Dennis Lehane Quotes

[The novel represented a big step for the author, too.] Coming from the world I was in, writing very esoteric short fiction.. I knew exactly what boundary I was stepping over,.. I was leaving one camp and stepping into another.

writing leaving world author fiction big short

Dave has a moment when he's young where he tries to talk to his mother, who just shuts him down,.. From that point on, Dave had to create someone else; that's where his problems begin. That's the tragedy of his character: He's been hiding it for too long. He doesn't know himself.

character moment problems mother tragedy talk young create hiding begin

An inner-city, working-class kid.

working-class

And often the worst thing wasn't the victims--they were dead, after all, and beyond any more pain. The worst thing was those who loved them and survived them. Often the walking dead from now on, shell-shocked, hearts ruptured, stumbling through the remainder of their lives without anything left inside of them but blood and organs, impervious to pain, having learned nothing except that the worst things did, in fact, sometimes happen. (Mystic River)

pain death walking hearts lives blood river dead things fact inside left worst learned thing

It's hard to close the door on optimistic expectations when you love someone.

relationships heartbreak hope

She blew a stream of smoke up at the empty clotheslines. 'These silly dreams you have when you're young. I mean, what, Katie and Brendan Harris were going ot make a life in Las Vegas? How long would that little Eden have lasted? Maybe they'd be on their second trailer park, second kid, but it would have hit them sooner or later - life isn't happily ever after and golden sunsets and shit like that. It's work. The person you love is rarely worthy of how big your love is. Because no one is worthy of that and maybe no one deserves the burden of it, either. You'll be let down. You'll be disappointed and have your trust broken and have a lot of real sucky days. You lose more than you win. You hate the person you love as much as you love him. But, shit, you roll up your sleeves and work - at everything -because that's what growing older is.

life

When they'd first come out in the morning, a single flounder lay flapping and puffing in the breezeway, one sad, swollen eye looking back toward the sea.

beautiful sad

I go on the presumption that everyone's full of shit until proven otherwise, and this usually serves me in good stead.

funny humor character advice humor-inspirational