Monthly Quotes: May 2021

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Water flows from high places to low places. That is the nature of gravity. Emotions also seem to act according to gravity. When in the presence of someone with whom you have a bond, and to whom you have entrusted your feelings, it is hard to lie and get away with it. The truth just wants to come flowing out. This is especially the case when you are trying to hide your sadness or vulnerability. It is much easier to conceal sadness from a stranger, or from someone you don’t trust.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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Negativity is food for malady, one might say.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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. . as the future hasn’t happened yet, I guess that’s up to you. . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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I was so absorbed in the things that I couldn’t change, I forgot the most important thing.

Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold

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We deserve to have our wrongdoing represented as much as our heroism, because when we refuse wrongdoing as a possibility for a group of people, we refuse their humanity.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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Love cannot be won or lost; a relationship doesn’t have a scoring system. We are partners, paired against the world. We cannot succeed if we are at odds with each other.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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Places are never just places in a piece of writing. If they are, the author has failed. Setting is not inert. It is activated by point of view.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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You tried to tell your story to people who didn’t know how to listen.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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..abusers do not need to be, and rarely are, cackling maniacs. They just need to want something and not care how they get it.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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When the historian of queer experience attempts to document a queer past, there is often a gatekeeper, representing a straight present.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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The inhabitant gives the room its purpose. Your actions are mightier than any architect’s intentions.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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Fear makes liars of us all.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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Why do we teach girls their perspectives are inherently untrustworthy?” I would yell. I want to reclaim these word. After all, melodrama comes from melos, which means music, honey. A drama queen is nonetheless a queen

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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I thought you died, but writing this, I’m not sure you did.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

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“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?”

“Comparing yourself to others”, said the mole.”

Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

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“Is your glass half empty or half full?” asked the mole.

“I think I’m grateful to have a glass,” said the boy.”

Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

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“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.”

Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

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“The greatest illusion,” said the mole, “is that life should be perfect.”

Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

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“Imagine how we would be if we were less afraid.”

Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

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Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and Geoffrey Trousselot (Translator)

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Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ is set in a small basement café, which feels very intimate and cozy. It involves themes of magic realism and time travel. It’s a collection of stories of four café visitors who want to travel in time either to attempt fixing the past to decide on the present. The café acts as a medium to time travel, and there are various rules one must follow to travel back or forward in time.

The four stories are said to be interconnected. However, except for the café and the café staff, there isn’t much common in the stories. Each story is personal to the characters. They are present in each other stories, but they don’t participate. The mere presence of the other characters cannot be regarded as an interconnection. The Stories overall are well written. I specifically liked the first and the fourth story. The first story sets the theme of the book. Hence, it’s intriguing to see what are the possibilities explored and how time travel happens. The other two stories are also interesting, but there isn’t any surprise element to them. They are based on the same template as the first one. The last story involves traveling to the future and is probably the best story. It not only has something different than the other three stories. But there’s more depth in terms of characters and emotions. The last story made the book worthwhile for me.

It’s a well-written book. However, it’s very straightforward. In the first three stories, the visitors travel back in time. And their past is introduced first. There’s no intriguing element or any layer to the past. One of the rules is that the present cannot be changed. Because of this, there’s nothing to expect from their time travel. If this rule was introduced indirectly instead of stating it verbatim, it would have added some depth to their purpose of traveling back in time.

“I was so absorbed in the things that I couldn’t change, I forgot the most important thing.”

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 4 out of 5.

A short and sweet book. With a heartwarming story and unpolished illustrations. It’s about a boy who starts alone and meets the mole, the fox, and the horse in the way. It’s about their friendship and the introspective feelings everyone encounters once in a while. It’s is not just a children’s book, it’s a book like ‘The Little Prince’ or ‘The Giving Tree’ that’s written for all ages. Whenever you re-read it, you find something new. This particular story is focused on self-introspection. In a ‘Explain to me like I am five’ way. It’s beautiful, in both illustrative and written means.

“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?”

“Comparing yourself to others”, said the mole.”

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

‘In the Dream House’ is a Memoir about the author’s abusive same-sex relationship. She has very creatively documented her experiences in a format where she draws an analogy between her relationship and the House. She and her girlfriend are the residents of the House. She writes about how the House seems like a dream, but gradually she discovers that the House is not as dreamy as it looked at first. Instead, it’s a haunted house, and there’s a monster inside. She uses various themes, not limited to horror, to describe different phases of her relationship.

The inhabitant gives the room its purpose. Your actions are mightier than any architect’s intentions.

It’s an extremely well-written book. Carmen has done a brilliant job articulating complex emotions as a victim of abuse. This book is important in more ways than one. Cases of abuse are common in a same-sex relationship, and yet there aren’t many conversations around it. We need this book. We need to include queer relationships in discussions when we talk about heterosexual relationships.

It’s a shattering and heartbreaking read. But, it’s a must-read. It’s exquisite, something that takes you in like a bystander with Carmen. It not only puts forward a narrative of the abusive queer relationship. It also shows how the abusers exploit the circumstances, how they can be manipulative, which applies to all kinds of relationships.

When the historian of queer experience attempts to document a queer past, there is often a gatekeeper, representing a straight present.