The Black Album Quotes

“...I love 'yes.' It's practically the most interesting word of all, don't you think?" Like a hinge opening a door outward. Yes, yes, yes.”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

“One would hope, as well that intimacy would leave more of a mark, that more of it would remain. But it doesn’t. You just end up thinking, who is this person?”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

“These days everyone was insisting on their identity, coming out as a man, woman, gay, black, Jew - brandishing whichever features they could claim, as if without a tag they wouldn’t be human.”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

“Now, watching her sleep, and closing his eyes, he felt, in this particular intimacy - stowed beneath her duvet - that he was intruding. At the same time, he knew, settling down, you couldn´t dislike anyone you'd seen sleep”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

“In chili’s hand were his car keys, Ray-bans and Marlboros, without which he wouldn't leave his bathroom. Chili drank only black coffee and neat Jack Daniel’s; his suits were Boss, his underwear Calvin Klein, his actor Pacino. His barber shook his hand, his accountant took him to dinner, his drug dealer would come to him at all hours and accept his checks.”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

“One of his black girlfriends did once persuade him to go on an anti-racist demonstration; and when the National Front yelled, "Get back, Pakis!" Chili, wearing a mink-coloured suit, had annoyed everyone by taking out his fat wallet, waving it at the racists and shouting, "Get back to your council flats, paupers!”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

“Elle vivait seule et travaillait plus dur que quiconque, évitait les contagions petites-bourgeoises: le doute de soi, le mépris des études, l'ennui.”
― Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album