I wanted to tell her not to entertain despair like this. Despaire wasn't a guest, you didn't play its favorite music, find it a comfortable chair. Despair was the enemy."
-white oleander

Do you ever want to go home?' I asked Paul.
He brushed an ash from my face. 'It's the century of the displaced person,' he said. 'You can never go home.

I drew a deep breath, trying to think of something to say, then pulled a handkerchief from my pocket and gave it to him.
"Are you breathing, Ian?"
His mouth twitched a little.
"Aye, I htink so."
"That's all you have to do, for now.

Most women experience issues of power and sexuality, but very few women talk about it. There's the threat of the loss of approval.

My mother never met a gadget she didn't like. There were tube pans for baking the angel food cakes my father could have after his first heart attack, and Bundt pans and loaf pans and baking pans and grilling pans.

Depression, suffering and anger are all part of being human.