Whenever I hear that phrase,
When I'd been sad, I hurt myself. Amma hurt other people. When I'd wanted attention, I'd submitted myself to boys: Do what you want; just like me. Amma's sexual offerings seemed a form of aggression....
We will have a happy marriage if it kills him.
We had no clue that we were embarking on careers that would vanish within a decade.
We could leave the country if you want. Live in Spain, Italy, wherever you like, spend our days eating mangoes in the sun. Sleep late, play Scrabble, flip through books aimlessly, swim in the ocean.
We could have been day players in an amateur porn flick.
We complete each other in the nastiest, ugliest possible way.
We called them Tonys, because my dad was named Tony and he could never say no to anyone (although I assume he said no to my mom at least once, when she asked him to stay).
There is an unfair responsibility that comes with being an only child – you grow up knowing you aren’t allowed to disappoint, you’re not even allowed to die. There isn’t a replacement toddling around;...
The secondhand experience is always better. The image is crisper, the view is keener, the camera angle and the soundtrack manipulate my emotions in a way reality can’t anymore.
The rug says: All Are Friends Who Enter Here. It is from Costco. I have learned about bulk shopping in my four weeks as a Mississippi River resident. Republicans go to Sam’s Club, Democrats go to Cost...
The moral to the story being: Mr. Binks was a cheating dickweasel, but, you know, marriage is compromise.
The kind of house that is immediately familiar: a generically grand, unchallenging, new, new, new house that my wife would—and did—detest.
The X had released its first wave of chemical optimism, I could feel it float up inside me like a big test balloon and splatter on the roof of my mouth, spraying good cheer. I could almost taste it, l...
That was pure, dumb Cool Girl bullshit. What a cunt. Again, I don’t get it: If you let a man cancel plans or decline to do things for you, you lose. You don’t get what you want. It’s pretty clear. Sur...
That was another of my mom’s words: glum. It meant having the blues in a way that annoyed other people. Having the blues aggressively.
That night at the Brooklyn party, I was playing the girl who was in style, the girl a man like Nick wants: the Cool Girl. Men always say that as the defining compliment, don't they? She's a cool girl....
That easy, huh? You just have to decide to do it and then do it, she said. Discipline. Follow through. Like anything.
Sometimes you need to get lost for a little.
Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you’re really doing it to them, Amma said, pulling another Blow Pop from her pocket. Cherry. Know what I mean? If someone wants to do fucked-up things to...