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441 pages, Hardcover
First published October 22, 2013
“Eureka’s life was in chaos. She was on the brink of being kicked out of the house she hated living in. She hadn’t been going to school. She was alienated from all her friends and was following birds through the predawn bayou to meet elderly psychics. How was she supposed to know if now was Diana’s mystical when?” (p. 314)
“‘It looks like you were just bumming around with Brooks. You know it’s a school night. What happened with the therapist? I hope you didn’t do anything to embarrass me.” (p. 102)
“‘As long as you live in my house, you follow my rules.’” (p.187)
“‘Don’t tell me you forgot you were watching the twins? Your dad’s at work and I’m delivering the keynote at the dean’s luncheon.”
“I made plans with Brooks.”
“Rearrange them.” Rhoda tilted her head and frowned. “We were doing so well.” (p. 336)
“She was really pretty, and sometimes Eureka could even see it—when Rhoda was sleeping, or in the trance of watching her children, the rare moments when her face relaxed. But most of the time, Rhoda just looked late for something. She wore this orangey lipstick, which had worn off while she was instructing tonight’s business class at the university. Little tributaries of faded orange ran down the creases of her lips.” (p. 101)
”Ander’s hold on her had the kind of depth she’d felt with only a few people before. Diana, Dad, Brooks, Cat—Eureka could count them. It was a depth that suggested profound affection, a depth that bordered on love. She expected to want to pull away, but she leaned closer.
His open hands came to rest against her back. His shoulders spanned hers like a protective shield, which made her think of the thunderstone. He tilted his head to cradle hers against his chest. Through his T-shirt, she could hear his heart throbbing. She loved the sound it made.
She closed her eyes and knew that Ander’s eyes were closed, too. Their closed eyes cast a heavy silence on the room. Eureka suddenly felt she was in the safest place on the earth and she knew she had been wrong about him.” (p. 369 – 370)
“‘The last I heard, he [Solon, a Seedbearer] was in Turkey.’ He [Ander] spun to face Eureka, eyes suddenly bright. ‘We could go there and track him down.’
Eureka laughed. ‘I doubt my Dad is going to let me up and go to Turkey.’
‘They’ll have to come with us,’ Ander said quickly. ‘All of your loved ones will. Otherwise my family would use your family to drag you back.’
Eureka stiffened. ‘You mean—’
He nodded. ‘They can justify killing a few in order to save many.’” (p. 395 – 396)
“‘There is no death, no life, either. Only congregation and dispersal.’” (p. 175)
“‘It might be dangerous,’ Blavatsky continued. ‘Knowledge is power; power corrupts. Corruption brings shame and ruin. Ignorance may not be bliss, but it is perhaps preferable to a life lived in shame. Do you agree?’” (p. 179)
“‘Nothing is real. There is only what we believe in and what we reject.’” (p. 293)
“‘Curiosity is a cunning paramour,’ the woman said. ‘He has me seduced as well.’” (p. 295)
“‘We believe is your destiny to go [sic],’ Madame Blavatsky said. ‘What happens once you’re there is up to you.’” (p. 297)
“Nothing Eureka could say would change the cruel rules of this house, which only ever applied to her. Her mind was on fire, but her eyes stayed downturned. She had better things to do than fight with the monsters across the table.” (p. 309)
“She heard Brooks buzzing something nasty in her ear about how Eureka was convinced all her therapists were stupid. This one really was!” (p. 191)
The choice was simpler than that:Guess which choice the boy makes? Ding ding ding, winner winner chicken dinner. Because pussy will win out against humanity and common sense every single time.
Save the world, or save the girl.
“You keep Cat around because she doesn’t notice when you tune her out. You can’t stand anyone in your family...You’re certain every therapist you go to is an idiot. You’ve pushed away all of Evangeline because there’s no way anyone could ever understand what you’ve been through.” He stopped pacing and looked straight at her. “Then there’s me.”I really could not have analyzed Eureka and her apathy towards life any better than her best friend, Brooks, did. Needless to say, Brooks is my favorite character in the book, by far.
Eureka’s chest ached as if he’d punched her in the heart. “What about you?”
“You use me.”
“No.”
“I’m not your friend. I’m a sounding board for your anxiety and depression.”
“That’s why you never knew about me. I have watched you since you were born, but you never saw me until I wanted you to—the day I hit your car. I’ve been with you every day for the past seventeen years. I watched you learn to walk, to tie your shoes, to play the guitar”—he swallowed—“to kiss. I watched you get your ears pierced, fail your driver’s test, and win your first cross-country race.”The rest of the characters are tropes. We have the bitter, past-her-prime bitch of a stepmother who is out to get Eureka every chance she gets. If you look up "evil stepmother," in the dictionary, you will find Rhoda's picture. There is no redeeming quality for her, none. Rhoda is so pure one-dimensional bitchiness that it is unbelievable. I have more sympathy for her father, who redefines "spineless." He cannot stand up to his first wife, Diana. He can barely hold his own with his second wife, Rhoda. Forget about dealing with his teenaged daughter...Eureka's dad is a spineless shell of a man. I find him a sad, tragic character.
Then Ander lurched forward, his arm shooting over Eureka’s head. He grabbed Brooks by the neck of his T-shirt. “How long have you been with her? How long?”Totally normal behavior. And whose fault is it that Ander attacks Brooks unprovoked? Why, all Brooks, of course.
Eureka shrank between them, startled by the outburst. What was Ander talking about? She should do something to defuse the situation. But what?
Eureka pivoted to look him in the eye. “Why were you so hostile to him?”WHAT? NO! Get your head on straight, girl!!!!
“Me?” Brooks flattened a hand against his chest. “Are you serious? He—I—”
“You were standing over me like some possessive older brother. You could have introduced yourself.”
She didn’t know why she was defending Ander. He’d lied about Brooks, admitted to spying on her, made vague threats about her being in danger. It might be enough to press charges, but it seemed wrong. What Ander had said wasn’t what was dangerous about him. What was dangerous about him was the way he made her feel … emotionally out of control.Get your fucking priorities straight.
Sprachen haben komplizierte Stammbäume, müsst ihr wissen- Mischehen, Stiefkinder, sogar Bastarde. Es gibt zahllose Skandale in der Sprachgeschichte, viele Morde, viel Inzest.