How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Grandfather returned to his chair and said, "This is the final one. I will never do it again." (1.13)
Grandfather comes out of retirement for one last case (how many movies have you seen like that?) and it ends up leading him, not Jonathan, toward unlocking a secret of his past. It's almost like he was fated to take this one last trip.
Quote #2
The soul was not ready to transcend, but was sent back, given a chance to right a previous generation's wrong. This, of course, doesn't make any sense. But what does? (3.9)
Stories (fiction or biography or anything in between) try to make sense out of chaos by giving chaos a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or, in the case of baby Brod, they make sense out of a miracle baby who doesn't seem to have a mother or an umbilical cord by suggesting that she was delivered by fate itself. Seems legit.
Quote #3
The Well-Regarded Rabbi placed the crib on the floor, removed a single sopping slip of paper, and hollered, IT APPEARS THAT THE BABY HAS CHOSEN YANKEL AS HER FATHER! (3.29)
If you've got fate in your corner, you can justify anything: it's fate that the baby doesn't move to pick a piece of paper, forcing the Rabbi to do it himself—meaning, of course, that the baby actually did choose her dad. Obviously.