I'm dead, Makina said to herself when everything lurched."
-- Makina (chapter 1)

Importance: In this opening line, the novel situates the reader in the liminal space, the border, between life and death. Makina is alive, though she believes herself to be dead. Throughout, the novel will ask whether it is possible to inhabit both states at once.

These things always happen to someone else, until they happen to you, she thought."
-- Makina (chapter 1)

Importance: In this passage, Makina reflects on her near-death escape from the sinkhole. Her observation also raises a question for the reader: Is what happens to others eventually going to happen to you? This passage asks the reader to think about one's self in connection with the events that happen to others.

Me? I tell you, I'm gonna start off on the right foot; don't know if makeup will help but at least no one can say I showed up scruffy, right?"
-- Woman with Red Lipstick (chapter 2)

Importance: In this...