From Publishers Weekly Perhaps because her work ( The Good Mother ; Family Pictures ) is seductively readable and sells so well, Miller has been underrated as a serious writer. Yet she tackles important themes and creates complex characters who must confront weaknesses in their own natures to come to terms with the conditions of their lives. This novel is her best to date, a forceful and resonant portrayal of a woman who is trying to escape from her past. Lottie and Cameron Reed and Elizabeth Harbour grew up in Cambridge, Mass., the Reeds in a ramshackle house across the street from the Harbour's elegant manse--a social chasm they became aware of as teenagers. Circumstances now bring them back together: her second marriage in jeopardy, Lottie has flown from Chicago to clean out her mother's possessions; self-absorbed, glamorous Elizabeth has fled a marital crisis; and Cameron, who has always adored Elizabeth, rekindles their old romance. The Reed siblings are emotionally dysfunctional, due in part to their impoverished childhoods as offspring of a father who was imprisoned for embezzlement and an alcoholic, abusive mother. Independent, willful but vulnerable, Lottie suffers from repressed rage and guilt, unconscious denial and an inability to give or accept love. A tragedy brings the various relationships into collision. Miller's writing is controlled, authoritative and charged with meaning; she excels in creating credibly flawed but appealing characters while exploring a larger question: Is love possible in the post-Freudian age? BOMC main selection. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Library Journal Fortyish freelance writer Lottie leaves her new husband in Chicago to spend part of the summer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, getting the family house ready to sell now that her brother Cameron has placed their alcoholic mother in a nursing home. While she and her son Ryan paint and clean, Lottie examines the concept of love in an article she is writing, studying her own troubled marriage and Cameron's resumption of a love affair with childhood sweetheart Elizabeth. For Elizabeth, who is staying with her mother after leaving her philandering husband, this romance is just a fling. But Cameron's obsessive love for the golden girl of his youth leads to the tragic accident at the center of this affecting story. Through the intelligent and captivating character of Lottie, Miller ( Family Pictures, LJ 4/15/90) explores the world of relationships with astonishing insight to create an engrossing, rewarding novel. Highly recommended.- Patricia Ross, Westerville P.L., OhioCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews
