How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #1
"She thinks—she believes—she once lived in a castle! … "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. A goddamned fairy-tale princess, Becca. With a Yiddish accent. If she's not crazy believing it—you are. Grow up, Becca." (2.56)
This quote is telling, not just because of what it says about how Big Sis Sylvia sees Gemma, but also because of how she sees Becca, her youngest sister. Sounds like some serious ageism in both directions.
Quote #2
"I was the princess in the castle in the sleeping woods. And there came a great dark mist and we all fell asleep. But the prince kissed me awake. Only me." (2.73)
As it turns out, this part of the story was practically literal: the great dark mist was poisonous gas, and the kiss was the kiss of life, as in CPR. That metaphor got real creepy real fast.
Quote #3
Her skin, like old parchment on a bone stretcher, had been map-like; the careful traceries of her age showing where and how she had lived. Except that none of them knew where she had lived as a child. Only that she had come to America before the Second World War. (4.20)
Though Gemma was the treasured matriarch of her family, no one knew too much about her. Funny they pay such close attention to her old-lady skin but don't bother to ask where she's from.