Gong Jiyoung · 252 pages
Rating: (1.2K votes)
“You said that the hours of every day are trash. However, that is the way someone lucky enough to welcome the next day thinks." ~ Aunt Monica”
“Yeah, you were the only reason I didn't pick better ways to kill myself, Aunt Monica. It's the thought that there actually is somebody who'd miss me and grieve for me that makes my heart ache." ~ Juri”
“Grudges don't simply disappear. And I know that no matter what people tell you to comfort you, it just sounds like sarcasm." ~ Aunt Monica”
“If only the entire week was Thursdays..." ~ Yuu”
“Is a rope around the neck and a drop from the gallows all that we can do for a guy who lived his life without ever smiling? ~ Inoue”
“I'm afraid... that when I see her, I'll want to keep living. I'm afraid... - Yuu”
“To me, the hours that pass by each day are just an agony that I want to throw in the trash." ~ Juri Mutou”
“If you pardon the things that unfortunate people do, then what of the people killed by his selfish acts? And the people who say he should be the one killed?" ~ Juri”
“We were only granted 30 minutes every Thursday. Today may be the last day...and so we continued to talk, even about trivial little things, and even if our throats became sore...”
“In that moment...I was happy." ~ Yuu”
“Up until then, I'd never met anyone who looked at me so earnestly, and there was never anyone who really paid attention to what I said. I realized that I'm still right here - that I'm still alive. In that moment I was happy. Maybe it's not something anyone can understand , but I was happy”
“If only I had jumped from a building instead of slitting my wrists or drank sulfurid acid instead of taking sleeping pills! Yeah, you were the only reason I didn't pick better ways to kill myself, Aunt Monica. It's the thought that there actually is somebody who'd miss me and grieve for me... that makes my heart ache - Juri Motou”
“It’s a problem” is another deadening phrase. It’s heavy and negative. “It’s an opportunity” opens the door to growth. Each time you can see the gift in life’s obstacles, you can handle difficult situations in a rewarding way. Each time you have the opportunity to stretch your capacity to handle the world, the more powerful you become.”
“They don't live here. They live in Heaven.'
Where's that?'
I don't know,' I said. 'Enos says it's right here, on this side of the wall, but I never saw an angel over here. Kuba says it's in Russia. Olek says Washington America.'
What's Washington America?'
Enos says it's a place with no wall and no lice and lots of potatoes.”
“Gloria put a bowl of stew in Peter's hands. "Eat," she said.
Peter raised the spoon to his lips. He chewed. He swallowed.
It had been a long time since he had eaten anything besides tiny fish and old bread.
And so when Peter had his first bite of stew, it overwhelmed him. The warmth of it, the richness of it, knocked him backward; it was as if a gentle hand had pushed him when he was not expecting it. Everything he had lost came flooding back: the garden, his father, his mother, his sister, the promises that he had made and could not keep.
"What's this?" said Gloria Matienne. "The boy is crying."
"Shhh," said Leo. He put his hand on Peter's shoulder. "Shhh. Don't worry, Peter. Everything will be good. All will be well. We will do together whatever it is that needs to be done. But for now, you must eat."
Peter nodded. He raised his spoon. Again he chewed and swallowed, and again he was overcome. He could not help it. He could not stop the tears; they flowed down his cheeks and into the bowl. "It is a very good stew, Madam Matienne. he managed to say. "Truly, it is an excellent stew.”
“Before cruelly vilifying them from a great height, the mudslingers at newspapers and journals should bear in mind that all artistic endeavors were by and large a mixture of effort and imagination, the embodiment of a solitary endeavor, of a sometimes long-nurtured dream, when they were not a desperate bid to give life meaning.”
“Our relationship was built on a house of cards. One good blow and you find the pieces scatter in the wind quite easily.”
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