How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
My dad never cries, but no that day, he started sobbing in the car after he told me that the doctor thought Mom had cancer that had spread to lots of parts of her body and that she probably had "three to six months to live, but it's hard to really know for sure." (3.72)
Seeing your parent cry for the first time is pretty traumatic. Seeing your parent cry because the other one is dying… well, let's just say we don't envy Corinna in this moment.
Quote #2
My mom, Sophie Burdette, had a death sentence, but she hadn't committed a crime. (3.72)
Corinna gets to stay on the planet, but part of her has a death sentence, too. When someone you love dies, you don't get that part of your heart back.
Quote #3
Everything is so different now than it was before, and not just with Joci. It's as if everything in my life can now be divided between BD and AD. Before death and after death. (4.55)
Once you've experienced something as heartbreaking as losing your mom, you can never completely go back to being a carefree kid. Corinna didn't just grow up fast; she grew up instantly. Life now will always be After.
Quote #4
I don't believe God had a plan to make my mother die and make me motherless at age thirteen and my dad wifeless at age forty-four. […] What kind of a God would want Sophie Burdette to die? (6.42)
Corinna hates when people tell her that Sophie's death must have been part of "God's plan." It just doesn't add up for Corinna.
Quote #5
She had a baby who died a few days after he was born, so I think she kind of knew what it was like. It's totally different, but kind of the same, I guess. (7.22)
Which is worse: Being a parent and losing a child, or being a child and losing a parent? How are they the same? How are they different?
Quote #6
Seeing mail addressed to her feels like getting sharp needles stuck into the emptiness inside of me. Don't they know she's dead and can't read their stupid catalogs or contribute to their organizations? (11.7)
It's not like Corinna would have forgotten Sophie if those catalogs hadn't been there to remind her. What hurts is that when you're mourning the person you loved most, you don't want to be reminded that to others, they were just a name on a mailing label.
Quote #7
First, I sort the candy into color groups. Then I make designs with them. I tell myself that if I get the right combination and eat them in a special order, then I might somehow unlock a secret passageway and be magically transported to heaven (or wherever her spirit is), and my mom will be sitting there smiling at me like she's been waiting for me. (18.2)
There's a name for this: magical thinking. It's sort of like praying, in that you're imagining something you want and doing something ritualistic to manifest it.
Quote #8
Yasmine's father was in the U.S. Marines and got blown up in Afghanistan about eight months ago. Max's dad committed suicide. Robert's stepfather died in a car accident when someone ran a red light. Yikes. I want to know more about all of them, but especially the suicide. (24.3)
Corinna can't comprehend why anyone would choose to die, given that Sophie's death was so totally not by choice. Why do you think people are more curious about the details of suicides than natural deaths?
Quote #9
"This is stupid. There are so many stupid rumors and stories about ghosts and curses and death. And if you're trying to scare me about my mom, she's not even here, for your information." (47.15)
It might not be that Olivia is trying to scare Corinna; it could be that she forgets who she's talking to when she starts telling ghost stories. Almost a year after Sophie's death, Olivia is once again starting to talk to Corinna just like she would her other friends.
Quote #10
After using every hand signal for death we know—finger across the throat, finger gun to the chest, sword to the stomach—and repeating the word "cancer" over and over, they seem to get it. (53.19)
The Ishibashis don't get it, though, and Aiko calls the next day to say her parents are worried about Sophie. Why did the Ishibashis ask Corinna and her dad about Sophie, watch them mime several kinds of violent death, and then invite them to their home?