1. Preface

From The storied life of A.J.Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. [1]

2. Content

  1. You shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
  2. The tough rose mouth says no one can hurt me, but the soft blue eyes say Yes you can and you probably will. And he had made that big dandelion of a girl cry.
  3. A.J. had found the reverent tone of the eulogies to be insufferable.
  4. She runs her fingers through her short hair.
  5. Ismay has chosen a collage because she had liked the pictures in the brochure, had married a man because he looked splendid in a tuxedo, and had started teaching because she’d seen a movie about a inspirational teacher.
  6. she was young and beautiful, which makes her death a tragedy. she was poor and black, which means people say they saw it coming.
  7. “it’s about a detective. but it moves kind of slow, and most things go unsolved, but then i thought, that’s how life is, that’s how the job really is.”
    “there’s a sequel.”A.J informs him.
  8. villains get punished, good guys triumph.
  9. You think child is enough, but child grows old. You think work is enough, but work is not warm body.
  10. Sales reps come to town with their summer offerings, and A.J. goes out of his way to be hospitable to them.
  11. A.J. mimes the universal gesture for toking up.
  12. No one travels without purpose. Those who are lost wish to be lost.
  13. It is the secret fear that we are unlovable that isolates us, but it is only because we are isolated that we think we are unlovable. Someday, you do not know when, you will be driving down a road. And someday, you do not know when, he, or indeed she, will be there. You will be loved because for the first time in your life, you will truly not be alone. You will have chosen to not be alone.
  14. For instance, two out of the three finalists were women, which might have tipped the scales toward the male.

Footnotes