Runaway

作者:Epstein, Rose

页数:274

出版时间:2010-3

价格:$ 33.89

isbn号码:9781450028295

具体描述

Much to Tom's surprise, it was Gail who started a conversation he had been rehearsing all day. Tom never expected this conversation so soon. He figured maybe when they were back at home for a few days, so he was taken aback and unready for such serious talk. But, Gail brought it up.

"Tom, I need to tell you how sorry I am for the way I acted the past few days. I didn't know what hit me but I had a lot of time to think about it and realize I'm jealous. Remember how during the summer my dad and mother always took a week off on their boat by themselves? Mom always said it was a great time for them. It was as though they had run away. That's the way I've been feeling that we should run away once in a while"

"Yes, but you ruined that for them one year when they had their boat on Block Island, You did get jealous, and made believe it was just a day trip to surprise them. We took the ferry from the mainland and joined them with the three kids. I think it was a shock to them, but they really made us feel comfortable and we stayed aboard with them for a few days."

"Tom, that was a long time ago and we only had the two boys at the time and my father was always glad to spend time with them."

"Gail, we ruined their runaways after that year. They never went off without some of their kids, relatives or friends with them." Tom continued. "Somehow or other there were always people with them except when they took that cruise for their twenty-fifth anniversary."

"Mom was a little disappointed by the ship, I think she had a more luxurious type in mind. It was February and the weather was awful. Just remember what a disaster that cruise turned out to be?"

"Yes, they could have died when that rogue wave hit the ship they were really lucky. But they had a good time anyway."

"In a way I'm still jealous. We just had our twenty-fifth and couldn't get away. Too much paperwork to get the boys registered for college, and it costs a ton of money.

Allison's parochial school tuition is not much, but she will be graduating soon, and we'll have another college kid to worry about. I think we'll never be able to afford a real vacation."

"We don't have a real life of our own anymore. Remember when we used to go down to Second Beach in Newport, spend the days on the rocks, and run through the surf. We sure didn't have a care in the world. How did we get bogged down with all this responsibility?"

"Good question," answered Gail, "We were teenagers and now we're grown-ups. We got married, we both worked hard, bought our house, had kids, bought cars, made the house bigger, the kids got sick from time to time, I had an operation, and we had to take care of all those animals. And our circle of friends kept getting larger. Then there are our families, you know how close I am with my sisters and brother. You only have your brother who we don't see too often, his two children will probably be getting married soon, and our extended family will just keep getting larger."

"Gail, we are still working hard, maybe harder since the boys started college. It's not family responsibility that comes between us. You're forgetting that your high-powered job not only keeps you away from home a lot, and you really work more hours a day than I do. Also you make so much more money than I do that you are the main breadwinner. Not that I'm complaining, but sometimes it just seems as though it doesn't matter if I work or not."

"Tom, you're wrong! It's your income that puts us over the top. We seem to spend every cent I earn, and it's your earnings that give us a really good life. I realized how important your income was when you were sick last year and couldn't work for six months."

"Sick? I wasn't 'sick' I had a 'little' stroke.'" That is worse than just being sick. I don't know if or when it could happen again, and it changes the way I think about things. Life is so tenuous. We never know what will come next. Before we know it, both our

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这本书的“气场”非常强大，一旦沉浸其中，就很难抽离。它成功地构建了一个自洽且充满内在逻辑的世界，这个世界观设定得极为考究，从社会运作的规则到角色的信仰体系，无不透露出作者深厚的背景知识和严谨的构建态度。我特别喜欢它对“灰色地带”的刻画。在这里，没有绝对的英雄或恶棍，每一个选择都伴随着沉重的代价。那些看似站在正义一方的角色，其手段可能令人不适；而那些被体制排斥的人，他们的抗争却可能充满了人性的光辉。这种对道德模糊性的探索，让故事的层次一下子丰富了起来，不再是简单的善恶二元对立。读完之后，你会发现，书中探讨的核心问题依然在你我身边存在，只是作者用一种极端化的艺术手法将其放大了，迫使我们直面那些日常生活中被我们下意识忽略的伦理困境。

