Fourteenth Sunday salon: 04.15
I am, inevitably perhaps, reading my friend Gregory's book. This wasn't entirely intentional but, well, I couldn't sleep, it was on the top of pile of things on my desk, I leafed through the preface and promptly got hooked. It has an excellent first line for one of Debra's future Twitterlits: 'You don't have to be small to be inconspicuous.' (but it does help, I find). My favourite paragraph so far is:'Something clicked off in my brain, like falling asleep at the wheel, and when seconds later my wits returned I found my eyes darting for shelter.There was a reek of aftershave. He had a neat shaving cut on his chin. A pale Indian woman, watching me with plum dark eyes, stood beside himas if at any moment to tug him at the sleeve.'I love the 'plum-dark eyes' - like Dylan Thomas's 'sloe-black' in Under Milk Wood - but better because the plum also makes me think of a shape that fits as well. Great economy.
At the end of this section I know something 'more terrible than anything his wife could imagine' and I am already dying to find out what it is. So on to the chapter called 'Then'.
posted by Clare Dudman at 4:17 am
2 Comments:
That *is* a good first line. (I just checked and the book's not out yet on Amazon.com, just Amazon.co.uk, or I'd use it.) Moreover, the book as a whole sounds supremely interesting.
One thing that's alien to me is the whole idea of sending your kids off to boarding school. I know some people in the U.S. do it, but it seems far more prevalent in the U.K. Can't imagine doing it. (Well, I can only imagine it on *some* days....)
I expect it will before long, Debra. It's really good! Yes, I agree about sending your children away. I think some have to - diplomats, and other people working abroad, for instance - in order to give the children some stability, perhaps. But I don't think I'd like to see my two go off...well most of the time, as you say...
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