You're a real firecracker, Astrid, aren't you?" Firecracker is what people in certain social circles say when what they really mean is asshole.

The world turned and flung me.

but there was nothing I could do to dim the supernovae exploding inside my brain, an endless chain of intra cranial firecrackers

Sometimes I think He looks down and says, "Wow, look what those idiots are up to now. I guess I better help them along a little.

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.