Monday, November 14, 2005

Bok: The comfort of strangers

Jeg klaget nettopp på at for mange bøker er for lange. Derfor, ved neste besøk i min bokhandel (som, trist nok, er TanumOSL) kjøpte jeg bare tynne bøker.
Ian McEwan har skrevet tykkere bøker senere, men denne er tynn. For å vise hvor velskrevet den er, la meg presentere beskrivelsen av det vi kan kalle tosomhet:
Alone, perhaps, they each could have explored the city with pleasure, followed whims, dispensed with destinations and so enjoyed or ignored being lost. There was much to wonder at here, one needed only be alert and attend. But they knew each other much as they knew themselves, and their intimacy, rather like too many suitcases, was a matter of perpetual concern; together they moved slowly, clumsily, effecting lugubrious compromises, attending to delicate shifts of mood, repairing breaches. As individuals they did not easily take offense; but together they managed to offend each other in surprising, unexpected ways; then the offender---it had happened twice since their arrival---became irritated by the cloying susceptibilities of the other, and they would continue to explore the twisting alleyways and sudden squares in silence, and with eachstep the city would recede as they looked tighter into each other's presence.
Jeg som hater å ha koffert(er) synes bildet som manes frem passer perfekt til den velkjente følelsen! Legg også merke til at det såpass tidlig i historien ikke er klart hvem som irriterer hvem.
Jeg anbefaler boken!