Quotes from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes

Denise Grover Swank ·  374 pages

Rating: (24.5K votes)


“The next morning, beer and I mutually decided our relationship wasn’t going to work out.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“I sighed, a deep and heavy sigh. If only sighs could carry all my troubles away.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“I wondered if somehow, without my knowing it, I had been cast in a Lifetime channel movie.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“...with the company of just myself, my thoughts presented themselves like unwelcome houseguests.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“Why I waited until the last days of my life to feel pampered and beautiful. People tell themselves there’s plenty of time to do it all, but most of the time they never see death coming.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes



“Most of the time I paid it no mind. I kept to myself and everyone in my town of Henryetta liked it that way. While my grandma saw helpful information such as droughts and locust infestations, I was cursed with seeing useless and mundane things like Mrs. White’s toilet overflow or the ear infection in Jenny Baxter’s baby. None of that would be so bad if I kept what I saw to myself, but my visions didn't work that way. Without any volition of my own, whatever I saw just blurted right out of my mouth. Most of the people who knew me thought I was a snoop or a gossip, the only rational explanation to reason away my knowledge. But Momma had another opinion. She declared me demon-possessed.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“I was paving the highway to hell in beet bottles and kisses.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“Trust was a tricky thing. Usually the perosn asking for the trust had to prove they were worthy to receive it.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“I find myself thinking about her all the time. But I hurt her. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I’d do anything to take back the pain I caused, but I don’t think she’ll listen to me. So the only thing I know to do is start over, then maybe she’ll give me another chance.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“he wasn’t who I thought he was.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes



“It all started when I saw myself dead.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Are you talking about Agnes Gardner?" I had a sneaking suspicion she was at the wrong visitation.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“But misery is misery, no matter what its cause and we were both drowning in it. I”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“The next morning, beer and I mutually decided our relationship wasn’t going to work out. I wondered why it decided to turn on me as I clung to the toilet, waiting to puke my guts out. Everything had been going so well the night before.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“The dam of tears broke again and I cried softly, grateful for the love I didn’t deserve because the gift of me didn’t seem to be enough.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes



“what’s wrong with being different? Sometimes it’s good to stand apart from everyone else.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“What that woman said, it wasn't right. Just remember that she doesn’t know you. You can’t change the opinions of small-minded people.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“I fell asleep, lying against his chest listening to the soft beat of his heart in my ear, my own full of joy.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“The next morning, beer and I mutually decided our relationship wasn´t going to work out.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“Gossip in Henryetta spread faster than a smallpox plague in an internment camp.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes



“I didn't know how many police cars the city of Henryetta owned, but I was willing to bet money all of them were currently parked in front of my house.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“My smile rivaled the width of the Grand Canyon.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“my computer screen. A scruffy man in his mid-thirties”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“the wall in the hallway, watching Violet and her family”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“As the evening went on, I discovered that visitations are all about lying. Momma never looked so good, both physically and in personality, as she did dead. We heard how wonderful, kind, clever, and generous she was, adjectives no one in their right mind would have used a week ago.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes



“huff. “I need to renew my plates,” he said. Irritation”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


“We walked to the car, side by side, but a million miles apart.”
― Denise Grover Swank, quote from Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes


About the author

Denise Grover Swank
Born place: in Kansas City, The United States
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“--Thing is though, Spud, whin yir intae skag, that's it. That's aw yuv goat tae worry aboot. Ken Billy, ma brar, likes? He's jist signed up tae go back intae the fuckin army. He's gaun tae fucking Belfast, the stupid cunt. Ah always knew that the fucker wis tapped. Fuckin imperialist lackey. Ken whit the daft cunt turned roond n sais tae us? He goes: Ah cannae fuckin stick civvy street. Bein in the army, it's like being a junky. The only difference is thit ye dinnae git shot at sae often bein a junky. Besides, it's usually you that does the shootin.

--That, eh, likesay, seems a bit eh, fucked up like man. Ken?

--Naw but, listen the now. You jist think aboot it. In the army they dae everything fir they daft cunts. Feed thum, gie the cunts cheap bevvy in scabby camp clubs tae keep thum fae gaun intae toon n lowerin the fuckin tone, upsetting the locals n that. Whin they git intae civvy street, thuv goat tae dae it aw fir thumsells.

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--Uh, uh . . . wait a minute, mate. Hear us oot. Listen tae whit ah've goat tae say here . . . what the fuck wis ah sayin . . . aye! Right. Whin yir oan junk, aw ye worry aboot is scorin. Oaf the gear, ye worry aboot loads ay things. Nae money, cannae git pished. Goat money, drinkin too much. Cannae git a burd, nae chance ay a ride. Git a burd, too much hassle, cannae breathe withoot her gittin oan yir case. Either that, or ye blow it, and feel aw guilty. Ye worry aboot bills, food, bailiffs, these Jambo Nazi scum beatin us, aw the things that ye couldnae gie a fuck aboot whin yuv goat a real junk habit. Yuv just goat one thing tae worry aboot. The simplicity ay it aw. Ken whit ah mean?”
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To do what? Wasn't anything I knew better than farming. I was cursed, that was the problem. Just because I didn't like it didn't mean I wasn't good at it... It's a curse all right, you're just too young to know about that sort of thing. To be good at something you don't care about?”
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