How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I feel kind of dizzy, so I make my way back to bed because if I'm dreaming, bed is the place, right? And I wait to wake up. But I don't because I already am. (1.8)
This is the stuff that nightmares are made of. Bobby tries to go back to bed because surely the mirror is telling lies, but unfortunately, that fixes nothing. He's really stuck in this invisible state.
Quote #2
Mostly I like books that have a world I can get into. And I guess that's because books have always been so much more interesting than my life. Until today. (2.31)
Bobby used to read books to escape to more fascinating worlds, but now, though, Bobby finds that his life is way more interesting than most books that he's read. And that's not necessarily a good thing.
Quote #3
Ten seconds. Ten seconds ago I was asleep, arguing with the Skipper and Mary Ann about what to have for dinner. Now I'm sitting up, staring. At the TV. I'm having… a hard time… breathing. The reporter keeps talking. (4.49)
Your life can change irrevocably in just a few seconds. For poor Bobby, that happens twice in just twenty-four hours. First, he wakes up and finds out that he's invisible, and then he wakes up again after a nap and finds out that his parents have gotten into a car accident. The kid can't catch a break.
Quote #4
I burst into the stairwell, and I feel like I'm flying, running up the stairs two at a time. It's like this body I can't see weighs nothing. (9.26)
Cue the superhero theme music—this is totally Bobby's "new powers" montage. Even though he's worried about his new condition, Bobby can't help but have fun with it. After all, it's not every day you get to run around stark naked without drawing attention to yourself.
Quote #5
And now there's a new look on her face. New for Alicia. But I've seen it before. On Mom's and Dad's faces that first morning. It's the look of someone who's trying to process impossible information. (11.52)
Once Bobby reveals the truth to Alicia, she cannot help but see him differently. Her idea of him as just another normal kid is completely gone; now she knows that he's just as messed up as she is.
Quote #6
"… But in the morning… the morning was horrible. I knew I was awake, but it was like I was still asleep, or like I was lost inside this big dark… thing. But I knew I was home, in my own room. I could still hear the birds on the feeder outside, and I could feel the sun on my face at the window, feel the cold glass on my fingertips, but… I couldn't see anything." (13.40)
Despite the fact that they have very different conditions, and that Alicia has a medical diagnosis, those first few moments when Alicia and Bobby wake up alone to find that they're totally changed are eerily similar. Maybe that's why they get along so well.
Quote #7
Because if my condition did have anything to do with a bad electric blanket, there must be a lot of other people who bought the same electric blanket. Probably thousands. (19.2)
What if there were a bunch of invisible people out there, moving through the streets and watching us while we go about our daily lives, none the wiser? That would be like the premise of a creepy horror movie.
Quote #8
News flash: Invisible people make excellent spies and thieves.
Finding exactly what I want at the legal department is ridiculously easy.
Access through the security doors? A snap: I wait for a slow moving person of considerable size and slide through the doorway right behind his behind. (21.1-3)
Well, there's one good thing about being invisible: Bobby has a way easier time breaking into a major corporation's legal department than the average Joe would. In fact, it's a piece of cake.
Quote #9
So I say," If you don't mind, Mrs. Van Dorn, I don't think it's my place to get between one of my friends and her parents." Nice—no, better than nice—brilliant. And it hits me: Three weeks ago, I couldn't have even thought that, much less said it to somebody like Alicia's mom. (22.73)
Being invisible hasn't just changed Bobby's appearance; it's given him a real back bone, too. Now he's able to be firm about his decisions and talk back to adults without getting scared.
Quote #10
She picks up the phone and I hear her answering machine click off. There's a deep tiredness in her voice, a weariness. "You can't just call someone up and say, 'I turned invisible one day,' can you?"
And I know. I don't believe it yet, but I know. I gulp and I feel tears at the corners of my eyes. Because it's like I'm finding a lost sister or something… (23.46)
Finally, Bobby finds out that he's not the only one who's been through the confusing, terrible process of waking up to find out that he's invisible. And it helps him feel less alone when he talks to Sheila… even if it scares him that she hasn't changed back in the three years that she's been invisible.