
Beautyland: A Novel

Miguel wears a puffy orange vest over a flannel as if at any moment he might go camping.
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
decepticated,
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
If they have the right perfume but not in eight ounces—for example, the twelve-ounce bottle—she will not buy it. Even though the twelve-ounce bottle costs less per ounce. They cannot afford to be smart with money.
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
Human beings design irrigation systems that carry water billions of miles but cannot invent an ironing board that opens without sounding like a metal seizure.
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
chanteuses
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
Fulfilling the promise to bear witness to every departure so the person leaving doesn’t feel their time has been wasted.
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
Human beings, Adina faxes, did not think their lives were challenging enough so they invented roller coasters. A roller coaster is a series of problems on a steel track. Upon encountering real problems, human beings compare their lives to riding a roller coaster, even though they invented roller coasters to be fun things to do on their days off.
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
Loneliness is a composite feeling: ironically unable to exist alone. It can contain anger, hunger, fear, jealousy.
Marie-Helene Bertino • Beautyland: A Novel
“molti muscoli.”