“ College stirred in her a certain contempt for virtues like kindness and persistence. She would have appeared to have been a kind and persistent person herself, but a steady diet of Antonioni films and… Garth Risk Hallberg
“ How could anarchy be any worse for the general welfare than this? I say let the city go bankrupt, the buildings fall, let grass take over Fifth Avenue. Let birds nest in storefronts, whales swim up th… Garth Risk Hallberg
“ Did you really think I'd steer you wrong?" Then William pointed to the wide-open country beyond the next ridge. "New York's that way. My compass is unerring. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ This isn’t Soviet Russia. This is America we’re talking about. For God’s sake, this is New York City. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ There's nothing in this courtyard, after all, that wasn't here in 1977; maybe it's not this year but that one, and everything that follows is still to come ... For if the evidence points to anything,… Garth Risk Hallberg
“ The second this interminable wait ended, it would all start to fall away into the past, to become unreal. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ All these threads, like the ley-lines he'd read about in his Time-Life history books, converging on the Cicciaro girl, who lay there unaware, a glass-coffined beauty whose kingdom was in ruins. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ Actual artists are like mythological creatures,' she heard herself opine. 'You hear about them, but a sighting's pretty rare. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ He was a priest now, pagan, half-naked in the night, performing obscure rites of interment. Or he was the lead player in his own novel, or in one of those new arcade games William loved, compelled to… Garth Risk Hallberg
“ Even the kids, behind the slice of streetscape floating in the glass, had mastered the art of pretending not to see. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ He wanted to flee in shame, to the kitchenette, to the next room, to the fire escapes and rooftops and the places where the city ended. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ There were two options—call the foul or don't—and either way, he would lose, but there was a thrill here in this moment when actual combat might have replaced the shadowboxing he'd been doing for mont… Garth Risk Hallberg
“ Famous revolutionary,' you say, and the laughter pumps out of your chest like blood, great almost painful spurts of it splashing up the building faces toward the marquee moon. Garth Risk Hallberg
“ In a blacked-out house, stripped of all comforts, it's easy to turn your anger outward, to attack this city he's lying at the center of, with its filth and its pollution and its oppression, but really… Garth Risk Hallberg
“ Her eyes were glistening, but for some reason he couldn't reach out and touch her. It was like some gestures were so simple they were beyond him. Garth Risk Hallberg
