Shopgirl

"The Serzone is a gift from God that frees her from the immobilizing depression that would otherwise surround her and seep into her body like a poisonous fog. The drug distances the depression from her, although it is never out of sight".

"She is spared the image of a girl sitting alone in a bar on Saturday night. A girl who is willing to give every ounce of herself to someone, who could never betray her lover, who never suspects maliciousness of anyone, and whose sexuality sleeps in her, waiting to be stirred. She never feels sorry for herself, except when the overpowering chemistry of depression inundates her and leaves her helpless".

"Usually he eats out, alone, or tries to fill the evening with friends or a date. These dinner dates, which function mainly to fill a vacuum of loneliness between the hours of 8 P.M. and 11 P.M., cause him more grief than a year of solitary confinement".

"...because he picked Mirabelle out by sight alone, he fails to see that her fragility, which he smelled and sensed and is lured by, runs deep in her heart and is part of her nature, and cannot be separated out for him to fuck".

"His professional life is fine, but romantically he is an adolescent, and he has begun an education in the subject that is thirty years overdue".

" “…just remember, darling, it is pain that changes our lives.”
Mirabelle cannot fathom the meaning of this sentence, as she has been in pain her whole life, and yet it remains unchanged".

"This is what he likes about Mirabelle; her beauty is uncultivated and he can trust that what is there at night will be there in the morning, too".

"The one who was broken, who did not recover, who did not understand, and who saw the image of her father crack and shatter, was Mirabelle".

"He is determined not to love Mirabelle; she is not his peer. He knows that he is using her, but he isn’t able to stop".

"...involved in a mourning that at first she thinks is for Ray but soon realizes is for the loss of her old self".

"Her depression has consumed all of its fuel. She is exhausted from doing nothing to heal herself. As the darkness and solitude surround her, she drifts into communication with her smartest self. She admits that her college days are over, that her excursion into Los Angeles was transitional, and that Ray Porter is a lost cause".

"They reminisce about their affair and she
tells him how he helped her and he tells her how she helped him, then he apologizes for the way he handled everything. “Oh, no…don’t,” she corrects him: “it’s pain that changes our lives.” And there is a pause, and neither speaks. Then Mirabelle says, “I took the gloves to Vermont and stored them in my memory box — my mother asked me what they were but I kept it to myself — and here in my bedroom, in my private drawer, I keep a photo of you.”