“CommunicationWas never big in my house.We sat together overdinner, but the only soundyou'd hear was crunchingand chewing and the littleones asking for more, please.We lived, all boxed up ininvisible containers. Wehardly knew the peoplewe called sister or father.Jackie and I were theexceptions to that rule.”

“We sat like that for a long while, and when we stood up, all my sad things were in boxes, and Beck was my father.”

“For you where never my blood sister so no more shall I call you little sister”

“Like a Chinese box, the world of the novel contained smaller worlds, and inside those were yet smaller worlds. Together, these worlds made up a single universe, and the universe waited there in the book to be discovered by the reader.”

“A couple of years ago my sister Judy and I were each given a box of truffles. The tiny print said two pieces contained 310 calories and there were six pieces in each box. We were sitting on the bus headed downtown, quietly doing our calculations: Judy was dividing by two and I was multiplying by three. When she realized what I was doing, a look came over her face that is hard to describe. 'I lost all hope for you' she says now.”

“She was only saying what I already knew in my heart, but hearing the words spoken made it seem all the more true, all the more terrifying.Words gave concepts power. Once they were released, there was no choice but to understand them, no matter how painful they might be.”