- "now that i'm dead i know everything. [...] since being dead - since achieving this state of bonelessness, liplessness, breastlessness - i've learned some things i would rather not know, as one does when listening at windows or opening other people's letters. you think you'd like to read minds? think again." chapter i
- "through children, alliances were forged; through children, wrongs were avenged. to have a child was to set loose a force in the world." chapter vi
- "i felt quite dizzy. i kept my eyes downcast, so all i could see of odysseus was the lower part of his legs. short legs, i kept thinking, even at the most solemn moments. this was not an appropriate thought - it was trivial and silly, and it made me want to giggle - but in my own defence i must point out that i was only fifteen." chapter vi
- "odysseus himself did not get drunk. he had a way of appearing to drink a lot without actually doing it. he told me later that if a man lives by his wits, as he did, he needs to have those wits always at hand and kept sharp, like axes or swords. only fools, he said, were given to bragging about how much they could drink." chapter vii
- "here is what she said: water does not resist. water flows. when you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. but water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. water is patient. dripping water wears away a stone. remember that, my child. remember you are half water. if you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. water does." chapter vii
- "once the door had been closed, odysseus took me by the hand and sat me down on the bed. 'forget everything you've been told. i'm not going to hurt you, or not very much. but it would help us both if you could pretend. [...] then they'll leave us in peace and we can take our time to become friends'" chapter vii
- "i'd gained a great opinion of odysseus since our wedding day, and admired him immensely, and had an inflated notion of his capabilities - remember, i was fifteen - so i had the highest confidence in him, and considered him to be a sea captain who could not fail." chapter ix
- "in other words, there was the standard family push-and-pull over whose word was to carry the most weight. all were agreed on one thing: it was not mine." chapter xi
- "so then he had to go. the other three flattered him by saying an oracle had decreed that troy could not fall without his help. that eased his preparations for departure, naturally. which of us can resist the temptation of being thought indispensable?" chapter xi
- "(my mother) had a manner of eating the fish raw, heads first, an activity i would watch with chilled fascination. have i forgotten to tell you she had rather small pointed teeth?" chapter xii
- "'naiads can't count past three,' she would say, 'fish come in shoals, not lists. one fish, two fish, three fish, another fish, another fish, another fish! that's how we count them!'" chapter xii
- "i had such a clear picture in my mind - odysseus returning, and me - with womanly modesty - revealing to him how well i had done at what was usually considered a man's business. on his behalf, of course. always for him. how his face would shine with pleasure! how pleased he would be with me! 'you're worth a thousand helens,' he would say. wouldn't he? and then he'd clasp me tenderly in his arms." chapter xii
- "sometimes i thought people were making things up just to alarm me, and to watch my eyes fill with tears. there is a certain zest to be had in tormenting the vulnerable." chapter xii
jul 30 2020 ∞
jan 2 2021 +