Home > Work > The Marriage Lie
1 " Dread begins to burrow under my skin like a parasite, slow and steady, eating away at my certainty. "
― Kimberly Belle , The Marriage Lie
2 " When you know what to look for, spotting a lie is pretty easy. You see it in the fidgets and sudden head movements or sometimes, when the person is overcompensating, through no movements at all. In how their breathing changes, or how they provide too much information, repeating phrases and offering up irrelevant details. In the way they shuffle their feet or touch their mouths or put a hand to their throats. It’s basic psychology, physical signals that the body doesn’t agree with the words coming out of its mouth. "
3 " There’s a sucker born every minute out of heartache. "
4 " 9781474056687 "
5 " Orlando. “Yes.” I clutch my stomach with an arm. “I’m his "
6 " Hancock High School is a massive complex of brick and mortar in Seattle’s Central District, a downtown neighborhood on the confused end of gentrification. It’s a neighborhood with multiple personality disorder—housing projects on one block, hulking renovated Victorians on another, boarded-up convenience stores on the next. "
7 " They are a privileged and elite tribe, and the most fucked-up group of kids you could ever imagine. "
8 " College taught me to be a feminist, but marriage has taught me to be practical "
9 " Corban Hayes,” he says. “I’m a friend of Will’s from the gym.” I "
10 " College taught me to be a feminist, but marriage has taught me to be practical. Making lasagna is so much more pleasant than cleaning the gutters. "
11 " The more messed up the parents, the more messed up the kid. "
12 " Corban’s narcissistic personality disorder is textbook. A grandiose sense of self, a preoccupation with power and success, an outrageous sense of entitlement and a distinct lack of empathy. "
13 " Narcissists love to play the victim. "
14 " Narcissists are masters at manipulation, and though his silence says he’s listening, his movements are preoccupied. His eyes scan the windows, and his body draws in on itself, like a rattlesnake coiling to spring. "
15 " have splurged on a better ride? Or, hell, I don’t know, bought himself a wallet that wasn’t held together with duct tape?” “He splurged on jewelry.” “Please. The only jewelry he ever wore was the wedding ring you bought him. And before you say anything, his watch doesn’t count. I’m pretty sure that thing was made of plastic.” “For me.” I twist my hand around, and the Cartier winks in the sunshine. “He splurged on jewelry for me.” Corban’s smile drops like a guillotine. “That ring doesn’t prove a thing. Will didn’t like to spend money on himself, but he would gladly spend it on you. He probably saved up for months, or maybe he financed it. Doesn’t matter. The point is, he had a good job. He did well enough "
16 " The inertia is as thick and sticky as flypaper. "
17 " But he also knows I teach my students to move past their baggage by becoming accountable. I teach them responsibility for their own actions and behaviors, to follow the rules and live up to expectations. "
18 " Becoming a widow is good for seven pounds and counting. I "
19 " That smile of his whenever I came into the room, the one that no one else ever got but me. "
20 " This is what death does. It forces intimacy at the same time it snatches it away. "
