"I thought of the guards strapping Jimmy Dill to the gurney that very hour. I thought of the people who would cheer his death and see iRead this book.
"I thought of the guards strapping Jimmy Dill to the gurney that very hour. I thought of the people who would cheer his death and see it as some kind of victory. I realized they were broken people, too, even if they would never admit it. So many of us have become afraid and angry. We've become so fearful and vengeful that we've thrown away children, discarded the disabled, and sanctioned the imprisonment of the sick and the weak—not because they are a threat to public safety or beyond rehabilitation but because we think it makes us seem tough, less broken. I thought of the victims of violent crime and survivors of murdered loved ones, and how we've pressured them to recycle their pain and anguish and give it back to the offenders we prosecute. I thought of the many ways we've legalized vengeful and cruel punishments, how we've allowed our victimization to justify the victimization of others. We've submitted to the harsh instinct to crush those among us whose brokenness is most visible. But simply punishing the broken—walking away from them or hiding them from sight—only ensures that they remain broken and we do, too. There is no wholeness outside of our reciprocal humanity."
"It seems to me that we've been quick to celebrate the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement and slow to recognize the damage done in that era."
""Walter's case had taught me that the death penalty is not about whether people deserve to die for the crimes they commit. The real question of capital punishment is, Do we deserve to kill?...more
I loved this book from beginning to end. I fall hard for stories that take on the perspective of several different individuals in the same family duriI loved this book from beginning to end. I fall hard for stories that take on the perspective of several different individuals in the same family during different parts of their lives. (Though, this tale doesn't do that, technically. It's all told, ultimately, in the words of one narrator, but in a richer, more insightful way than your usual one-perspective novel.) It feels, in the end, like you're able to step back and see not only the tapestry of a family, but the messy knots underneath that give it its intricate pattern. This family's knots may be messier than most, but the grey areas they inhabit -- both individually and together -- are what give the story its depth and (surprising) familiarity. I love the review the Los Angeles Times Book Review gave the book in 2002: "Eugenides has taken the greatest mystery of all -- What are we, exactly, and where do we come from? -- and crafted a story that manages to be both illuminating and transcendent."
Favorite quotes:
"Emotions, in my experience, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in 'sadness,' 'joy,' or 'regret.' Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling. I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic train-car constructions like, say, 'the happiness that attends disaster.' Or: 'the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy.'"
"I hung around the mimosa grove, in growing despair. A few times I walked out to the beach to sit by the sea, but after a while I stopped doing that, too. Nature brought no relief. Outside had ended. There was nowhere to go that wouldn't be me."...more
I had no expectations for this book except for, you know, the Pulitzer Prize and accolades. The cover and the title give nothing away of the story, anI had no expectations for this book except for, you know, the Pulitzer Prize and accolades. The cover and the title give nothing away of the story, and even the book jacket blurb doesn't really do justice to the deep sigh of this rich narrative. Written as a letter by an elderly father to his young son near the time of the old man's death, it chronicles a family history while also exploring the simple mystery of life itself with deft poetry and tenderness. Every bit of it felt like a quiet blessing, a rumination, an afternoon on a porch swing noticing the way light hits the leaves in the evening.
"...It's easy to believe in such moments that water as made primarily for blessing, and only secondarily for growing vegetables or doing the wash. I wish I had paid more attention to it. My list of regrets may seem unusual, but who can know that they are, really. This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it."
"Our dream of life will end as dreams do end, abruptly and completely, when the sun rises, when the light comes. And we will think, All that fear and all that grief were about nothing. But that cannot be true. I can't believe we will forget our sorrows altogether. That would mean forgetting that we had lived, humanly speaking. Sorrow seems to me to be a great part of the substance of human life. For example, at this very moment I feel a kind of loving grief for you as you read this, because I do not know you, and because you have grown up fatherless, you poor child, lying on your belly now in the sun with Soapy asleep on the small of your back. You are drawing those terrible little pictures that you will bring me to admire, and which I will admire because I have not the heart to say one word that you might remember against me."
"I wish I could give you the memory I have of your mother that day. I wish I could leave you certain of the images in my mind, because they are so beautiful that I hate to think they will be extinguished when I am. Well, but again, this life has its own mortal loveliness. And memory is not strictly mortal in its nature, either. It is a strange thing, after all, to be able to return to a moment, when it can hardly be said to have any reality at all, even in its passing. A moment it is such a slight thing. I mean, that is abiding is a most gracious reprieve."...more
There's a lot to appreciate about this book -- it's a seeker's tale, much like Siddhartha, and to me, that makes it re-readable year after year. But eThere's a lot to appreciate about this book -- it's a seeker's tale, much like Siddhartha, and to me, that makes it re-readable year after year. But even though both Siddhartha and The Alchemist are stories of men on the quest for their life's purpose, The Alchemist feels both more neatly wrapped in a bow at the end (I may have inwardly rolled my eyes when he found *actual* treasure -- "It's true; life really is generous to those who pursue their Personal Legend, the boy thought." Can I get on board with that conclusion? I'm not sure.) and also a more grandiose, self-serving journey.
I do like the idea of being guided through life by your heart's lead, but I think I may only be able to take that belief in small doses. For me, the things that shape you and ultimately enrich your life don't always feel like "true desires of your heart." Maybe that means I need to reconnect with my heart (note to self: find horse, alchemist, time to travel across a whole desert), maybe that's me being a grumpy almost-40 mom of three, or maybe I just hold a lot of deep value for the balance between seeking your "Personal Legend" and living for and with the people you love. Finding your treasure right where you are seems like the more challenging (and worthy) quest.
But I'll probably feel differently next time I read it. And that's why it gets four stars from me.
"'Why should I listen to my heart?'
'Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you're thinking about life and about the world.'"
"Here I am, between my flock and my treasure, the boy thought. He had to choose between something he had become accustomed to and something he wanted to have. There was also the merchant's daughter, but she wasn't as important as his flock because she didn't depend on him. Maybe she didn't even remember him. He was sure that it made no difference to her on which day he appeared: for her, every day was the same, ad when each day is the same as the next it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises."...more
For a short read, this is packed with lines that stick with you. I can see how this could easily be a "read every year" book.
Memorable quotes: "The wFor a short read, this is packed with lines that stick with you. I can see how this could easily be a "read every year" book.
Memorable quotes: "The world, Govinda, is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a long path to perfection. No, it is perfect at every moment; every sin already carries grace within it, all small children are potential old men, all sucklings have death within them, all dying people -- eternal life."...more
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