Chapter 10

"Mariam had never before touched a car. She ran her fingers along the hood of Jalil's car, which was black, shiny, with glittering wheels in which Mariam saw a flattened, widened version of herself. The seats were made of white leather. Behind the steering wheel, Mariam saw round glass panels with needles behind them."(Page 32, Chapter 5)

"...But she wasn't fast enough. Mariam saw. A gust of wind blew and parted the drooping branches of the weeping willow like a curtain, and Mariam caught a glimpse of what was beneath the tree: the straight-backed chair, overturned.The rope dropping from a high branch. Nana dangling at the end of it." (Page 36, Chapter 5)

"Nana collapsing suddenly, her body tightening, becoming rigid, her eyes rolling back, her arms and legs shaking as if something were throttling her from the inside, the froth at the corners of her mouth, white, sometimes pink with blood. Then the drowsiness, the frightening disorientation, the incoherent mumbling." (Page 10, Chapter 2)

"Later that night, in bed, Fariba told her husband that when she'd heard the cry and rushed over she'd found Rasheed's wife shriveled into a corner, hugging her knees, a pool of blood at her feet." (Chapter 13, Page 90)

"Mariam, who had never been inside a restaurant, found it odd at first to sit in a crowded room with so many strangers, to lift her burqa to put morsels of food into her mouth." (Chapter 11, Page 73)

" But after 4 years of marriage, Mariam saw clearly how much a women could tolerate when she was afraid. And Mariam was afraid. She lived in fear of his shifting moods, his volatile temperment, his insistence on steering even mundane exchanges down a confrontational path that, on occasion, he would resolve with punches, slaps, kicks, and sometimes try to make amends for with polluted apologies and sometimes not." (Chapter 15, Page 98-99)

"The previous fall, Tariq's uncle in Ghazni had died of a heart attack, and, a few weeks later, Tariq's father had suffered a heart attack of his own,leaving him frail and tired, prone to anxiety and bouts of depression that overtook him for weeks at a time." (Chapter 22, Page 155)

"The last time Tariq was shooed out of the kitchen, his mother caught Laila stealing a glance at him. Laila's heart jumped, and her eyes fluttered guiltily. She quickly occupied herself with tossing the chopped cucumber into the pitcher of salted, watered-yogurt. But she could sense Tariq's mother watching, her knowing, approving half smile." (Chapter 23, Page 167)

"Your mother, she used to be adventurous then, and...so alive. She was just about the liveliest, happiest person I'd ever met." (Chapter 21, Page 149)

"You try this again and I will find you. I swear on the Prophet's name that I will find you. And if I do, there isn't a court in this godforsaken country that will hold me accountable for what I still do. To Mariam first, then to her, and you last. I"ll make you watch. You understand me? I"ll make you watch." (Chapter 33, Page 243)

"They have three cups of tea while they sit there, and then Aziza awakens and begins to cry. Rasheed yells for Laila to come upstairs and shut her up. That's when "a look passes between Laila and Mariam. An unguarded, knowing look. And in this fleeting, wordless exchange with Mariam, Laila knows that they are not enemies any longer."

"When she was done speaking, her heart was hammering and her mouth felt parched. Mariam had never before spoken in this manner, had never stated her will so forcefully. It ought to have felt exhilarating, but the girl's eyes had teared up and her face was drooping, and what satisfaction Mariam found from this outburst felt meager, somehow illicit." (Chapter 31, Page 226)

"At the Kabul River, vendors moved into the parched riverbed. Soon, from the river's sunbaked hollows, it was possible to buy Titanic carpets, and Titanic cloth, from bolts arranged in wheelbarrows. There was Titanic deodorant, Titanic toothpaste, Titanic perfume, Titanic pakora, even Titanic burqas. A particularly persistent beggar began calling himself "Titanic Beggar'" (Chapter 41, Page 303)

Reflection: From this quote, it shows how much the town of Kabul is shown to things. For example, right when the Titanic came out, the whole town was obsessed enough to make merchandise of the whole movie.

"A choking noise came up her throat. Her knees weakened. Laila suddenly wanted, needed, to grope for Mariam's arm,...But she didn't. She didn't dare. She didn't dare move a muscle. She didn't dare breathe, or blink even, for fear that he was nothing but a mirage shimmering in the distance,...Laila stood perfectly still and looked at Tariq until her chest screamed for air and her eyes burned to blink. And, somehow, miraculously, after she took a breath, closed and opened her eyes, he was still standing there. Tariq was still standing there." (Chapter 43, Page 327)

"Aziza's ribs began to push through the skin, and the fat from her cheeks vanished. Her calves thinned, and her complexion turned the color of weak tea. When Mariam picked her up, she could feel her hip bone poking though the taut skin. Zalmai lay around the house, eyes dulled and half closed, or in his father's lap, limp as a rag. He cried himself to sleep, when he could muster the energy, but his sleep was fitful and sporadic." (Chapter 41, Page 306)