“He said this as he stumbled around their single-room apartment, kicking at the loosened leg of the bamboo chair, slapping her mother when she tried to take away his bottle. “

“Slipping around the woman, who smiles at unconscious Caleb, Daddy Sami spends a minute in front of Frank (No. 7). Massive man, massive cigar, massive leather coat.”

“Recently, I’d begun to notice that my actions were only sometimes my own. Other times, they belonged to a familiar stranger whose life I’d been consigned to follow.”

“She’d thought she could drive so fast in that sleek yellow car that she’d outstrip everything else, make the world a blur. But the world was still there, steam rising from the long sleek hood, the car stopped dead forever.”

“She made me sit next to her, arms shaved thoroughly, her skin covered in razor burns. ‘We’ll get another one.’”