How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"No, I mean, where are you in the sequence, the youngest, the oldest?"
So the woman has not read any of the articles or biographies around. Dedé is relieved. This means that they can spend the time talking about the simple facts that give Dedé the illusion that hers was just an ordinary family, too—birthdays and weddings and new babies, the peaks in that graph of normalcy. (1.1.25-26)
Dedé imagines that her family is just like all other families because of its milestones, although the major milestone of her sisters' death doesn't show up in her list of simple facts. Her sisters are so famous that she feels like she can't just live an ordinary life with ordinary memories. Her sisters ain't ordinary—they are extraordinary.
Quote #2
Bang-bang-bang, their father likes to joke, aiming a finger pistol at each one, as if he were shooting them, not boasting about having sired them. Three girls, each born within a year of the other! And then, nine years later, María Teresa, his final desperate attempt at a boy misfiring. (1.1.45)
The girls' father uses the imagery of a gun to refer to his daughters' conceptions. That is not a new metaphor (pistol shots for sperm-egg unions, eeeew), but its use here is interesting because it foreshadows the girls' violent futures… and deaths.
Quote #3
"People who opened their big mouths didn't live very long," Sinita said. "Like my uncles I told you about. Then, two more uncles, and then my father." Sinita began crying again. "Then this summer, they killed my brother." (1.2.67)
President Rafael Trujillo systematically murders entire families to punish anyone who steps out of line, and makes examples of them to avoid future disobedience. While someone might risk their own lives, they will think twice about risking the lives of their innocent relatives.