How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Matron, Gebrew, the nurse anesthetist, and others who had gathered were weeping around Sister's body. Word had spread to the maids and housekeepers. Now a funeral wail, a piercing lululululululu ripped through the heart of Missing. The ululations would continue for the next few hours. (1.10.66)
When Sister Mary Joseph Praise finally dies, it's like a public spectacle. There are so many people in the room where she lies naked, bloodied, and cut open by more than one surgeon that death is not a neat, tidy thing that they can just sweep under the rug. The lululu is a noise made to mark an important event, happy or sad, and it sounds like this.
Quote #8
"Lord help us all, but she is dead." Almaz was sobbing now. "She died giving birth to twins. Dr. Hema arrived but could not save her. Dr. Hema saved the twins."
Ghosh stopped hearing after her first mention of Sister and death. He had to have her repeat everything she said, and then repeat again everything that she knew, but each time it came down to Sister being dead. And something about twins. (2.11.103)
Death can be such a surprise, and it's not fixable. Ghosh has missed his chance to say goodbye to his friend, to understand what has happened, and to help. It's all over. Maybe that's why he "stops hearing." It's as though the finality of death were unacceptable to his brain: it does not compute.
Quote #9
Farther down were the graves of young Italian soldiers: NATO À ROMA, or NATO À NAPOLI, but no matter where they were born they were DECEDUTO AD ADDIS ABABA. Matron's vision turned misty as she thought of them having died so very far from home. (2.12.38)
Remember Matron's musing about dying far from home? The cemetery in Addis Ababa is filled with the bodies of soldiers who did just that fighting for Italy. "Nato à" means "born in," so the stones say "BORN IN ROME" and "BORN IN NAPLES." But all of them say DIED IN (DECEDUTO IN) ADDIS ABABA."