老实说，这本书的结构设计简直令人叹为观止，它更像是一部精密的机械钟表，每一个齿轮——无论是闪回、旁白还是插入的文献资料——都咬合得天衣无缝，共同驱动着整个叙事向前。我第一次读到如此大胆的时间线处理方式，它不是线性的，而是像一个多维度的空间，读者需要不断地在不同的时间点之间穿梭、拼凑，才能构建出完整的画面。这种阅读体验是挑战性的，但绝对是值得的。作者似乎在故意考验读者的专注力，稍不留神就会错失一个至关重要的暗示。最妙的是，当所有碎片最终汇聚在一起时，那种“原来如此”的豁然开朗，其震撼力远超任何直接的揭示。书中对一些哲学命题的探讨，也做得非常自然，没有那种说教式的沉闷，而是通过角色在极端环境下的选择和挣扎，自然而然地浮现出来，引发读者对人性、自由意志这类宏大命题的深思。这绝对是一部需要“慢读”并反复咀嚼的佳作，而不是可以一目十晹而过的通俗小说。

这部作品的语言韵律感极佳，即使是中文译本，也能感受到那种独特的节奏感和内在的张力。它不像某些文学作品那样追求华丽的辞藻堆砌，而是更注重“精确性”，每一个词语的选取都像是经过万锤百炼，恰到好处地服务于表达当时的情境和人物的心理状态。我尤其欣赏作者在处理内心独白时的那种克制与爆发的交替运用。有时是平静如水、近乎散文诗般的内心剖析，下一秒可能就骤然转为简短、急促的内心OS，仿佛呼吸都变得急促起来。这种强烈的对比，极大地增强了阅读的沉浸感和戏剧性。此外，书中对于一些物理现象或科学概念的描述，也做到了既能保持专业性，又不会让非专业读者感到晦涩难懂，这一点处理得非常高明，显示了作者在跨学科知识整合方面的功力。总之，这是一次极其高质量的文学体验。

这本小说简直是段文字的奇遇记，每一次翻页都像踏入了一片未知的迷雾森林。作者的叙事手法真是高明，他没有急于把所有的线索抛出来，而是像一个技艺精湛的织布匠，缓缓地将故事的丝线编织成一张巨大而精密的网。我尤其欣赏他对环境和氛围的细腻描摹，那种扑面而来的压抑感和无处不在的悬念，让人仿佛能闻到空气中弥漫的尘土和潮湿的气息。人物的刻画更是入木三分，每一个角色都有着错综复杂的动机和不为人知的秘密，他们的对话充满了张力，字里行间都暗藏着未言明的冲突。读到一半的时候，我甚至停下来，反复揣摩某一个角色的某个微不足道的动作，猜测它背后隐藏的深层含义。这本书的节奏控制得极好，有张有弛，高潮迭起，但绝不滥用动作场面，而是将大部分的冲突和转折都内化到了人物的心理挣扎之中。读完后，那种意犹未尽的感觉久久不能散去，它留下了一片思考的空间，让人不得不去回味那些模糊的边缘地带。

我得承认，初读时，我差点被那种极简主义的文风劝退。文字的处理非常克制，几乎没有多余的形容词堆砌，一切都显得冷静、疏离，像是在冰冷的镜头下记录着一系列事件的发生。但正是这种“不煽情”的处理方式，反而营造出一种令人毛骨悚然的真实感。作者仿佛站在一个极高的、审视者的角度，冷眼旁观着世间的荒谬和个体的无力。特别是书中关于“记忆的不可靠性”这一主题的处理，非常精彩。我们所依赖的叙事基础——角色的回忆——本身就是摇摇欲坠的，这使得读者从一开始就处于一种信息不对称且不可完全信任的状态。每当我觉得我已经掌握了故事的走向时，作者总能通过一个极其微小的细节，将我推翻，迫使我重新审视之前的一切判断。这种对叙事稳定性的颠覆，让阅读过程充满了智力上的刺激，它不提供廉价的情感释放，而是要求读者付出思考的劳动，并最终给予丰厚的回报。