Ava knew what she meant. It was the type of feeling she herself sometimes got, a heaviness, an airlessness, that was hard to talk about, especially with her mother. Trying to name it was like pulling up words from her belly, bucketful after bucketful, all that effort but they never meant what she wanted them to.
-- Ava ("Milk Blood Heat")

Importance: This quote describes feelings of alienation commonly experienced during adolescence, particularly in relation to one's parents. Ava is dealing with thoughts and emotions she has never encountered before, and she is unable to communicate them effectively through language. When she meets Kiera, who casually remarks that she feels like she is drowning, Ava relates to her immediately because this sentiment captures her own state of mind.

...Ava, for the first time since she's been thirteen, sees a flash of recognition in her mother's face, some bit of knowing. (What if she's seen me all...
-- Ava ("Milk Blood Heat")