The Boy Between Worlds Quotes
"The Suriname River was like a crocodile with one eye open: calm, but deadly."
"Conquering the river was like conquering the world—it brought respect in the eyes of classmates and furtive glances from the giggly groups of girls."
"Swimming wasn’t only a matter of muscles. It was about respecting the river, taking advantage of her whims and fancies, knowing where to swim and, above all, when."
"Nowhere on earth can be so wet and dreary as Holland in late autumn."
"She was tired of endlessly bickering with her husband, who refused to accept that she had left him for good."
"The white lily of chastity will not flourish in tropical lands."
"The slower the pace, the less that happens, and the less that happens, the more people gossip."
"The best a woman of color could hope for was a relatively stable concubinage, otherwise known as a 'Surinamese marriage.'"
"The clock was ticking—Eugenie was over thirty, after all. And as the saying went, 'money makes a person’s skin lighter.'"
"I suddenly remember Mama coming to Grandpa’s to visit. 'Get out of here or I will!' Grandpa said."
"He didn’t want anything to do with his traitorous mother, nor could he muster up much respect for his father, who had let it all happen."
"The only one who dared to defy their father and maintain contact with their mother was Bertha."
"I long for Mama. I know that no one is thinking about her in this house."
"And now, thank God, some good news: my room with the sea view has been rented from July 3rd to August 15th."
"How could I have known back then, my poor Kutiri, that I would take that old sorrow and far-off longing with me to the city, to another country."
"Willem was furious when Bertha told him that she and Henk had gone to their mother’s house even though he had strictly forbidden them to do so."
"Now when I think of Mama, I see her with short hair and fancy silk dresses, and I always smell eau de cologne."
"The sea is high, a storm’s a churning, But by the beach the heat is burning."
"The war is lasting forever, isn’t it? Do you remember how back in February we expected the end every day with Wil and Ria? Now here we are, almost a year later. But I don’t let it get me down. Keep smiling, right! I still laugh. We have to stay just as strong when the men come home."
"Everyone, please be careful when writing. Always make sure that when the letter changes hands, it won’t bring harm to the people trying to help us, understood!"
"You are nothing, there is nothing left of who you are. It is sometimes too wonderful to think of being free and being able to hug you all."
"He gave his life so as not to lose his humanity, without any concessions whatsoever."
"We can skip this one, they would say to Waldemar as they handed out the soap."
"The bloody scenes he witnessed in the train, the mutilated and dying soldiers, were enough to convince him to use his first furlough to escape."
"The Nazi empire found itself in the throes of death, lethally wounded and thrashing its giant claws around in an attempt to ward off attacks from all sides."
"It wasn’t long before the entire camp realized that being selected for the Jugendlager was something to be avoided at all costs."
"He managed, through his unique dignity, to resist the ultimate villain."
"The image I have of you in photos seems outdated, as if the two of you would no longer fit in nowadays."
"Strange how you two have become strangers to me."
"I know the photos only capture a moment and you would have evolved with the times."
"I've recently been to Germany for the first time myself."
"Everyone is going, everyone should go at least once."
"I am studying philosophy. Would you two have liked that?"
"It felt good to at least try to pull these two people out of the rubble."
"Although you cannot rewrite history, you can give it a twist."
"Sometimes, you can even create a lot of good."