How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The summer after my mother ran off with the bald podiatrist in the convertible, Charlie Kahn's dad let him build a tree house. (1.17.1)
Some of the biggest, most important things happen in Vera and Charlie's lives the year that her mother runs off. It's hard not to see that as a defining moment in their lives, especially when there are so many emotionally loaded memories around Vera's mom leaving and Charlie's new tree house.
Quote #2
I remember feeling bad that I'd accidentally hurt her—because my mother used to hurt me that way, too. She hated removing ticks, and claimed my father was no good at it and would leave the heads under the skin to become infected. (1.19.5)
Maybe Vera is so good with the dogs and cats at the pet shop because she understands what it's like to be abandoned. Vera knows what it was like to have the person that she loved most (hey, Mom) abandon her. Because of these painful memories, she can be more compassionate toward all these abandoned animals.
Quote #3
I think of what Charlie had seen. How his father beat his mother. How he pulled her hair out sometimes. I think about what it must be like to want to stop a thing that you can't stop. (2.1.37)
Charlie may be a jerk to Vera, but she can admit that he's carried around some pretty heavy memories. He made bad choices in the end, but they were partly driven by his demons.
Quote #4
That day was the first time Charlie couldn't come out and play—like, the first time ever. Ever. I went to his front door, rang the doorbell, and waited on the bench on the porch until his mother came out. (2.5.32)
Vera remembers vividly the first time that Charlie can't come out and play. He gets in trouble with his parents and suddenly can't come out to play for a week, which worries little Vera to no end.
Quote #5
It wasn't always this way, you know—a sleazy spot to get laid. Back when things were still civilized, the rich folks from town used to come up and stay their weekends in grand hotels, and ride on the gravity railroad. Ladies in long skirts, with parasols, and strong men in striped three-piece suits with gold picket watches. (2.7.1)
The pagoda remembers better times in their little town. Apparently, back in the day, the place was a classy little spot for fancy picnics. Now it's just a spot for drunk teenagers to make out. What a disappointment.
Quote #6
The older I got, the more I realized she'd never really been all there to begin with. The older I got, the more realized that my happy-Mom memories were often fabrications invented to make me feel better about her being chronically unhappy. (3.5.29)
Not all memories are accurate. Vera realizes as she gets older that her memories of her mom being happy at home were all fake; her mom was always a little distant and looking for a way to leave her life behind.
Quote #7
All I know about Apocalypse Now is that it's about Vietnam. I can't even remember who starred in it. What I do remember is Charlie's hand and how strong it was, and how he rubbed my palm with his thumb and how he smelled of buttery popcorn. (3.9.7)
Based on the memories that Vera has with Charlie, their relationship could have ended up so differently. Maybe if Charlie had stuck with his path—you know, the one where he pursued Vera and ended up with his best friend—things wouldn't have turned out so terribly.
Quote #8
I remember thinking, If I distance myself, his crazy s*** won't rub off on me. I won't become a wife-beating asshole. I remember daydreaming, One day, I will make enough money to rescue my mother. One day, I will come back and make him sorry he ever had me. One day, I will show him what a real man is. (4.5.15)
From his vantage point on the other side, Charlie remembers that he meant to change his destiny and to be a different kind of man than his father was. But he ended up messing it all up anyway.
Quote #9
This is a very serious step we're taking—clearing Mom out of this house. Making my peace with her brings me one step closer to making my peace with Charlie. (Which brings me one step closer to making my peace with myself.) (4.7.13)
Six years later, it's finally time for Vera and Ken Dietz to clear out all the reminders of her mother. After all, she's never coming back and they need to come to terms with that fact.
Quote #10
I was still so numb from the night before, I found it hard to even fathom the fact of it. Charlie—dead. The worst part was, I couldn't cry. As if I believed all the vowing and promising I'd done the night before never to care about Charlie Kahn again, I just couldn't cry. (5.11.53)
One of the worst memories of Vera's young life is finding out that Charlie is dead. It's hard for her to process the information for months and months following his death.