“If the literary category of 'mordant fable' exists at all, it may be because Brock Clarke invented it. The Happiest People in the World is everything we fans have come to love from a Clarke novel: playful and deliriously skewed, and somehow balancing between genuinely great-hearted and gloriously weird.” PeopleIfsWorldMayNovelFansCategoriesHeartedFables Author:Lauren Groff
“It seems to me that if you were to take almost any half-century in history, you'd find a grand societal tug-of-war between the community and the individual.” IfsWarSeemsIndividualCommunityHalfCenturyTug Of War Author:Lauren Groff
“If you look at communal experiments in general for any amount of time, you'll find a lot of horrors: raped children, sexual slavery, eugenics experiments, on and on.” IfsLooksChildrenAmountHorrorSlaveryExperimentsEugenics Author:Lauren Groff
“Being a writer means I sit in a dark (and pretty dank) room off my garage for many hours a day, and in my wallowing moments I can feel as if I'm already on the outside of society, peering wistfully in.” IfsFeelsMeanI CanMomentsHoursDarkRoomsGarageWallowingDank Author:Lauren Groff
“When I was small and easily wounded books were my carapace. If I were recalled to my hurts in the middle of a book they somehow mattered less. My corporeal life was slight the dazzling one in my head was what really mattered. Returning to books was coming home.” IfsBookHomeHurtMiddleComing HomeWoundedDazzling Book:The Monsters of Templeton Source: The Monsters of Templeton
“Even still, we run. We have not reached our average of 57.92 years without knowing that you run through it, and it hurts and you run through it some more, and if it hurts worse, you run through it even more, and when you finish, you will have broken through. In the end, when you are done, and stretching, and your heartbeat slows, and your sweat dries, if you've run through the hard part, you will remember no pain.” IfsYearsStillsEndsHardDoneRunningPainRememberHurtKnowingBrokenAverageSweatIt HurtsHeartbeatStretchingNo Pain Book:The Monsters of Templeton Source: The Monsters of Templeton
“Depressing thought: my friends were the girls I ate lunch with, all buddies from kindergarten who knew one another so well we weren't sure if we even liked one another anymore.” IfsWellsGirlMy FriendsLunchDepressingBuddyKindergarten Book:Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories Source: Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories
“And she, the new mother of a daughter, felt a fierceness come over her that seized at her heart, that made her feel as if her bones were turned to steel, as if she could turn herself into a weapon to keep this daughter of hers from having to be hurt by the world outside the ring of her arms.” IfsWorldFeelsHeartMadeMotherTurnsFeltHurtArmsWeaponsDaughterBonesRingsSteelFiercenessNew Mother Author:Lauren Groff
“If there's a black cat that crosses the street in my path, I will turn around and walk 20 minutes out of my way to not cross it.” IfsWayTurnsBlackWalksPathStreetsMinutesCrossesCatMy WayBlack Cat Author:Lauren Groff
