“Rose lived the same life I did, but she doesnt have PTSD. No bad dreams, no missing memories. Sometimes Im jealous that she seems to deal with everything better than I do. But then Ill catch her wi...”

“To us, reality is just raw footage: Unclear. Desultory. Too shocking or not quite shocking enough. Its ironic that making something more real involves making it less real, but Gideon always says pe...”

“Gideon and I sit there in the dark, wordless for a while, only our ragged breaths disturbing the silence. Memories of my sister overwhelm meI see her impish grin as she leans over me at the orphana...”

“No, Gideon says. No guns. The most dangerous weapon you have is your brain. Give someone a gun and they tend to quit using it.”

“I dream of a small room and a man with one eye. Blood seeps like scarlet tears from his empty socket. I turn away and the room becomes a hallway that becomes a stairway that becomes a roof. The win...”

“I cant seem to wipe away the blood. I rub my hands against my nightgown, but traces of the red remain, staining the lines of my palms and the crescents beneath my fingernails. I wipe harder, gather...”

“A name can't begin to encompass the sum of all her parts. But that's the magic of names, isn't it? That the complex, contradictory individuals we are can be called up complete and whole in another ...”

“People often lose their names. Names fall into holes or get eaten by wild animals. Sometimes theyre carried away by the wind.”

“Young man, names are powerful things. You dont just go around using them for no reason.”

“I did not dread the dark winter as people do when they have lost their youth and live alone in some great city.”

“I like cool jackets - a nice fall or winter coat. You can get a lot of use out of it, and you'll wear it frequently, so it can really set the tone of your uniform for the season.”

“Short boots are cool, in my humble opinion. They say, 'Hey! Winter is over, but summer hasn't yet arrived - so enjoy this halfway point!'”