“Once upon a time she had felt trapped inside her story with its familiar characters and predictable plot. Now she felt locked out of it.”

“She felt like a fictional character who'd escaped the book in which her creator had carefully and kindly trapped her, taken a pair of scissors to her outline and leaped, free...”

“Stella realized then that Charlie's unhappiness had locked him out of this community as effectively as hers had, and she felt a dull sense of confirmation, she felt she might have known, this is the nature of people, they unerringly select as their victim the one who most needs their warmth.”

“Once, when she was six years old, she had fallen from a tree, flat on her stomach. She could still recall that sickening interval before breath came back into her body. Now, as she looked at him, she felt the same way she had felt then, breathless, stunned, nauseated.”

“Ree felt the power bubbling up inside of her, but she had no idea what to do with it all. Could she lean out the window like they did in all the movies? Great, now she was getting ideas from bad movies.”

“She felt really alone now. But here's the thing- suddenly she felt as though she belonged inside the aloneness, and that feeling made her whisper aloud, "I never have before. I've never felt at home with myself.”