Day 3: Quotes from Ozeki (Part 2)

Ozeki, Ruth L. My Year of Meats. New York: Viking, 1998. Print.

Chapter 7

• "'Women, they chase after me. I mean look at yourself! Who is chasing whom now, I ask you?'" (151).

• "I am one and a half months pregnant" (154).

Chapter 8

• "Even when I was very, very small I knew I never wanted to be with a man" (180).

• "Her admiration for the strong women so determined to have their family against all odds. And tears of pity for herself" (181).

• "She wanted a child; she'd never wanted John; once she became pregnant, she wouldn't need him ever again" (181).

• "Why couldn't I tell him? What was I afraid of?" (190).

• "She held him, wiped her nose surreptitiously on the top of his head, and let him cry" (197).

Chapter 9

• "She put down her pen and read it again, checking for mistakes. The problem that remained was one of courage and logistics" (214)

• "There are things in meat... hormones and other bad medicines that can make a man... incapable" (225).

• "I loved him. That's what I was thinking. That's all I was thinking" (237).

• "you are a sterile, useless woman" (239).

Chapter 11

• "So much for my maternal instincts! Never even knew my baby was dead, and it was right here inside me!" (294)

• "It is such a comfort for a women to have a smart husband" (303)

• "It was a miscarriage. I lost the baby. It was a boy. I really wanted him" (309).

• "I just don't believe in these ancient Oriental superstitions... I am a modern woman. I just make it up" (311).

• "Ma didn't say anything, just kept patting my head" (313).

• "This is trouble with you. You think you want, you don't think you want - always back and forth. Me, when I want, it is with whole heart" (314).

• "Maybe it work. Maybe nothing, only Oriental superstition, but American doctor Ing-san not so smart, either, after all. So you never know...She was dead right about that too" (315).

• "Finally she'd done something - something worthy" (321).

Chapter 12

• "I want to hear once that you are sorry, like you really mean it. No fucking excuse. No explanations" (349).

Epilogue

• "Truth wasn't stranger fiction; it was fiction. Ma says I'm neither here nor there, and if that's the case, so be it" (360).

• "I live at the cusp of the new millennium. Whatever people may think of my book, I will make it public, bring it to light unflinchingly. That is the modern thing to do" (361).