Rex and the City

出版者:Random House Inc

作者:Harrington, Lee

页数:272

出版时间:2007-6

价格:CDN$ 17.95

装帧:Pap

isbn号码:9780812973235

具体描述

Lee and Ted are a young, hip New York City couple living together in New York City whose lives consist of nothing but cool work assignments, long lunches, and evenings out with their equally hip and trendy friends. But, not yet feeling quite equipped for life or love, they’re vague about plans for “the future.” “Our relationship is like a French movie,” Lee tells a friend. “There’s a lot of interesting character development, but no plot.”

One summer weekend, Lee and Ted stop at an animal shelter. They've always wanted a dog, and perhaps if they commit themselves to a loving pet, they reason, their lives will become more rooted. When they meet and fall in love with Rex, a beautiful, lively spaniel of mysterious origins abandoned on Doggie Death Row, they elatedly adopt him and bring him home, expecting to be flooded with doggie gratitude and exuberance. But Rex doesn’t romp and wiggle happily like the yellow Labs in Alpo commercials. He doesn’t greet Lee and Ted with exuberance or fetch The New York Times. Instead, Rex is unlike any dog the couple has ever known–he clearly loathes his new owners, their friends, their apartment, and New York City. He terrorizes everyone he encounters (even the friendly librarian who lives next door) and runs away every chance he gets. Lee and Ted are flummoxed. How have they ended up with the only dog on the planet who won’t offer unconditional love?

The couple question whether they can handle this dog, especially in New York City. They can’t agree on how to train him–while Ted wants to use the “hand-corrective method,” Lee prefers a nurturing approach. Consequently, Rex’s behavior doesn’t improve much in the first few months. And Lee and Ted’s relationship doesn’t improve either–they begin to argue constantly. But the twosome refuse to give up on their pooch. As Rex becomes more doglike, they begin to take delight in Rex’s antics and signs of progress: his first nonviolent dog-run experience, his first Halloween costume contest, his first kiss. And as they witness their pet’s gradual transformation from a wounded, fearful puppy into a confident, free-spirited dog, Lee and Ted’s relationship also transforms, as their commitment to the dog seals their commitment to each other.

Lee Harrington writes with an open heart, in prose that is witty, insightful, and poignant. Ultimately a love story between humans and animals alike, Rex and the City is a hilarious and riotous romp of a memoir.

From the Hardcover edition.

用户评价

说实话，我一开始对这类名字带有“都市”字样的作品抱持着一种谨慎的态度，总担心它们会落入俗套，充斥着肤浅的派对和浮华的对话。然而，《Rex and the City》完全颠覆了我的预期。它更像是一部精妙的社会观察报告，披着小说的外衣。作者对城市权力结构和阶层流动性的剖析，尖锐得令人不寒而栗。我特别留意了关于金融博弈和信息不对称那几章，那种层层剥笋的叙事方式，极具智识上的挑战性。它迫使你停下来，思考自己所处的环境，以及那些看不见的规则是如何运作的。文字的节奏感把握得极为精准，时而如急促的鼓点，让人喘不过气；时而又像深夜里一杯威士忌，带着一丝不易察觉的苦涩回甘。这种强烈的对比和张力，让阅读过程充满了不可预测的惊喜。对于喜欢深度思考、不满足于平面叙事的读者来说，这本书绝对是一次值得投入时间的探险。

我得承认，这本书的文学野心相当宏大，它似乎试图在一本小说中探讨存在主义、后现代主义以及资本对个体精神的吞噬等多个宏大命题。初读时，我感到一丝迷茫，因为作者拒绝提供简单的答案或明确的道德指南。它要求读者主动参与到意义的构建中来。书中的象征符号运用得极其高妙，从反复出现的特定颜色到一种虚构的艺术品，每一个元素似乎都在与其他部分形成一种隐秘的对话。我花了好一番工夫去梳理那些暗示，感觉自己像一个考古学家在挖掘被尘封的文本。这种需要反复阅读和思考的特性，意味着它可能不适合那些寻求快速消遣的读者。但对于我这样的“细节控”来说，每一次重读都会带来新的发现，就像在同一片森林里，你总能找到新的隐藏小径。它挑战了阅读的舒适区，提供了智力上的极大满足感。

这本《Rex and the City》的封面设计简直是一场视觉盛宴，色彩的运用大胆而富有层次感，那种霓虹灯下的都市剪影，让人立刻联想到繁华与未知。我是在一家独立书店的角落里偶然瞥见它的，最初只是被那复古又摩登的气质吸引。翻开书页，首先映入眼帘的是作者对环境细致入微的描摹，仿佛每一个街道的转角，每一扇紧闭的窗户背后，都藏着一个亟待发掘的故事。那种笔触的细腻度，让我一度怀疑作者是不是一位潜伏在都市角落的观察家。我尤其欣赏作者在描绘人物心理活动时所展现出的克制与张力，没有过分的渲染，却能精准地击中读者内心深处那些难以言喻的情绪。这本书给我的感觉是，它不是在讲述一个故事，而是在邀请你一同走进一个精心构建的微观宇宙，去感受那份属于现代都市人的疏离与连接。读完第一部分，我迫不及待地想知道，那个看似掌控一切的主角，究竟会在接下来的篇章里，面对何种颠覆性的挑战。

我非常欣赏作者在语言风格上表现出的那种近乎诗歌的凝练。很多段落，即使脱离了上下文，单独拎出来也具有极强的画面感和哲理性。比如他对“时间”流逝的描述，完全摆脱了日常的度量衡，转而用一种感官上的方式去呈现，读起来有一种奇特的晕眩感。这本书成功地营造了一种“熟悉的陌生感”，你认得那些都市的场景，但透过作者的眼睛去看，它们突然变得异样而充满张力。它让我重新审视了自己与“城市”这个概念的关系。我特别喜欢作者对“孤独”这一主题的处理，它不是那种老生常谈的悲情叙事，而是一种带有某种骄傲和坚韧的、与环境共生的状态。总而言之，这是一部需要耐心品味的“慢热型”杰作，它的力量在于潜移默化，而非一蹴而就的震撼。它让你在合上书本后，依然能在脑海中回荡很久。

这本书的配乐感十足，这或许是我最主观的感受。当我沉浸在文字中时，脑海里自然而然地浮现出一种融合了爵士乐的慵懒和电子音乐的疏离感的旋律。作者在处理人物对话时，那种充满潜台词的交流方式，简直就是一场无声的交锋。角色之间的每一次眼神接触、每一个不经意的停顿，都蕴含着远超于字面意思的信息量。特别是Rex这个角色的塑造，他既有着古典英雄主义的影子，又被现代的虚无感深深侵蚀，这种矛盾性让人着迷。他不像传统意义上的“好人”或“坏人”，更像是一面棱镜，折射出都市生活中无数个模糊的灰色地带。我常常在想，作者是如何平衡这种复杂性而不使叙事失焦的？这需要极高的文学技巧和对人性深刻的洞察力。这本书的结构也很有趣，它不按时间线性发展，而是通过碎片化的记忆和闪回，构建出一个完整的内在世界。