy the perks of vacationing at the private residence of one of the world’s wealthiest women. Neither seemed close to coming true.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“She reminded Sandi of a Disney villainess, the kind of character who makes the heroine seem dull in comparison.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day

“And then maybe like a few months after the divorce, I read an amazing quote: 'Compatibility is an achievement of love. It shouldn't be its precondition.' Well, that hit me in the gut.”
― Kirthana Ramisetti, Dava Shastri's Last Day