The Family Frying Pan

出版者:Penguin Books Australia; Revised edition

作者:Bryce Courtenay

页数:360 pages

出版时间:Jun 30 2001

价格:CDN$ 10.66

装帧:Paperback

isbn号码:9780140293418

具体描述

Product Description

Mrs Moses is a small woman with a big heart and enormous courage. The only survivor of a Cossack raid on her Russian village, she flees with a large heavy cooking pot, that she uses to feed the various refugees who are travelling with her across Russia to freedom. An amazing story of bravery, compassion and hope.

作者简介

Bryce Courtenay (born 14 August 1933) is a South-African-born naturalized Australian novelist. Born in Johannesburg, Courtenay spent most of his early years in a small village in the Lebombo Mountains in South Africa's Limpopo province.

In 1955, while studying journalism in London, Bryce met his future wife, Benita, and eventually emigrated to Australia. They married in 1959 and had three sons, Brett, Adam and Damon. In 1991, Damon (who was born with the blood condition haemophilia) died at age 24 from AIDS, contracted through a blood transfusion.

Bryce divorced Benita in 2000 and acknowledged to some indiscretions during their 42-year marriage. He now lives in Bowral, New South Wales, with his partner, Christine Gee. Benita Courtenay died on 11 March 2007, at the age of 72, four months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

His novels are primarily set in either Australia, his adopted country, or South Africa, the country of his birth. His first book, The Power of One, was published in 1989 and, despite Courtenay's fears that it would never sell, quickly became one of Australia's best-selling books by any living author. The story has since been made into a film - as well as being re-released in an edition for children

Bryce Courtenay is one of Australia's most commercially successful authors. However, only The Power of One has been published in the United States. Courtenay claims that this is because "American publishers for the most part have difficulties about Australia, they are interested in books in their own country first and foremost. However, we receive many e-mails and letters from Americans who have read my books and I am hoping in the future that publishers will recognize that there is a market for all my books in the U.S."

In 2010, he was honored on an Australian postage stamp.

用户评价

这本书的社会批判力度，简直是毫不留情地剥开了中产阶级那层精致的虚伪外衣。它没有直接点名批评，而是通过描绘一系列看似“完美”的家庭生活场景，让你自己从那些微妙的裂缝中读出不安和焦虑。我印象最深的是对“物质崇拜”的讽刺。书中频繁提到对某个特定品牌、某种昂贵装修材料的执念，这些东西本应带来幸福，却成了维系家庭地位和自我认同的枷锁。作者的幽默感非常犀利，带着一种知识分子的冷峻，你甚至能在被逗笑的同时感到一阵寒意。特别是对于“育儿焦虑”的刻画，那种不惜一切代价将孩子塑造成“理想产品”的趋势，被描绘得淋漓尽致，让人不寒而栗。读完之后，我特意把家里一些不必要的装饰品收了起来，感觉空气都清新了不少。如果你厌倦了那种粉饰太平的家庭小说，这本书提供了一种清醒到近乎残忍的视角，它逼迫你思考：我们到底在为什么而活？

说实话，我一开始是被封面那种复古又带着点荒诞的气质吸引的，结果内容完全超出了我的预期，它更像是一部结构精巧的“时间机器”。作者在叙事上玩了不少文字游戏，时间线不断地跳跃、重叠，初读时可能会有点晕，但一旦抓住主线，那种被信息流裹挟的快感就让人欲罢不能。我感觉自己就像是侦探，努力在不同年代的记忆碎片中寻找那个贯穿始终的“关键物证”。这本书的语言风格非常跳跃，有时像散文诗一样轻盈，转眼间又切换成冷峻的纪实报道腔调。最让我拍案叫绝的是，作者对于“物品”的拟人化处理。那些家具、餐具，仿佛都拥有了自己的生命和记忆，它们目睹了一切，却无法发声，这种旁观者的视角，制造了一种独特的疏离感和宿命感。我必须承认，读这本书需要极高的专注度，我甚至买了一本笔记本来记录那些反复出现的主题词和时间点，否则很容易在作者编织的迷宫里迷失方向。这是一次酣畅淋漓的智力冒险，绝对是近期阅读清单上的重量级作品。

坦白说，这本书的阅读体验是极其依赖个人背景和经历的。对于我这种在传统大家庭里长大的人来说，书中的某些家族规矩和权力结构，让我产生了强烈的“被理解”的感觉。作者的文风带着浓郁的地域色彩和家族史的厚重感，读起来就像是听一位经验丰富的老者在壁炉旁娓娓道来，语速不急不缓，但每一个词都掷地有声。它成功地捕捉到了一种“传承的重量”——那些你继承下来的、甚至还未完全理解的传统和期待，是如何塑造你的人生轨迹的。书中对于权力结构变迁的描写尤其精彩，从大家长到小家庭，那种权力交接时的微妙博弈和失落感，写得入木三分。我很少看到有小说能如此细致地描绘出“身份”是如何在代际之间被重塑和扭曲的。这本书读完之后，我立刻打电话给我远方的亲戚，聊了很多以前从未提起过的话题，它具有一种罕见的、能促进行为改变的力量。

这本书简直是一部关于人性幽微之处的百科全书，作者的笔触细腻得像是触碰到了最敏感的神经末梢。我花了整整一个周末沉浸其中，几乎忘记了现实世界的一切。它探讨的不是宏大的叙事，而是那些发生在厨房、客厅、甚至深夜梦呓中的微小冲突和和解。我尤其欣赏作者对于“沉默”的处理方式，那种欲言又止的张力，比任何激烈的争吵都更具穿透力。比如书中描绘的一对老夫妻，他们之间有三十年未曾言说的秘密，全靠一个眼神、一次无意识的触碰来传递。当我读到他们一起整理旧相册的那一章时，我的眼眶湿润了，那份跨越岁月的理解和无奈，太真实了。这本书没有提供任何现成的答案，它只是耐心地为你展示生活的全貌——那些斑驳陆离的碎片，需要你自己去拼凑。如果你期待一个简单易懂的家庭剧，那你可能会失望，因为它更像是一部存在主义的哲学探讨，披着日常生活的温柔外衣。我推荐给所有对“关系”这两个字抱有复杂情感的人，这本书会让你重新审视自己与他人的连接方式。

我通常不太看太“沉重”的书，但这本书的内容却有一种奇特的疗愈性，尽管它的主题涉及到了巨大的创伤。作者的叙事非常克制，所有的情感爆发都处理在“水面之下”，那份深埋的痛苦，反而比声嘶力竭的哭喊更有力量。我能感受到作者对笔下人物深深的同情，但绝不溺溺于煽情，这是一种非常成熟的写作态度。书中关于“原谅”与“放下”的探讨非常深刻。它没有提供一个简单的按钮让你按下，然后一切烟消云散，而是展现了这样一个过程的漫长、反复和不确定性。我特别喜欢那种带有地域色彩的细节描写，那种特定的光线、气味和食物，一下子就把你拉回到了某个特定的时空背景下，极大地增强了代入感。这本书像是一次漫长的心理咨询过程，它让你愿意正视那些你试图逃避的往事，并且理解了，有时候，带着伤口前行，本身就是一种强大的生存姿态。