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a funny first-person
narration of a “sociably-challenged” genius who takes everything
logically and literally.
the author’s style of writing reminds me a lot of our
grade 12 novel “catcher in the rye”. i know i’m a bit obsessive compulsive, but i didn’t
realized its seriousness until i’ve seen some of the resemblence between
me and christopher. we
both have good memories: like video taping conversations and
actions. we both
like to list things out, step by step, as a timetable or as a
mental plan, just because they’ll help make us more “safe”. guess i’m not
really that serious, it’s just a lack of security, of not knowing
what will happen next.
that’s the time when i’m most frustrated and pressured –
when i don’t know what thing’s end up like, when i can’t figure
out a clear result, no matter how bad it is, to a problem.
selected quotes:
"prime
numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns
away. i think prime
numbers are like life.
they are very logical but you could never work out the
rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them." -
ch 19, pg 12
"but
in life you have to take lots of decision and if you don't take
decisions you would never do anything because you would spend all
your time choosing between things you could do." -
ch 131, pg 85
"i
like timetable because i like to know when everything is going to
happen." – ch 193, pg 155
"maybe
if things had been different, maybe if you'd been different, i
might have been better at it. but that's just the way things turned out...he
just gets on with things and if things upset him he doesn't let
it show. but that's
not the way i am and there's nothing i can do to change
that." - ch 157, pg 106
"and
it made me so sad because it was like you didn't really need me
at all. and somehow
that was even worse than you and me arguing all the time because
it was like i was invisible." - ch 157, pg
109
"i thought about it for a long
time...honestly, i did.
and it broke my heart, but eventually i decided it would
be better for all of us if i went. so i said yes." - ch
157, pg 109
"but feelings are just having a picture on
the screen in your head of what is going to happen tomorrow or
next year, or what might have happened instead of what did
happen, and if it is a happy picture they smile and if it s a sad
picture they cry." -
ch 163, pg 119
"you have to know that i am going to tell you
the truth from now on.
about everything.
because...if ou don't tell the truth now, then later
on...later on it hurts even more." - ch 167, pg 120
"i think she cared more for that bloody dog
than for me, for us.
and maybe that's not so stupid, looking back...maybe it is
easier living on your own looking after some stupid mutt than
sharing your life with other actual human beings." - ch 167, pg 121
"and then i thought
i had to be like sherlock holmes and i had to 'detach my mind at
will to a remarkable degree' so that i did not notice how much it
was hurting inside my head."
- ch 179, pg 132
"and it's best if
you know a good thing is going to happen, like an eclipse or
getting a microscope for christmas. and it's bad if you know a bad thing is going
to happen, like having a filling or going to france. but i think it is worst
if you don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing which
is going to happen." -
ch 233, pg215
“things can’t go on like
this. i don’t know
about you, but this…this just hurts too much. you being in the house
but refusing to talk to me...you have to learn to trust me...and
i don't care how long it takes...if it's a minute one day and two
minutes the next and three minutes the next and it takes years i
don't care. because
this is important.
this is more important than anything else." – ch 233, pg 218
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