The Nix: A novel

Seeing ourselves clearly is the project of a lifetime.

She knew that way down deep she was a phony, just your average normal girl.

“What’s true? What’s false? In case you haven’t noticed, the world has pretty much given up on the old Enlightenment idea of piecing together the truth based on observed data. Reality is too complicated and scary for that. Instead, it’s way easier to ignore all data that doesn’t fit your preconceptions and believe all data that does. I believe what

as if college students these days were a brand-new species totally disconnected from the past and from the culture that spawned them.

What Faye won’t understand and may never understand is that there is not one true self hidden by many false ones. Rather, there is one true self hidden by many other true ones. Yes, she is the meek and shy and industrious student. Yes, she is the panicky and frightened child. Yes, she is the bold and impulsive seductress. Yes, she is the wife, the

In his mind he was the protagonist of every story, the center of everyone’s appalling attention;

It’s no secret that the great American pastime is no longer baseball. Now it’s sanctimony.”

The things you love the most will one day hurt you the worst.

Samuel thinks about Bethany the way other people maybe think about God. As in: How is God judging me?