"Yalnız olmak, işsiz olmak, aşksız olmak, en kötüsü ölü bir noktada olmak durumu üzerinde pek düşünenlerden değildi o, durumunu değiştirmeyi bilemeyenlerdendi. Şimdi kendi için aşk şarkıları söylemeye çabalıyordu gitarıyla."
"And it made me feel better in some obscure way: imagining myself a hero, rushing fearlessly for the gun, instead of merely loitering in the bullet's path like the bystander which I so essentially am."
"It was shocking to hear him speak of her with such intimacy. Pluto and Persephone. I looked at his back, prim as a parson's, tried to imagine the two of them together. His big white hands with the square nails."
"... but I liked the idea of living in a city — any city, especially a strange one — liked the thought of traffic and crowds, of working in a bookstore, waiting tables in a coffee shop, who knew what kind of odd, solitary life I might slip into?"