Already I was nostalgic for a past I hadn’t lived; felt as if then was better than now.
-- Jamie Brickhouse (chapter 1 paragraph 4)

Importance: As Jamie poured over his mother’s wedding album, he regrets that he was not at the celebration. He so adored his mother – she was a movie star to him.

I guess they’re happy, but I can’t help but think that being gay… is… is still a sad, lonely life for most people.
-- Mama Jean (chapter 6 paragraph 38)

Importance: Mama Jean was referring to a dancer and his partner she knew in New York. Jamie was 14 and had just realized that he himself was gay – a notion that Mama Jean did not consciously entertain.

No, you need to be a writer… remember what I’ve always said: you control your destiny.’ I never believed her all the times she said that because I believed that she controlled my destiny.
-- Jamie/Mama Jean (chapter 9 paragraph 9)

Importance: At the same time that Mama...