Death is a state of mind — -many people on Earth spend their entire lives dead. - Gabrielle Zevin

She had resisted returning there because to return to one's hometown felt like surrender.

but it is only because we are isolated that we think we are unlovable. Someday, you do not know when, you will be driving down a road. And someday, you do not know when, he, or indeed she, will be there. You will be loved because for the first time in your life, you will truly not be alone. You will have chosen to not be alone.

The only thing that kept me from wanting to die was the fact that I could leave my body and be in a body that worked perfectly for a while — -better than perfectly, actually — -with a set of problems that were not my own."
"You couldn't land at the top of a pole, but Mario could."
"Exactly. I could save the princess, even when I could barely get out of bed. So, I do want to be rich and famous. I am, as you know, a bottomless pit of ambition and need. But I also want to make something sweet. Something kids like us would have wanted to play to forget their troubles for a while.