How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"We tried to get them out, all of them. We didn't know what happened to them until after the war. A family friend contacted us, someone who had made it through the camps, who knew what happened." (21.28)
The Graysons are the swankiest, coolest couple in Palm Beach (until they're kicked out, anyway), but they've led some not-so-charmed lives. So many of their family members died during the war, and they have to live with that.
Quote #8
I knew about the camps, but I hadn't really thought about them. I'd seen the articles, but we'd had so much of war. I hadn't wanted to think about it after it was over, after all the men were coming home. I hadn't wanted to listen to the whispers about Ruthie Kalman's cousins. I didn't want any more of the war. I was sick of the war. (21.29)
Evie has only ever thought about her side of the war—about waiting for Joe to come home and the shortages they faced in New York. But now she sees that she didn't look at the bigger picture; she's just starting to realize the extent of human atrocities that occurred.
Quote #9
"The only way I can do this is if it's like the war. I come home and I forget it." (32.20)
Joe's tried and true coping mechanism for anything bad that happens is to simply forget it happened and to never talk about it again. That's how he deals with the war—and later, it's how he deals with Peter's death and his wife's affair.