How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #7
Bob closes his eyes and, with an enormous roar, brings the building down upon them all. It falls in on itself, a vast bouncing hole filled with filthy water and rubble. The collapse throws up a crashing wave that slams against the building opposite and turns back on itself in the narrow road. Like the casualties of a terrible disaster at sea, people scream and weep and bleed and drown, leaving dark stains on the surface of the water, along with the contents of their homes and bowels and skulls.[…] He turns to go, stepping carefully over the body of a young woman crushed in what is left of the stairwell. Surely it is time that he and Mr. B found a new place to live in any case, maybe bigger, in a better neighborhood, with more windows and a nicer view. (40.25)
Oh, this is a nice contrast. Bob wants a nicer view; innocent people don't want to scatter the contents of their bowls and skulls on the driveway. Yep, everyone wants something.
Quote #8
"OK, it doesn't look so bad today. But just you wait. Some awful new thing will begin any minute. It always does." The older man shrugs. "It's not cruelty, you see. It's thoughtlessness. Negligence." He looks away and his face sags. "Who knows," he says softly. "Perhaps even a lack of clarity as to the nature of his responsibility." (45.39)
Well, nice for Mr. B, but we're not so sure that Bob isn't cruel. If negligence and thoughtlessness cause needless suffering, isn't that just another word for cruelty?
Quote #9
Churning in Mr. B's brain is a great stinking stew—of faith, commitment and love in the face of indifference, betrayal, despair. The world is not just full of suffering—it is full of perversity, of things that go horribly wrong more or less at random. For the hell of it. (45.43)
Straight-out suffering and perverse suffering may happen for different reasons, but the result is the same. We're wondering if it really matters why something happens.