So he unfolded the hearts into turtles and the kidneys into swans, and he tied the braided capillaries around the necks of the tiny paper animals like leashes. And soon a crowd like the one that gathered around the wicker basket of corn … began to encircle Antonio’s table.”
-- Narration (Prologue)

Importance: This quote metaphorically introduces one of the novel's central actions, recurring through the lives and experiences of many of its characters: the idea of transformation. Antonio, the "origami surgeon" (who creates organs and saves lives as the result of his manipulation of folded paper) transforms his magical skills into entertainment, and gains more popularity and success than he had ever had.

Antonio split the spines of books, spilling leaves of Austen and Cervantes, sheets from Leviticus and Judges, all mixing with the pages of ‘The Book of Incandescent Light’ … she was the first to be created: cardboard legs, cellophane appendix, and...
-- Narration (Prologue)