Quotes from a book I just finished reading

I read it in Dutch so it may be worded differently in the actual book

Goodreads link OceanOfPdf link

"If life is were job, I wanted to resign. But I couldn't find the office that dealt with dismissal applications."

"He made warding-off gestures with his hands that could mean "don't slap me on the back," but also "don't get me started, I know everything there is to know about migraines." If reincarnation existed, Dad would come back as a deaf-mute."

“I did let him read a few of my poems once, and he encouraged me to keep going, but he was an idealist, and he encouraged everyone to keep going. He was so idealistic that he would even encourage someone attempting suicide to keep on cutting.”

"Oh, we could fill books with spiritual values ​​and norms, we could devote our entire lives to nothing else, yet these spiritual values ​​and norms hobble along on crutches, wearing orthopedic footwear on their crippled feet, trailing behind the cosmetic exterior."

“I remembered a discussion at the international school about whether a skill could count as knowledge, whether the skill known as walking implied that the person also possessed knowledge about walking. We used to have those kinds of discussions at the international school, and they gave me the idea that life itself was a skill that some people possessed and others did not.”

“'The mountains,' Mom murmured, 'you want to get rid of me; I’m not even allowed to die in my own house.'”

Dad’s face twisted.

“'You can die wherever you want,' Daniel shouted, 'but don’t take so long about it.'”

Dad’s face twisted even more.

“Mom was sucking on a hard candy, and I reflected on how strange it is to spend your life with a mother you knew nothing about. Although it seemed less odd when you considered that she knew hardly anything about you, either.”