How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
That's why I'm telling Vera everything about me and Sindy now. I'm giving her a chance to evade her destiny. The trick is remembering that change is as easy as you make it. The trick is remembering that you are the boss of you. (1.6.15)
Even though Vera may have some genetic proclivities working against her, her dad wants her to know that she can overcome them. She can become her own person and live a good life as long as she tries hard.
Quote #2
The thing you don't see while you're still there on Earth is how easy it is to change your mind. When you're in it and you're mixed up with feelings, assumptions, influences, and misconceptions, things seem completely impossible to change. From here, you see that change is as easy as flicking a light switch in your brain. (1.14.3)
Charlie realizes that he was wrong to assume that he had no say in the way his life turned out, and to think that he'd just end up like his dad or mom. He did have a choice; he just ended up making the wrong one. And look where it's gotten him now.
Quote #3
I think of my mom. Is this how it started with her Are there baby steps toward complete loserdom, and if so, how many are there to go? (2.1.24)
Like Charlie, Vera worries that she's just going to end up like her parents, particularly her mom, who shirks responsibility and doesn't want anything to do with her family. But we as the reader know that she can escape that fate; she just has to make the right choices.
Quote #4
I'd rather pay class by class at community college, and deliver pizza at night while I live cheap in Dad's house. Then, when I graduate, I can actually start fresh, rather than starting with a hundred-thousand-dollar stone around my neck. (2.2.14)
Ken Dietz really does have an influence on his daughter, even if she won't admit it. He's gotten her to make smart decisions when it comes to making sure that she isn't shackled to financial debt. But Vera doesn't realize that something like addiction (to alcohol) can tie you down, too.
Quote #5
I guess the next argument would be that James doesn't know what he wants to do with his life. That's true. At least he can admit it. I'd rather go out with a guy who's facing his s*** than a guy who's running from his s***. (2.4.13)
James may seem like a deadbeat loser to some folks (ahem, Ken Dietz), but Vera finds some charm in the fact that he's so unapologetic about his underwhelming life choices. At least he admits that he's still figuring things out.
Quote #6
He stops me at the end of the drive and turns me to look at him. "Look. Don't screw your life up. There's plenty of time to get drunk and hang out with boys. That guy's too old for you." (2.10.16)
When Vera gets pulled over with James, even the police officer can see that she's headed down the wrong path. Instead of arresting her, he lets her off with some fatherly advice.
Quote #7
I wanted to ask him if this was his choice or his dad's. It didn't seem fair that no one had talked to him about college or any other options. It didn't seem fair that he'd get a free bike for doing what he was told rather than thinking for himself. (3.5.84)
It just seems unfair to Vera that Charlie doesn't get to make his own life choices. He always has to go by what his father says because his father is the family patriarch and runs the house. What about what Charlie wants to do with his life?
Quote #8
He'd told me a long time ago that I wasn't allowed to date Charlie, but in the years that followed, he'd said more than once that we were cute together. I don't think he knew what he really wanted anymore—and I wasn't sure what I wanted, either. (3.9.17)
Vera's dad made these rules for her to follow about dating, and she was always going to stick to them. But when she and Charlie start getting closer romantically, she has to make a choice: Does she go by the original plan, or throw it out the window for possible heartbreak?
Quote #9
No doubt, it was hard to come to public terms with my mother's past employment at Joe's strip club, but confronting it made me feel a certain degree of freedom. I was not my mother. My mother did what she had to do. Anyone who didn't get that could believe what they wanted and I wouldn't care. (4.3.9)
The fact that her mom used to be a stripper embarrasses Vera, but at the same time, she recognizes that her mother did what she had to do in order to survive. Anyone who can't take the truth can eat it.
Quote #10
It's my senior year and I still have no idea what I want to do with my life. I am motherless, and in the last year, I lost my best friend twice, fell in love with a guy I shouldn't have (twice), got beat up by a skinhead Nazi, and had things thrown at me, including beer cans, money, and dog s***. (5.1.5)
Vera's still trying to figure out her life at the tender age of eighteen, and so far, it's been an insanely difficult year. What choices can she make to ensure that her life won't continue to go down this crazy path?