Not long after, when we faced events that caused us sorrow, I yearned for that same erasure. Undo this. But although we tried, each in our way, no one was able to go back even one step.
-- Gavin (chapter 1)

Importance: This quote introduces the theme of unpassing, and foreshadows the deaths and disappearances that feature in Gavin's life throughout the rest of the novel. In this section, Gavin's mother collapses, but appears to come back to life when she stands up and berates Gavin and Pei-Pei for doing nothing, revealing that she had purposefully collapsed in order to test Gavin and Pei-Pei's response to her hypothetical death. This test causes Gavin to learn that terrible and scary things can be undone, leading him to feel uncertain and disturbed when tragedies occur which cannot be reversed (such as Ruby's death).

Home was a place you could see every detail of. Not-home was a void...
-- Gavin (chapter 2)