Each chapter is a celebration of language even though the words are woven into a complex emotional landscape. A joy to read, and a lot to ponder afterward. Love it ❤️
“Lena, everything these days worries me." I'm not sure why, but this line caught my attention in this beautiful chapter. A huge current of anxiety is flowing through them, it seems. Thank you for your gorgeous prose, Mary.
I don’t know if it’s possible to have a favorite chapter in this extraordinary book but this one might be the one if forced to choose. My heart skipped a beat when Lena realized not once, but twice, someone she loved would live only in her imagination. The tragedy feels both cruel but also incriminating because they are each from her own doing. I feel badly for Lena but also want to shake her by the shoulders and say, “Come back, come back to the life you have right in front of you!”
Yes, I feel his desperate attempts to try to see this situation from all sides and even look at his own role in at all. That’s an exercise not for the faint of heart.
Each chapter is a celebration of language even though the words are woven into a complex emotional landscape. A joy to read, and a lot to ponder afterward. Love it ❤️
"Celebration of language": Lovely and my thanks, dear one.
“Lena, everything these days worries me." I'm not sure why, but this line caught my attention in this beautiful chapter. A huge current of anxiety is flowing through them, it seems. Thank you for your gorgeous prose, Mary.
Lovely and generous. As ever, grateful to have you, wise and so deeply schooled in the arts as a reader, Jeffrey.
I don’t know if it’s possible to have a favorite chapter in this extraordinary book but this one might be the one if forced to choose. My heart skipped a beat when Lena realized not once, but twice, someone she loved would live only in her imagination. The tragedy feels both cruel but also incriminating because they are each from her own doing. I feel badly for Lena but also want to shake her by the shoulders and say, “Come back, come back to the life you have right in front of you!”
I had this reaction as well. So astute.
Also, the two chapters side-by-side offer such wildly different portraits of marriage--it's haunting.
At least, Robert, as narrator, is trying to give us both sides of a difficult story, don't you think?
Yes, I feel his desperate attempts to try to see this situation from all sides and even look at his own role in at all. That’s an exercise not for the faint of heart.
Me too! But more chapters to come that I hope build sympathy for her as well as Robert.
Lacuna - brilliant, Mary.
Oh, you are lovely! Thank you, Adrian.
Another lyrical example of you somehow weaving together complex emotions in complex relationships over time. Keep it coming!
Lot more coming, indeed. Thank you so for the "lyrical" complement and the complexity of character insights.
Thursdays are the best days because you release such beautiful writing to us.
Oh, Tim: Talk about making my day! You did that!