“Is this what family is like: the feeling that everyone’s connected, that with one piece missing, the whole thing’s broken?”

“I can't say for sure, because I have no experience, but -- well, is this what family is like? The feeling that everyone's connected, that with one piece missing the whole thing's broken?”

“They did have that connection, and when he was with Clair, it just felt right. As if she were the missing piece to his broken life.”

“Families are like puzzles. They fit together in a certain way, and if one piece is missing, it throws everything off.”

“Her voice whispering love soothes him. They'd never done that before. Weren't that type of family. Except now he doesn't know what kind of family they are. What word is it that can define them? What would they call his family in the textbooks? Broken? He comes from a broken home. The Mackees can't be put back together again. There are too many pieces of them missing.”

“All my life I've felt like there was something wrong with me. Something missing or damaged.""Every teenager in the world feels like that, feels broken or out of place, different somehow, royalty mistakenly born into a family of peasants.”