“She was not to look beyond herself for the meaning of her life.”

“And although she was sometimes dissatisfied with herself, she felt unable to go beyond her own limitations. Books were safer.”

“Sighing, she looked out at the fog. It was like life, preventing her from seeing what was beyond reach. She wasn’t unhappy. She simply felt that something important was missing from her life”

“If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency.”

“What the river was showing her now was that she could flow beyond the brokenness, redeem herself, and fuse once more.”

“It is an important distinction to note that she looked not only as if she had taken good care of herself, but that she had good reason to have done so. (...) She looked to be in such total possession of her life that only the most confident men could continue to look at her if she looked back at them. Even in bus stations, she was a woman who was stared at only until she looked back.”