"As in the early Indian novel Anandamath, in which patriotic warriors pay obeisance to India cast as both map and mother, Aish was both synecdoche and sex symbol, metaphor and mater."

"The slash defines as much as it obscures."

"The way she inches towards enormity without overreaching, the crisp appeal of her comic timing, and her sparring temper that dodges any Sandra Bullock-type sweetheart likeness."

"His face is a universal language. Once a thing has taken on that much symbolism, the substance of it becomes an afterthought."

"He has gradually built distance from the awkward, skinny, high-pitched weirdo of yore, settling more comfortably into his biology like a teenager hitting puberty a couple of decades late."

"Her face is never still; it doesn’t so much beam as it flickers."