“He had taken George, my beloved George, from me. And he had taken my other self: Anne.”

“George had been surprised by my ability to leave him. He had not seen that in me.”

“George smiles to himself, with entire self-satisfaction. Yes, I am crazy, he thinks. That is my secret; my strength.”

“George had taken off all ten of his fingers and tied them into a bundle with what appeared to be either his own small intestines, or a guitar string; as I walked into the room, he lovingly placed the bundle on his head.”

“In inventing [General Juan Manuel de] Rosas’ self-justification, I have taken the liberty of drawing almost exclusively on the words of Tony Blair, and the various self-justifications he produced to defend his foreign policy adventures with George Bush in the Middle East and the Central Asia.”

“He fucked my wife!" George wailed. "He ruined my life!""Your wife was a goddamn whore!”