How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Sweat trickled down my ribs. The digital reading on the clock-radio was 3:51. Always odd numbers at times like this. What does it mean? Is death odd-numbered? (11.1)
Jack is so spooked by death that he always thinks he's seeing signs of it. The dude's even a little suspicious when it comes to seeing odd numbers on his clock radio. The book never really tells us whether he's being crazy, or if there might be something real behind all of his paranoia.
Quote #2
"You are intentionally facing death. You are setting out to do exactly what people spend their lives trying not to do. Die. I want to know why." (35.57)
Jack can't wrap his head around Orest Mercator's plan to sit in a room full of deadly snakes for as long as possible. For Jack, everything humans do in life is designed to keep death away. Orest Mercator's plan just totally turns his whole world upside down, and he needs to know why Orest would want to come so close to death. Obviously, Jack's not one for skydiving or B.A.S.E. jumping.
Quote #3
How does it feel to see Death in the flesh, come to gather you in? I was scared to the marrow. I was cold and hot, dry and wet, myself and someone else. (33.2)
When Jack peeks out his front door one morning, he sees an old man sitting in his front yard. Jack's been thinking about death so much lately that he actually wonders if Death is an actual person (like the Grim Reaper) who's come to take him away. It turns out the old man is just Babette's dad, but Jack's reaction shows you just how deep his fear of death goes ("to the marrow," in fact).