Top 10 List: Quotes

These quotes are in no specific order.

1. “We carry our mistakes…” (282).
In the book I choose to read, The Slow Moon, this quote was thought by Johnny, Crow’s younger brother, at the end of the book. After reading this quote I thought to myself that this is exactly the same exact thing every other character was thinking. The author, Elizabeth Cox, didn’t have to tell you this was what everyone felt; it was applied throughout the entire book.
2. “But what they saw---what they really saw---was the thin, bright string of light along the hills, a horizon not yet captured, not held down by circumstance. What they saw was the world opening…” (300).
This quote was said on the last page of the book and this is how the author leaves your mind without question. Even though throughout this book it makes you feel despair, this quote leaves you with hope that their lives will start to look up. I picked this quote because it’s a bit inspiring and as I stated before, it gives you hope.
3. “But what do I look like to you now? I mean, I don’t know anymore…” (226).
I feel sometimes in life we lose ourselves. We lose sight of who we really are. And after something happens it may drastically change us to the point of where we say, who is that? When looking straight at our own reflection. After Sophie was raped, she lost sight of the girl she was and could no longer see herself in her own reflection.
4. “The word unraped kept going through her mind. And she thought she knew now how getting unraped happened: by going back through the memory of it all. She had done that earlier today, and she remembered lying on the ground, the shirts around her head slipping off, seeing the shadows of boys---three boys moving through the woods---their height, the turn of their hair, the way they walked, small gestures she had seen before. And she knew who they were…” (234).
This quote informs us that Sophie has finally remembered who the three boys were that raped her. At this point in the book you can’t help but think, “Thank God she knows who did the horrific thing to her.” You try to imagine what she went through, yet can’t, because it is one of those unimaginable things that you need to see to believe.
5. “I’m afraid if I accuse somebody, that the accusation will backfire. Lawyers could make it look like my fault, the guys could get off and…” (184).
This quote is so true it scares me. When you hear of stories that guys get off after raping a girl by flipping the story and making it seem as though it was the girls fault...it sickens me. Thank God in Sophie’s case the boys didn’t get off. And Sophie didn’t have to worry about people not believing her, because the three boys turned themselves in after she confronted them.
6. “If she’s trembling, she’s back in this world” (48).
Louise was a nurse at the hospital. He was taking care of Sophie when she had been brought there after the rape. He had said this quote to Rita, Sophie’s mom, but the way he meant it was that she’s still with us. Yet the way I interpret this quote is that she is trembling because of the rape and the trauma that goes along with its scars to her memory.
7. "Then she saw them, or the shadow of them" (46).
This quote is extremely significant to my book; because it lets the readers know that Sophie knows Crow didn’t rape her. This quote is early on in the book, so Sophie doesn’t exactly know who raped her. But she knows there were three boys and she knew she had to remember.
8. “Don’t you hear something?” (3).
This quote may be the most significant to the book. It informs us that Sophie heard something as she and Crow walked out into the woods. They had planned to go out into the woods to make love for the first time, but right before they were about to Crow remembered he forgot a condom and had to run back to the car. He left his undressed girlfriend, Sophie, by herself in the woods. But the noises Sophie had questioned Crow about were not the wind as Crow had thought. It was Bobby, Tom, and Casey following them into the woods. When they saw Crow run off, they attacked Sophie and raped her. If only Sophie would have taken the noise she heard a bit more seriously, then this may have never happened to her.
9. “I found myself pausing over the beauty of this book, and wishing I’d been the one to think of it.”
This quote was said by another favorite author of mine, Jodi Picoult. She said this quote in awe and honor of The Slow Moon. I feel the exact same way so I felt this quote, in a way, was one that I would say about this amazing book myself. A novel this good should be praised.
10. “Sophie’s request wasn’t a doubt or a dare but rather the wish to see her friend in a state of suspension over the water, a shiny moment of mindless ease, and she felt the ease of it being given to her” (225).
Sophie felt this way as she watched her friend, Grace, master the jackknife off of the diving board. Sophie stayed with Grace over the summer to get away from what had happened and clear her mind in hopes of remembering who raped her. This quote from the book may be my favorite because I love moments where nothing can touch you and your mind is at peace. For Sophie, watching her friend perform this dive and then managing to do it herself set her mind at peace, if only for a moment.

Week 7 Post B

When I first started to read this section of the book I thought to myself…what does this have to do with the book? The as you look closer and start to get deeper into it you realize that it is tell you how the community is summed up in an odd way. They talk about how there is a carnival and there is the circus with monkeys in the large tent. When the show started the monkeys appeared to be normal, cool, collected, trained and restrained. But as the show proceeds to go on the monkeys get raddled up and get bothered by things and start to get upset and act in ways they normally would not have. The monkey trainer was trying to keep them under control until all mayhem broke loose. The trainer had to call in reinforcement, yet the monkeys could not be stopped or contained. The monkeys fled the tent and ran in a rampage to freedom. During the time I was reading this I didn’t quite understand what this had to do with anything. Then I started to see the connection. The way in which the author made you dig deep to really see the meaning behind these crazed monkeys. It was one of those “read between the lines” moment and I find it fascinating how she could easily compare the community, the society, to wild monkeys. As Sophie and Crow’s kiss still lingered on their lips they looked down from the Ferris wheel upon the event, the world and all its flaws. “But what they saw---what they really saw---was the thin, bright string of light along the hills, a horizon not yet captured, not held down by circumstance. What they saw was the world opening…” (300). I don’t know if you could quite say this was a happy ending, but in some ways it certainly was a happily ever after.