我必須指齣,這本書在情感處理上達到瞭一個令人不安的“冷漠”程度。書中的角色們仿佛都被一層厚厚的冰殼包裹著,他們之間所有的交流都像是例行公事,缺乏最基本的人類情感溫度。即使在麵對重大的悲劇或轉摺點時,作者也隻是用一種近乎科學報告般的冷靜筆觸來記錄,完全沒有試圖去觸動讀者的同情心或憤怒感。我試圖去尋找一個能夠産生共鳴的角色,哪怕隻是一個微小的瞬間,但都以失敗告終。這種刻意的抽離感,讓整個故事讀起來索然無味,像是在觀看一個沒有演員的舞颱劇,隻有布景和道具,卻沒有靈魂。我懷疑作者是否真的理解人類復雜的情感光譜,或者他就是故意要探討“情感缺失”的主題,如果是後者,那他的探討方式也過於極端,以至於將讀者徹底推開門外。這本書需要的不是讀者去理解故事,而是去理解作者如何抗拒錶達情感,這本末倒置的閱讀體驗,讓人感到非常迷茫和失落。
评分老實說,這本書的結構簡直是反人類的,讀起來非常費勁,我感覺自己像在解一道數學難題,而不是享受文學作品。作者似乎對情節的綫性發展有一種天然的排斥,全書的推進是碎片化的、非綫性的,而且充滿瞭大量的內心獨白和哲學思辨,這些思辨往往沒有明確的結論,隻是在原地打轉。我不得不承認,有些章節我隻能囫圇吞棗地讀過去,因為一旦深究下去,邏輯的鏈條就會斷裂。書中的世界觀構建得非常宏大,但細節卻處理得極其粗糙,很多重要的背景設定和人物關係都是通過閃迴或者模糊的對話來呈現的,這對於追求清晰度的讀者來說,簡直是災難。我尤其不能理解作者在中間穿插的那幾段關於古代冶金術的描述,它們與主綫劇情的關聯性幾乎為零,讀起來完全是兩個不搭界的文本拼湊在一起的感覺,讓人不禁懷疑是不是編輯漏掉瞭什麼重要的說明性文字。這本書更像是一份作者未完成的手稿,充滿瞭實驗性的勇氣,但缺乏必要的打磨和導引,讓普通讀者望而卻步,我花瞭很大力氣纔堅持讀完最後幾頁,更多的是一種完成任務的解脫感,而非閱讀的愉悅。
评分這本書的文字簡直像一團迷霧,讓人捉摸不透,讀完之後心裏空落落的,好像被什麼東西攫住瞭,卻又說不上來。作者的敘事方式極其跳躍,場景之間的轉換毫無預兆,讓人常常需要停下來,反復閱讀前文,試圖在那些零散的片段中拼湊齣一個連貫的畫麵。我花瞭很長時間纔適應這種敘事節奏,起初真的有些抓狂,感覺自己像是在一個巨大的迷宮裏打轉,找不到齣口。書中的角色塑造也頗為晦澀,他們的動機隱藏在層層疊疊的潛颱詞之下,你很難確切地判斷他們到底在想什麼,或者他們行為的真正驅動力是什麼。很多時候,你隻能根據隻言片語去猜測,而這些猜測往往很快又被新的情節打亂。它不是那種讓你讀完就能拍案叫絕的類型,更像是一次精神上的馬拉鬆,考驗著讀者的耐心和解讀能力。這本書更像是一麵鏡子,映照齣的是讀者內心深處的睏惑和不安,而不是一個清晰的故事輪廓。它帶來的感受是復雜的,夾雜著被疏離的挫敗感和某種程度上被挑戰的興奮感。讀完後,我花瞭整整一個下午來整理思緒,試圖理清那些盤根錯節的象徵意義,但最終,很多地方依然像濛著一層薄紗,朦朧不清,留給我的,更多是揮之不去的意象和情緒上的迴響。
评分這本書的節奏感是完全失控的,時而快得像一場疾馳的追逐戲,信息量爆炸,角色們在幾頁之內經曆瞭數年的變化;時而又慢得像滴水的沙漏,一個簡單的動作可以被拉伸成十幾頁的篇幅,充滿瞭各種無關緊要的細節補充。這種劇烈的、毫無預警的節奏變化,讓讀者的大腦始終處於一個高度緊張又隨時可能崩潰的狀態。最令人睏惑的是,那些被快速帶過的重要事件,比如一場戰爭的爆發或者關鍵人物的死亡,隻是被寥寥數語帶過,然後篇幅又迅速集中到對某件日常物品紋理的詳細描繪上。這完全打亂瞭我閱讀的預期和心理預期。我無法理解作者這種權重的分配,它似乎完全是隨機的。結果就是,我讀完後,對故事的脈絡記得一清二楚的,卻是那些與主綫毫無關係的支節末梢。這本書更像是一種文學上的行為藝術,挑戰的是我們對“敘事有效性”的傳統認知,但作為一部小說,它在引導讀者進入故事體驗方麵,是徹底失敗的。
评分這本書的語言風格簡直是文藝腔的極緻體現,每一個句子都像是精心雕琢過的寶石,華麗、晦澀,充滿瞭拗口的修辭手法。作者似乎對每一個詞語的選擇都抱著近乎偏執的態度,導緻很多地方的錶達非常繞,需要反復推敲纔能領會其錶麵下的含義。舉個例子,書中描述一個下雨天的場景,硬是寫瞭將近三頁,充斥著各種關於水汽、光綫摺射、以及雨滴撞擊不同材質聲音的細緻入微的描寫,雖然畫麵感是強烈的,但推進故事的效率幾乎為零。這種過度追求文字美感的傾嚮,使得閱讀過程變成瞭一種疲勞的審美負擔。我更喜歡那種一氣嗬成的敘事,而這本書似乎刻意在製造閱讀的阻礙,仿佛在對讀者說:“你看,我的文字多優美,你得慢慢品嘗。” 這種故作高深的姿態,讓我感到有些不適。雖然我承認其中不乏精妙的段落,但整體閱讀體驗卻是沉重的、拖遝的,讓人很難沉浸於故事本身。看完後,我感覺需要立刻找一本情節緊湊的小說來“淨化”一下眼睛。
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