How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"I could have had one life but instead I had another because of this book my grandmother protected," he said, his voice quieter now. "What a miracle is that? I was taught to love beautiful things. I had a language in which to consider beauty. Later that extended to the opera, to the ballet, to architecture I saw, and even later still I came to realize that what I had seen in the paintings I could see in the fields or a river. I could see it in people. All of that I attribute to this book." (7.122)
In this novel, exploring beauty is sort of like exploring some faraway country you've always wanted to visit, whether it's full of tropical beaches or rugged mountains. That's what Fyodorov gets out of his art book, and it goes for the whole experience in the house, too. Once you start, it's hard to stop.
Quote #8
He [Gen] had never said I love you to either his parents or his sisters. He had not said it to any of the three women he had slept with in his life or the girls in school with whom he had occasionally walked to class. It simply had not occurred to him to say it and now on the first day of his life when it might have been appropriate to speak of love to a woman, he would be declaring it for another man to another woman. (7.132)
It's tough being a translator. When Gen is having that butterflies-in-the-stomach, just-fell-in-love feeling about Carmen, he has to go and translate for Fyodorov. That means telling Roxane that Fyodorov is in love with her, when Gen was kinda more in the mood to confess his own love to Carmen. Irony again. At the same time, it seems like Patchett wove these two stories of love into the same chapter for a reason. Both Fyodorov and Gen are exploring something new through their love, and in a way they do it together. All because Fyodorov needs translation help.
Quote #9
Ishmael put his gun between his feet and looked at them. He would live in this house? He would stay on? He would have a job and earn his own money? He knew he should laugh and tell them to leave him alone. He should make a joke of it himself: No, he would never be caught dead living in such a place. That was the only way to manage if you were the person being teased. Laugh back at them. But he couldn't. He wanted too much to believe they were telling him the truth. "Yes." That was all he could say. (9.145)
Exploration doesn't have to be big and dramatic in this novel. Ishmael's never had the chance to do things most teenagers consider normal, like having a regular summer job. He's probably never even scooped ice cream. Ruben and Oscar genuinely want to offer him another life, and Ishmael is exploring that possibility. No wonder it feels genuinely exciting after the life he's led.