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Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan Quotes

Novelist

Stewart O'Nan is an American novelist known for his unique narrative style and profound insights into everyday life. His works often focus on the daily lives of ordinary people, depicting the complexity of human nature and the diversity of life through delicate pen strokes.

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All Relationships Death Grief Loss Couples Love Marriage Aging Mourning World Losing Loved Ones Old Age Women Writing Acceptance Age Challenges Character Coming Home

Famous Stewart O'Nan Quotes

“I'm sorry you don't like coming back here," her mother often said, to cap whatever petty dust-up they'd had. How could Emily explain: it wasn't her mother or Kersey she'd disowned, but her earlier self, that strange, ungrateful girl who strove to be first at everything and threw tantrums when she failed.”

Home Relationships Family Growing Up Youth Aging Coming Home Mothers Daughters Arguments Fights

Book:Emily, Alone

Source: Emily, Alone

“What man wanted a woman without fire, and vice-versa?”

Men Women Relationships Challenges

Book:West of Sunset

Source: West of Sunset

“Why was he drawn to complicated women, or were all women--all people, finally--complicated?”

Men Women Relationships Complications

Book:West of Sunset

Source: West of Sunset

“There was mystery at the heart of any of marriage, secrets even people close to it would never know.”

Relationships Marriage Mystery Secrets Couples Mysteries

Book:Henry, Himself

Source: Henry, Himself

“While she was away, he'd forgotten how powerfully she broadcast her feelings, filling the house like a kind of nerve gas.”

Feelings Relationships Marriage Presence Couples

Book:Henry, Himself

Source: Henry, Himself

“Theirs was a private language, not shared with the rest of the world, and so exempt from censure, sheer burlesque.”

Relationships Marriage Couples Private Language

Book:Henry, Himself

Source: Henry, Himself

“As much as Susie wished it otherwise, her worries were familiar. She liked to believe they were both liberated, independent women. Then why weren't they stronger? Why was their happiness always at the mercy of others?”

Happiness Women Relationships Strength Independence Worries Liberated Women

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

“He was breathing on his own and his red blood cell count was almost normal (not the white), that was it. Kitzi could see she wanted to believe this might make a difference and didn't contradict her. She knew from experience how tightly you clung to the smallest scrap of hope.”

Hope Relationships Illness Sickness Hospitalization

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

“Maybe he was old-fashioned, but to him a couple meant a strong bond, with positive and negative charges constantly arcing between them.”

Love Relationships

Book:Songs for the Missing

Source: Songs for the Missing

“No one spoke, each of them reflecting on their dead and the intractability of the past. That was the problem with getting old, Emily thought. After a point you outlived everyone who truly knew you. There was no one left to remember her aunt June. Soon there would be no one who knew Henry.”

Death Relationships Loss Aging Old Age Dead Remembrance Remembering Knowing Someone

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

“On principle, she believed that anyone who really wanted to know her should be willing to do some work.”

Self Relationships Friendship Knowledge Complexity Companionship

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

“In frustration she sometimes asked him what he would do if she died first, to which he smugly replied, "You won't," as if it were a joke instead of her worst fear.”

Death Relationships Loss Widows Spouses Marriages Widowhood Widowers

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

About the Author

Born: February 4, 1961
Known for: Novelist
Quotes: 53

Related Topics

Relationships Death Grief Loss Couples Love Marriage Aging Mourning World Losing Loved Ones Old Age Women Writing Acceptance Age Challenges Character Coming Home

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

EvensongRelated source material

Henry, HimselfRelated source material

A Prayer for the DyingRelated source material

West of SunsetRelated source material

Songs for the MissingRelated source material

The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American TragedyRelated source material

City of SecretsRelated source material

Emily, AloneRelated source material

Snow Angels: A NovelRelated source material

Songs for the Missing: A NovelRelated source material

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