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The setting is in a mental institution of some kind. The main characters whose viewpoints are switch-narrated among come from completely different backgrounds with completely different "problems". Nonetheless, two fall in love, and one just falls.
If you have a craving for reading about crazies, (which I often do,) this is for you. It's a lot thicker in page volume than Burned, and I suppose not as good, according to my review.
Some keen insight into different thought processes is shown. I also am starting to enjoy Hopkin's less conventional way of composing stories. But there were many times throughout this read that I found myself wanting to stop and pickup another book. Not sure exactly how to pinpoint my reasoning for this.
Good stuff: "Is it even a window / I'm looking through, / or only cloudy panes / of vision, opening / on drifts of ivory / linens - soft cotton, / crisp percale - / my snow just / a blizzard of white / noise?" (pg. 18)
"Don't you feel better [...] with all of that out in the open? / [...] I do feel / somehow relieved, like I'm / cutting teeth on psychoanalysis." (pg. 150)
"[...] although he's more / like a faraway star, brilliant, / but cold in his distance; / beautiful in his perfection, / but likely to burn too brightly, / stuff himself out. / I wonder where he came / from, what random joining / of energies created such complexity." (pg. 271)
"I'm afraid - [...] when I get out of this place, / everything will be exactly / the same as before - even me. / I'll still live in my parents'/ shadow; I'll still drive myself to / achieve impossible perfection. / And I'll never let myself / believe that someone really loves me." (pg. 418)
"It's not easy to get / close to anyone in here, / Tony. Everyone's afraid / of everybody else ... maybe / because we're all afraid / of ourselves." (pg. 468)
"Think how people must have / loved each other when all / they had was each other." (pg. 506)
"What Tony doesn't know / Is that love and I are like / water and oil. Put the two / together, blend well, and you / get Quaker State quicksand." (pg. 597)
"This time / when we kiss, I feel / it in the pit of my stomach, / I feel it in my heart. / And I realize love isn't about sex. / It's about connection." (pg. 663)
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