Serena Singh Flips the Script Quotes

“Friendships ran their course all the time.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“clearly. I’d been searching out all these ways to meet new, like-minded people, but I couldn’t just expect a new friend to appear out of nowhere. It took work. It took effort.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“No, I didn’t fucking know that. He didn’t tell me, nor had he ever expressed any emotion toward me beyond apathy unless I’d disappointed him. He was proud of me? Really? All this time, I thought he hated me, too.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Mom was right. I would never understand or agree with her decision to stay, but I knew I was judging her from a place of privilege. I grew up in a different country, a different time, and the choices available to me were ones that my mother, and”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“You’re right,” he said finally. “This wasn’t meant to be. I mean, the truth is I don’t even know you that well.” What he said was true, but it didn’t feel good to hear those words out loud. Six months and he didn’t know me, but it wasn’t his fault. I’d never let him in.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Seriously, what did he say this time?” Ainsley interrupted. “Did he say I was too old for you again? Used goods?” She ran her hands through her hair. “I heard the word ‘Greek.’ Does he still want me to learn make to daal? You can cook daal. Did you tell him that? So why do I have to fucking learn how to make it?”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“If she told her every little thing—a harmless argument with Veer, a bill they hadn’t yet managed to pay, a blood pressure reading that was slightly higher than what her doctor felt comfortable with—it would only cause worry.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Family kept you grounded, but they’d all been uprooted, scattered, and were now like tumbleweeds blowing recklessly around the globe. Sandeep had done everything in her power to change that, to build anew. She cleaned houses, despite the upturned noses of some her friends, so they could save more quickly,”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“She’d enjoy doting on a young man, which wasn’t to say she hadn’t relished having two little girls to raise. In fact, daughters were what she had preferred. She despised that in their village, the birth of boys had been celebrated and the arrival of girls mourned.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“What a fucker.” She gripped the steering wheel. “Do you know, when I worked with him in the nineties, he used to call me the ‘office geisha.’” I gasped. “Notwithstanding the fact that I’m Korean, not Japanese, yes, the implication was that our director had brought me on to ‘please’ the clients.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“I’d been so obsessed with proving myself to her and my team that I hadn’t even considered that she was going through a difficult time transitioning away from being the company’s creative face, taking a backseat to, well, me.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Excluding her from her life and her pregnancy, acting like she was ashamed of where she came from. According to Mom, Natasha wouldn’t even let her bring a dish to the gender reveal party. (Just let the woman make you samosas, you brat! Everyone likes them.)”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Because it’s hard to create a friendship from scratch, without history. It’s a lot of effort, and especially when you’re a grown-up with responsibilities who still wants to sleep seven hours a night, it’s hard to make time for that effort.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“know you girls grew up . . . differently.” My mouth gaped open as I watched her disappear inside. Differently?”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“To her family’s dismay, one girl moved all the way to Los Angeles to pursue acting, of all things, and another just across the state line to her boyfriend’s.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“As I gave him a brief recap on the past twelve years, all I could think about was the new knowledge that Natasha and Jesse were Facebook friends. She’d never told me, and I didn’t know whether to feel gratitude for the secrecy, or betrayal.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“I’d taken pains to avoid. It didn’t matter how hard we tried to be the perfect woman or daughter or daughter-in-law; it would never be good enough. Our rotis would never be round enough, and I was very tempted to tell her she shouldn’t even bother to try.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“And to him,” Ainsley continued, “a real mother shouldn’t be the breadwinner. She should be home raising her son. Can you believe it?” She shook her head. “And he never says that stuff to my face, but I know that’s what he’s saying to Nikesh.” “They speak in Punjabi together?” “Yeah, but even if I don’t understand all the words, I just know what he’s saying. Is that crazy?”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Becoming true friends and transcending our work friendship built on convenience, common ground, and office space?”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“The extent of her toxicity really hit home the day before when she was out sick. Without their ringleader, the other team members were actually super friendly with me, and it made me realize I needed to do something about the situation. I gulped. I needed to be a bawse.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Of course I knew that. My old boss Iain had been equal parts jealous and pleased that my interview (and skin color) had painted his workplace to be capable, diverse.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Because, what if Sandeep were to ask the wrong question? What if the question made Sandeep sound . . . stupid? It was easy to feel inferior around two bright girls fully versed in American, in the way of life this country demanded. Her daughters were constantly correcting Sandeep, pointing out when she made missteps or missed social cues, like”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“rubbed my eyes as it dawned on me. Natasha was selfish. Plain and simple, she was a spoiled brat. Maybe she always had been. And I was done making excuses for her.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Growing up, she always ate last, making sure everyone else had hot roti throughout their meal, hovering over us, insisting we eat more while I begged her to come sit down at the table. Finally, when the rest of us were nearly done, she’d shovel down her cold food before bolting off to start on the dishes, the laundry, some endless task or another.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“I shook my head. Why was I trying to justify Deborah’s decision to pick me over Ginger Spice? Why did I care so much what some spiteful person thought about me? I deserved to be here, and everyone damn well knew it. Still, I couldn’t stop ruminating. Ginger thought I was just some “middle manager.” She thought I was . . . “lonely.” It hurt when the aunties said it, but it hurt more when it came from the mouth of one of my own peers. And maybe it cut so deep because they were right.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Just a few years ago, I could count on scores of dynamic, caring women in my life, from school or college or whom I’d met at work. But one by one, they’d gotten married and had families. And one by one, their commitments to our friendship took a backseat. Our movie nights, weekly phone calls, or Saturday dinners became less and less frequent, morphed into forty-five-minute catch-ups at a Starbucks”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Not only had Mark proven to be a great buffer at tense family dinners, but ever since he entered the picture, Mom had stopped hounding me about the fact that I wasn’t married.”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script

“Already thirty-six, and to have a younger sister married first? What ever happened to that nice boy Jesse? Did she scare him off? She is not too old yet, nah? My cousin’s nephew has a job now. I will make the arrangements!”
― Sonya Lalli, Serena Singh Flips the Script