"With suburban rabbis outnumbering suburban synagogue two to one, Orel Mayer chose a steady salary over spiritual affinity" (p. 13).

"Like many things left unsaid, Eliza's thoughts have metastasized, kernels of doubt exploding into deadly certainties" (p. 17).

"Miriam Naumann is a hummingbird in human form, her wings too fast to be seen without a stop-motion camera" (p. 17).

"[Saul] looks upon his acid insights as shadowy impostors, clay pigeons that will explode at the touch of true transcendence" (p. 20).

"Sex, like ironing or changing a flat tire, is an essential life skill to be mastered. [Miriam] is intrigued by a firsthand account of an orgasm as a giant body wave" (p. 21).

"Aaron, whose sister's gilded image of him will last four more months before the real world strips it from him" (p. 24).

"Aaron wonders if God lives in all clouds, or if his plane just happened to pick the right...