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Gloria
A painter from a wealthy family who until recently enjoyed moderate success in New York’s art scene. After several years of partying and experiencing the free love movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, she and her husband, Blaine, decide that their drug habits are destroying them, so they move outside the city to a small cabin. In isolation they work studiously on painting in the style of the 1920s, harkening back to the era and living their lives accordingly. Lara is one of the passengers of the car that hits Corrigan’s van on the FDR Parkway. In a moment of panic, she tells Blaine to drive away from the scene of the accident despite her own misgivings. Afterward, she has an overwhelmingly guilty conscience and is left feeling that she must atone for her wrongs. She eventually ends up leaving Blaine for Ciaran, who she later marries and moves to Dublin with.
Lara Liveman Quotes in Let the Great World Spin
The Let the Great World Spin quotes below are all either spoken by Lara Liveman or refer to Lara Liveman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 1, Chapter 3
Quotes
The moment he turned to check the front of the car I recall thinking that we’d never survive it, not so much the crash, or even the death of the young girl—she was so obviously dead, in a bloodied heap on the road—or the man who was slapped against the steering wheel, almost certainly ruined, his chest jammed up against the dashboard, but the fact that Blaine went around to check on the damage that was done to our car, the smashed headlight, the crumpled fender, like our years together, something broken, while behind us we could hear the sirens already on their way, and he let out a little groan of despair, and I knew it was for the car, and our unsold canvases, and what would happen to us shortly, and I said to him: Come on, let’s go, quick, get in, Blaine, quick, get a move on.
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A few people were gathered outside the doorway, black women, mostly, in dark mourning clothes that looked as if they didn’t belong to them, as if they’d hired the clothes for the day. Their makeup was the thing that betrayed them, loud and gaudy and one with silver sparkles around her eyes, which looked so tired and worn-down. The cops had said something about hookers: it struck me that maybe the young girl had just been a prostitute. I felt a momentary sigh of gratitude, and then the awareness stopped me cold, the walls pulsed in on me. How cheap was I?
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He let the pieces of the napkin flutter to the floor and said something strange about words being good for saying what things are, but sometimes they don’t function for what things aren’t. He looked away. The neon in the window brightened as the light went down outside.
His hand brushed against mine. That old human flaw of desire.
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Get the entire Let the Great World Spin LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lara Liveman Quotes in Let the Great World Spin
The Let the Great World Spin quotes below are all either spoken by Lara Liveman or refer to Lara Liveman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 1, Chapter 3
Quotes
The moment he turned to check the front of the car I recall thinking that we’d never survive it, not so much the crash, or even the death of the young girl—she was so obviously dead, in a bloodied heap on the road—or the man who was slapped against the steering wheel, almost certainly ruined, his chest jammed up against the dashboard, but the fact that Blaine went around to check on the damage that was done to our car, the smashed headlight, the crumpled fender, like our years together, something broken, while behind us we could hear the sirens already on their way, and he let out a little groan of despair, and I knew it was for the car, and our unsold canvases, and what would happen to us shortly, and I said to him: Come on, let’s go, quick, get in, Blaine, quick, get a move on.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
A few people were gathered outside the doorway, black women, mostly, in dark mourning clothes that looked as if they didn’t belong to them, as if they’d hired the clothes for the day. Their makeup was the thing that betrayed them, loud and gaudy and one with silver sparkles around her eyes, which looked so tired and worn-down. The cops had said something about hookers: it struck me that maybe the young girl had just been a prostitute. I felt a momentary sigh of gratitude, and then the awareness stopped me cold, the walls pulsed in on me. How cheap was I?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
He let the pieces of the napkin flutter to the floor and said something strange about words being good for saying what things are, but sometimes they don’t function for what things aren’t. He looked away. The neon in the window brightened as the light went down outside.
His hand brushed against mine. That old human flaw of desire.
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