"Story is the air that you people breathe, the ocean you swim in, and we books are the rocks along the shoreline that channel your currents and contain your tides."
This metaphor emphasizes how stories are inseparable from human experience. Just as fish are unaware of the water they inhabit, people are often oblivious to how narrative shapes their reality. The Book portrays itself as essential, holding and shaping the flood of stories that define humanity.
"In a neo-materialist world, Every Thing Matters."
The quote underscores the novel's critique of consumerism, asserting that objects have inherent value. The Book advocates respect for all things, suggesting that even in a disposable culture, objects carry meaning and significance.
"That day, my teacher gave me a priceless lesson in the impermanence of form, and the empty nature of all things."
A Zen-inspired lesson in detachment, this quote teaches Annabelle to appreciate impermanent objects without clinging. It reinforces the novel’s central themes of impermanence, loss, and mindful engagement with the material world.
"Poetry is a problem of form and emptiness."
This line encapsulates the novel's philosophical core. Poetry—and by extension life—is a negotiation between the structured "form" and the limitless potential of "emptiness," reflecting the tension between specificity and infinite possibility.
"It's not him that's crazy, Benny Oh. It's the fucking world we live in. It's capitalism that's crazy."
This quote critiques societal norms rather than individual pathology. Benny's experience is framed as a logical response to modern consumerism, emphasizing systemic causes of stress, alienation, and mental health struggles.
