"'Marx has completely changed the way I view the world,' declared the Pallieres boy this morning, although ordinarily he says nary a word to me." (Chapter 1, p. 7).

"Because I am rarely friendly—though always polite—I am not liked, but tolerated nonetheless; I correspond so very well to what social prejudice has collective construed to be a typical French concierge that I am one of the multiple cogs that make the great universal illusion turn, the illusion according to which life has a meaning that can be easily deciphered." (Chapter 2, p. 9).

"With no more apartment and no more daughter, maybe they'll give some thought to all those dead Africans, don't you suppose?" (Profound Thought No. 1, p. 18).

"In the moment where I had at last come to life, I was merely pitied." (Chapter 2, p. 33).

"If you want to understand my family, all you have to do...