“I wouldn't go that far. But I know my way around the kitchen. I make dinner every night.”

“I didn't want her to go, ever. I wanted Echo in my bed every night with my arms and legs wrapped around her.”

“You know what's given me the greatest pleasure in my life? It's been our bungalow, the normalcy of it, the ordinariness of my waking, Almaz rattling in the kitchen, my work, my classes, my rounds with the senior students. Seeing you and Shiva at dinner, then going to sleep with my wife...I want my days to be that way.”

“I threw up again that night, half-afraid that my eyeballs would explode. But it was, by far, more important that I get rid of dinner. Of course, by then, throwing up was the only way I knew how to deal with fear. That paradox would begin to run my life: to know that what you are doing is hurting you, maybe killing you, and to be afraid of that fact--but to cling to the idea that this will save you, it will, in the end, make things okay.”

“If I had my way we'd sleep every night all wrapped around each other like hibernating rattlesnakes.”

“If I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I wouldn't show up.”