“ Gwen found herself in possession, coolly palmed in her thoughts like a dollar coin, of the idea that she was about to bring another abandoned son into the world, the son of an abandoned son. The heir… Michael Chabon
“ Fuck what is written, Landsman says. You know what? All at once he feels weary of ganefs and prophets, guns and sacrifices and the infinite gangster weight of God. He's tired of hearing about the prom… Michael Chabon
“ Every day is like a kid's drawing, offered to you with a strange mix of ceremoniousness and offhand disregard, yours for the keeping. Some of the days are rich and complicated, others inscrutable, oth… Michael Chabon
“ But there was always a shortfall, wasn't there? Between the match that the Holy One, blessed be He, envisioned and the reality of the situation under the chuppah. Between commandment and observance, h… Michael Chabon
“ But there is no Messiah of Sitka. Landsman has no home, no future, no fate but Bina. The land that he and she were promised was bounded only by the fringes of their wedding canopy, by the dog-eared co… Michael Chabon
“ But the boy had a gift. And it was in the nature of a gift that it be endlessly given. Michael Chabon
“ But like all beautiful faces Emily's made you believe that its possessor was a better person than she was. It allowed her to pass for stoical when she was petrified, and mysterious and aloof when she… Michael Chabon
“ Bina and Landsman were twisted together, a braided pair of chromosomes with a mystery flaw. And now? Now each of them pretends not to see the other and looks away.Landsman looks away. Michael Chabon
“ Because you know, truth is, I don’t give a shit about some scratched-up vinyl Rahsaan Kirk, Ornette Coleman sound-like-a-goose-trying-to-fuck-a-bicycle bootleg pressing from the rare Paris concert of… Michael Chabon
“ Back in the summer of 1941, they had stood to lose so much, it seemed, through the shame and ruination of exposure. Sammy could not have known that one day he would come to regard all the things that… Michael Chabon
“ At the possibility of truly being seen, something in his chest seemed to snap open like a parachute. Michael Chabon
“ As any two people who have ever dressed in matching pajamas will attest, it was surprisingly effective. Michael Chabon
“ Approaching the Williamsburg Bridge - not really certain of how he had managed to find himself there - he experienced an extraordinary moment of buoyancy, of grace. There was a lot more traffic now, b… Michael Chabon
“ And, anyway, friendship is different in another language; a foreign friend doesn't have to understand what you feel, and I don't expect it. It's enough if he understands what you just said. Michael Chabon
“ And yet for all that I still had never gotten used to the breathtaking impermanence of things. Michael Chabon
“ And there were so many Pittsburgh poets in my hallway that if, at that instant, a meteorite had come smashing through my roof, there would never have been another stanza written about rusting fathers… Michael Chabon
“ And in that moment he felt- for the first time that optimistic and cheerful boy allowed himself to feel- how badly made life was, how flawed. No matter how richly furnished you made it, with all the n… Michael Chabon
“ An invisible gas clouds his thoughts, exhaust from a bus left with its engine running in the middle of his brain. Michael Chabon
“ An excess of the desire to appear grown up is one of the defining characteristics of adolescence. Michael Chabon
