Me Thinks

There are a few lines in this book that I continue to think about.  Let me provide some background to the lines. The main character in the book is a boy named Danny.  Danny grows in a close relationship with his sister Maeve. Because of what happens to their mother and then their father, Danny and Maeve are unusually close, but in time Danny grows up and marries Celeste. At first Celeste and Maeve get a long, but soon their relationship becomes strained. Here is how Danny explains the situation, after years of fatigue:

Whatever injustices Maeve and Celeste had committed against each other years before had become abstractions.  Their dislike for each other was a habit now.  They were smart and funny and fiercely loyal, my sister and my wife.  They claimed to love me above all others, while never acknowledging the toll it took on me to watch them pick each other apart.  I blamed them both.  They could have avoided it now.  The grudge could be set aside if they made the choice.  But they didn't.  They clung to their bitterness, both of them (pg. 239).

What a lesson on holding grudges and not forgiving another person! The bitterness they felt for each other soured all of the relationships in this family and sorrowed decades of living.