The Identicals Quotes
"Like thousands of other erudite, discerning people, you’ve decided to spend your summer vacation on an island off the coast of Massachusetts."
"GOD MADE THE VINEYARD… BUT HE LIVES ON NANTUCKET."
"We chuckle and smirk at the assumption, shared by so many."
"Settled: 1659. Original inhabitants: Wampanoag Indians."
"We understand how you might confuse those of us here with our compatriots there—after all, our region is lumped together as the Cape and the islands."
"We aren’t sure what anyone celebrates on Nantucket other than being able to land a plane successfully at the airport despite the pea-soup fog."
"He promised Harper it wouldn’t happen tonight. He told her that Billy still had time."
"Family is family, Harper thinks. That’s the problem."
"Billy Frost’s end has been a series of failures."
"Ainsley helps herself judiciously—Ramsay was kind enough not to mention the fifteen pounds she’s gained over the past three years."
"Despite Aunt Harper’s pitiful outfit—or perhaps because of it—Ainsley’s heart is captured."
"Harper looks very tense as Eleanor, Tabitha, and Ainsley—in that order—step off the ramp."
"I realize this, Mommy," Harper says. "I’m saving it for when Ainsley has a son."
"Harper regards her sister. 'I liked you better when you were a pony,' she said."
"Eleanor reaches across Tabitha to lay a hand on Ainsley’s knee. 'Here’s the secret to all human relationships,' she says. 'We humans want what we don’t have.'"
"Tabitha laughs, though, sadly, none of those guesses is out of the question."
"Harper’s stomach is hollow and sour. She wants to leave him a note or a sign—a heart drawn in the yellow pollen on his back window—but she can’t."
"Edgartown is like Nantucket: it has an architectural integrity and an elegance that Harper finds powerful."
"Simple tasks eluded him. He could watch TV but couldn’t read."
"Harper thinks. 'The first days are the hardest days, don’t you worry anymore.'"
"Tabitha scoffs. 'You’re a piss-poor parent, Tabitha.'"
"I thought you were cool,' Ainsley says. 'But if you think I’m going to let you do whatever you want this summer, you are sorely mistaken.'"
"She is so pretty and so confident. How is this possible at sixteen?"
"It’s jail, and no sooner does Ms. Brudie shut the door—she will be sitting right outside—than Ainsley starts to cry."
"Vineyarders don’t go to Nantucket and vice versa. It’s like some weird law: you pick one island or the other."
"‘I missed you, too,’ Harper says. Then she feels guilty."
"I see growth," he says. "Because six months ago, you would have treated getting suspended like no big deal, maybe even like a badge of honor. Now at least you know better."
"Some jerk grabbed her ass, and she dumped a drink in his lap."
"I’ve never seen the store this crowded. Ever. Not even close."
"You want the sophistication of an LBD, but you’re a redhead, so you should try forest green."
"You do not fall in love with someone you've known for well, basically, a matter of hours. It's called something else—infatuation, which evaporates like dew in the sunshine."
"The halcyon days—days when no storms occur—are over."
"It's like the only way to get him back is to ignore him."
"I'm glad you shaved," she says. "Christine Velman told me she saw you stopped at the Barnes Road intersection and that you were growing a beard."
"It's not tit for tat! I threw that party because I was trying to help the store!"
"I'm talking sex, but I'm also telling you we now keep different bedrooms."
"Every bad thought, every worry, every jealousy, every insecurity comes pouring out."
"Harper is my sister. She’s not me. We aren’t the same."
"I’m sorry, Tabitha," Franklin says. "It’s just bad luck."
"You’re a grown man," Tabitha says. "Surely you don’t still cater to what your parents think?"
"Tabitha has never let an affront go unanswered."
"I didn’t know I was going to fall in love with you," Franklin says.
"I should have explained who I was the night I met you."
"You thought I was a one-night stand," Tabitha says. "A throwaway."
"I wasn’t sure what my plans include, but that offer means a lot."
"I was desperate to have it ready for Memorial Day weekend," Eleanor says.
"I gave you espresso," Eleanor says. "I thought it would pep you up."
"I’m responsible for Julian’s premature birth. And therefore I’m responsible for his dying."
"I’m confused about this so-called puzzling you and Daddy used to do," Harper says.
"You heard Grammie," Ainsley says to her mother and her aunt.
"Won?" Eleanor says. "I would hardly describe going with Billy as winning."
"You need to go see him," she said. "Especially now."
"I’ll be back in a little while, bud," she says.
"You’re very, very pretty. You aren’t single by any chance, are you?"
"Harper asked a valid question, Mother. When did you and Daddy have these chats about us?"
"What do you think?" Eleanor says. "Like I told you, I loved Billy Frost with all my heart."
"Don’t drink until your twenty-first birthday, then you and I will drink together, good champagne."
"Scissors cut paper, rock smashes scissors, paper covers rock."
"Nanny? Harper hadn’t yet thought of herself as a person who would need a nanny."
"I hope you tell me it’s true," Dorrit says. "All Turk and I want is for Franklin to find someone he loves."
"It was good seeing you, Dorrit," Sadie says. "I’m going to get some rugelach."
"The father," Flossie says in clarification. "Of Harper’s baby. She’s pregnant, you know."
"There is nothing more mysterious, confounding, and unknowable," Eleanor thinks, "than the desires of the human heart."