"There had been little about our childhood that could be described as paradisiacal. Our alcoholic father was either brutal or sullenly withdrawn. Our mother retaliated with religious fanaticism. As she knelt before plaster images of saints, in the flicker of votive candles, her furious mutter was more like invective than prayer. Their manias kept my parents quite busy, and Elena and I were more or less left to raise ourselves. Elena and I were united only in our unspoken determination to show nothing of what we felt about this embarrassment of a life that our parents had visited upon us. In this we succeeded. To the outside world we were simply quiet children, good at school, not very social, a little high-strung."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Novelists from the United StatesLawyers from the United StatesDetective fiction authorsGay novelistsPeople from Sacramento
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Nava
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Michael Nava
144 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Michael Nava →
Related Quotes
"[Henry Rios, with Raymond Reynolds, therapist] "Somewhere along the line, I had died." "What does that mean, Henry?" …"
"[Henry, to the therapist] "You people always end up wanting to talk about mommy and daddy," I said, intending a joke,…"
"[Chuck Sweeny] "Times change, we change with 'em.""
"I walked over to the railing and watched the traffic stream up and down the boulevard. A blond in a Jeep cruised by s…"
"It was sometimes easier to read the future from the entrails of a cat than get a fix on what a judge was thinking, an…"
"[Zack Bowen] "Damn, it's tough being a fag. People hate you who don't even know you, and the ones who know you, they'…"
"[Alicia] "What is false does not become true simply because people shout it. What is right does not change because it…"
"[Josh Mandel] "Most things people care about are silly. They don't think about the ones that matter.""
"It was not quiet in my head."
"[Josh] "Just listen to me. I don't want to die, Henry. I want to be like everyone else. I want my seventy-five years …"