Week 7 Post A

Vocab:

1) Tremulous (p. 300) adj. 1. Marked by trembling, quivering, or shaking. 2. Timid or fearful
2) Ether (p.285) n. 1. Any of a class of organic compounds in which two hydrocarbon groups are linked by an oxygen atom. 2. A volatile, highly flammable liquid, C2H5OC2H5, derived from the distillation of ethyl alcohol with sulfuric acid and used as a reagent and solvent. It was formerly used as an anesthetic. Also called diethyl ether, ethyl ether. 3. The regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens. 4. The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets. 5. Physics An all-pervading, infinitely elastic, massless medium formerly postulated as the medium of propagation of electromagnetic waves.

Quote:

“We carry our mistakes, he thought.” (p. 282)

When Johnny was thinking about this he had so many things on his mind. I picked this quote because it has so much meaning behind for everyone’s daily life. I feel it’s a true statement and fits with how everyone in this book felt.

Week 6 Post B

I feel there are so many good quotes I could take from this section. It is the best thus far. I have decided to take some of the best quotes out of this section to let you see the depth of this book and the emotion that overwhelms you and makes you think. “But what do I look like to you now? I mean, I don’t know anymore. I wash and dry my hair and put on makeup, but I can’t really see my face anymore, or my body. A few days ago I caught a glimpse of myself in a window, and what I saw surprised me---my reflection surprised me. I’ve gotten thin, but still, what do I look like?” Sophie asked this to her best friend Grace on page 226. “The word unraped kept going through her mind. And she thought she knew now how getting unraped happened: by going back through the memory of it all. She had done that earlier today, and she remembered lying on the ground, the shirts around her head slipping off, seeing the shadows of boys---three boys moving through the woods---their height, the turn of their hair, the way they walked, small gestures she had seen before. And she knew who they were.” Sophie had finally remembered who raped her on page 234. “She conspired to be a literal moon…the moon came close to her face---a simple touch of wings, and she was done…but she knew that the evening had changed, and that the night had become for her, in those few moments, a revelation. She was coming back to the world” (p. 235). As Sophie talked to Bobby, on page 244, she said, “you and Tom and Casey have to turn yourselves in. I want you to admit what you’ve done. It will be easier that way---just a confession.” The next morning before noon the three boys turned themselves in for raping Sophie. These are only a few of the quotes I loved from this section which had so much powerful meaning.

Week 6 Post A

Vocab:

1) Jeering (p. 225) v. To speak or shout derisively; mock
2) Grotesque (p. 231) adj. 1. Characterized by ludicrous or incongruous distortion, as of appearance or manner. 2. Outlandish or bizarre, as in character or appearance.

Quote:

“Then Sophie said out loud the names of the boys” (p. 241).

This quote is very significant, because it’s the first time Sophie has said the boy’s names and now it means that the boys who raped her are going to finally get what they deserve.

Week 5 Post B

“I’m afraid if I accuse somebody, that the accusation will backfire. Lawyers could make it look like my fault, the guys could get off and-” Sophie then proceeds to say, “If I accuse somebody, they’ll say that I wasn’t wearing any clothes, they say it was my fault. And I’d had some beer, so that too.” Her words came in huge sobs (p. 184). Sophie expresses her feelings to her mother right before she is about to board her plane. Sophie had decided to fly back to Montana and stay with her friend Grace for the summer. At first her mother, Rita, didn’t want her to go. But then Rita went to speak with Dr. Brooks, Sophie’s therapist. He felt Sophie going away might clear her head. Dr. Brooks thought that maybe by chance Sophie will be able to remember the perpetrators who bestowed horrible physical and mental pain onto her. After speaking with Dr. Brooks, Rita understood that getting away was the best thing for Sophie. She also understood why Sophie liked this man so much, because even when things seemed so bad, he made it seem like everything will be okay. But as Sophie and Rita sat there, Rita knew she had to do something to make Sophie know everything would be okay and that she needed to tell her who the people were that raped her as soon as she could remember. Rita needed to comfort Sophie and help her daughter get their lives back in order. Sophie finally left for Montana, leaving the pain, darkness, lies, and fear behind.

Week 5 Post A

Vocab:
1) Rancor (p. 196) n. Bitter, long-lasting resentment; deep-seated ill will
2) Illicit (p. 211) adj. Not sanctioned by custom or law; unlawful

Quote:
“I remember some of it,” Sophie said. “But not a face. I remember things like somebody’s hair, and a smell, and a watch ticking. I remember a watch next to my ear.” She began to cry again (p. 185).

This quote is very significant to the book because Sophie finally started to open up to her mother and tell her what she could remember. Even though it wasn’t much, it gave them both hope.