Jenny Downham Quotes - Page 3

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• And in bed, deep inside the building, are all the headaches that won't go away. The failed kidneys, the rashes, the ragged-edged moles, the lumps on the breast, the coughs that have turned nasty. In the Marie Curie Ward on the fourth floor are the kids with cancer. Their bodies secretly and slowly being consumed. And then there's the mortuary, where the dead lie in refrigerated drawers with name tags on their feet.

  Jenny Downham

  Cancer, Lying, Kids

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• The shops in High Street still have their metal grilles down, blank-eyed and sleeping. My name is scrawled across them all. I'm outside Ajay's newsagent's. I'm on the expensive shutters of the health food store. I'm massive on Handie's furniture shop, King's Chicken Joint and the Barbecue Cafe. I thread the pavement outside the bank and all the way to Mothercare. I've possessed the road and am a glistening circle at the roundabout.

  Jenny Downham

  Kings, Sleep, Circles

  7 Copy quote

• The inside of the door is glossy white. A total re-paint. I touch it with my fingers, but it stays the same. It's so bright it makes the room waver at the edges. Every few years we disappear.

  Jenny Downham

  Doors, Years, White

  4 Copy quote

• I feel something very small growing inside me as I look at her, and I realize in one absolutely clear moment that I don't like her at all. 'You know what?' I say. 'Forget it. I'll do the list by myself.' She stands up, swings her stupid hair about and tries to look offended. It's a trick that works with guys, but it makes no difference to the way I feel about her.

  Jenny Downham

  Stupid, Hair, Swings

  4 Copy quote

• Hold my hand. Don't let go.

  Jenny Downham

  Letting Go, Hands, Don't Let Go

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Moments. All gathering towards this one.

  Jenny Downham

  Gathering, Moments

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• No, really. I free you.' I don't want to be free.

  Jenny Downham

  Want

  4 Copy quote

• Like a tree losing its leaves. I forget even the thing I was thinking.

  Jenny Downham

  Thinking, Tree, Losing

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• It's as if a child with a brush and too much enthusiasm has been set free with a tin of black paint inside me.

  Jenny Downham

  Children, Black, Tin

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Then she says, ‘I love you.’ Like three drops of blood falling onto snow.

  Jenny Downham

  Fall, Love You, Blood

  Jenny Downham (2008). “Before I Die”, p.311, Random House

  12 Copy quote

• The light is heart-breaking.

  Jenny Downham

  Heart, Light, Heart Breaking

  4 Copy quote

• I imagine horses in the engine, their manes flying, their breaths steaming, their nostrils flaring as they gallop.

  Jenny Downham

  Horse, Flying, Imagine

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Are you afraid, Tessa?

  Jenny Downham

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Three points for the dead slowly prising open the lids of their coffins. They want to hunt the living. They can't stop. Their throats have turned to liquid and their fingers glint under the weak autumn sun.

  Jenny Downham

  Autumn, Three, Coffins

  4 Copy quote

• . . . my bones they'll burn or bury. It'll be my death.

  Jenny Downham

  Bones

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• We make patterns, we share moments. Sometimes, I think I'm the only one to see it.

  Jenny Downham

  Thinking, Patterns, Sometimes

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• I'm here. Soon I won't be. Zoey's baby is here. Its pulse tick-ticking. Soon it won't be. And when Zoey comes out of that room, having signed on the dotted line, she'll be different. She'll understand what I already know- that death surrounds us all. And it tastes like metal between you teeth.

  Jenny Downham

  Baby, Pulse, Teeth

  Jenny Downham (2012). “Now is Good (Also published as Before I Die)”, p.182, Random House

  4 Copy quote

• Her skin tasted expensive.

  Jenny Downham

  Skins, Expensive

  4 Copy quote

• Sometimes if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen. If you miss someone so desperately that it wrecks your insides, you say their name over and over until you conjure then. It's called sympathetic magic and you just have to believe in it to make it work.

  Jenny Downham

  Life, Missing Someone, Believe

  4 Copy quote

• I don't want to go into a fridge at an undertaker's. I want you to keep me at home until the funeral. Please can someone sit with me in case I get lonely? I promise not to scare you.

  Jenny Downham

  Lonely, Home, Funeral

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• Was this love? Because it hurt. It was like a bit of glass stuck somewhere important--his heart or his head, and it was throbbing.

  Jenny Downham

  Hurt, Heart, Glasses

  4 Copy quote

• The last few weeks, it was as if someone had taken his life to pieces and let him see the way it worked.

  Jenny Downham

  Taken, Pieces, Way

  4 Copy quote

• Is this how it is for everyone?' she whispered. 'No.' 'How do you know?' 'I just do. I've never felt this with anyone before.' 'Serious?' 'Serious. That isn't a line.' 'Kiss me,' she said. He did. Everywhere.

  Jenny Downham

  Kissing, Lines, Kiss Me

  4 Copy quote

• Should we say something?’ Cal asks. ‘Goodbye, bird?’ I suggest. He nods. ‘Goodbye, bird. Thank you for coming. And good luck.

  Jenny Downham

  Goodbye, Good Luck, Bird

  Jenny Downham (2007). “Before I Die”, David Fickling Books

  4 Copy quote

• When I first saw Ellie, I knew it was her-- she was my fantasy. I didn't want it to be true, but every time I met her it was obvious, and the funny thing was that she was better than the fantasy, like I got more stuff than I'd imagined.

  Jenny Downham

  Funny Things, Want, Stuff

  Jenny Downham (2010). “You Against Me”, p.337, Random House

  4 Copy quote

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