“Jarred once again by her memory, Ted felt the pressure that arose in him when he tried to talk about his work – a confusion about what had originally driven him to disappoint his parents and rack up mountainous debt so he could write a dissertation claiming (in breathless tones that embarrassed him now) that Cézanne’s distinctive brushstrokes were an effort to represent sound – namely, in his summer landscapes, the hypnotic chant of locusts. ‘I’m writing about the impact of Greek sculpture on the French Impressionists,’ he said, attempting liveliness, but it landed like a brick.” (p. 219)”

− Jennifer Egan −