Extraordinary, Ordinary People

作者:Rice, Condoleezza

页数:0

出版时间:2010-10

价格:277.00元

isbn号码:9780307750631

具体描述

Condoleezza Rice has excelled as a diplomat, political scientist, and concert pianist. Her achievements run the gamut from helping to oversee the collapse of communism in Europe and the decline of the Soviet Union, to working to protect the country in the aftermath of 9-11, to becoming only the second woman - and the first black woman ever -- to serve as Secretary of State.

But until she was 25 she never learned to swim.

Not because she wouldn't have loved to, but because when she was a little girl in Birmingham, Alabama, Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor decided he'd rather shut down the city's pools than give black citizens access.

Throughout the 1950's, Birmingham's black middle class largely succeeded in insulating their children from the most corrosive effects of racism, providing multiple support systems to ensure the next generation would live better than the last. But by 1963, when Rice was applying herself to her fourth grader's lessons, the situation had grown intolerable. Birmingham was an environment where blacks were expected to keep their head down and do what they were told -- or face violent consequences. That spring two bombs exploded in Rice’s neighborhood amid a series of chilling Klu Klux Klan attacks. Months later, four young girls lost their lives in a particularly vicious bombing.

So how was Rice able to achieve what she ultimately did?

Her father, John, a minister and educator, instilled a love of sports and politics. Her mother, a teacher, developed Condoleezza’s passion for piano and exposed her to the fine arts. From both, Rice learned the value of faith in the face of hardship and the importance of giving back to the community. Her parents’ fierce unwillingness to set limits propelled her to the venerable halls of Stanford University, where she quickly rose through the ranks to become the university’s second-in-command. An expert in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs, she played a leading role in U.S. policy as the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union disintegrated. Less than a decade later, at the apex of the hotly contested 2000 presidential election, she received the exciting news – just shortly before her father’s death – that she would go on to the White House as the first female National Security Advisor.

As comfortable describing lighthearted family moments as she is recalling the poignancy of her mother’s cancer battle and the heady challenge of going toe-to-toe with Soviet leaders, Rice holds nothing back in this remarkably candid telling. This is the story of Condoleezza Rice that has never been told, not that of an ultra-accomplished world leader, but of a little girl – and a young woman -- trying to find her place in a sometimes hostile world and of two exceptional parents, and an extended family and community, that made all the difference.

From the Hardcover edition.

用户评价

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这本书给我的整体感觉是：克制到极致的爆发。它的文字表面上风平浪静，但字里行间却涌动着一股强大的、难以言喻的焦虑感。这种焦虑并非来自外部的威胁，而是源于人与自我认知之间的永恒错位。作者精妙地运用了“镜像”和“重复”的母题，不断地将角色的行为在不同的场景中进行对比，从而揭示出人类行为模式中那些根深蒂固的重复性与徒劳感。例如，书中对某些日常仪式（如整理书架、泡茶的特定步骤）的详尽描写，与其说是描写行为本身，不如说是在描绘角色试图通过建立秩序来对抗无序的内心挣扎。我特别留意到它在描述光线和阴影转换时的细腻手法，这种视觉上的对比，完美地映射了角色在道德和情感上的摇摆不定。这是一种需要耐心去阅读的作品，它不提供廉价的慰藉，而是邀请你一同深入探究生活的复杂性。

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这部作品最令人惊艳之处，或许在于其对“不完美”的拥抱。它丝毫没有美化生活的艰辛或人性的弱点，反而将那些局促、尴尬、甚至有些可笑的瞬间，提升到了艺术的高度。它不像某些文学作品那样试图通过宏大的主题来震撼读者，而是选择聚焦于那些细微到几乎无法察觉的“失误”——一句说错的话，一次犹豫不决的转身，一次没有传达到位的拥抱。正是这些失误，构成了我们作为“人”的独特标识。作者的叙事节奏时而急促如骤雨，时而又缓慢如凝固的琥珀，这种不稳定的韵律感，恰恰反映了生活本身那种不可预测的特性。我读到某些段落时，忍不住停下来，对着书页发呆，因为那些描写的场景太过熟悉，熟悉到让我感觉作者是不是也曾在我的窗外驻足过。这本书提供了一种深刻的共鸣，它让我们意识到，那些我们以为只有自己才有的私密感受，其实是人类共同体验的一部分，只是我们很少有人愿意如此坦诚地将其揭示出来。

这部作品的叙事视角极为独特，它仿佛不是在讲述一个故事，而是在编织一幅由无数微小瞬间构成的挂毯。作者对日常生活的捕捉达到了近乎病态的精准度，每一个街角的阴影、每一次偶然的眼神交汇，都被赋予了一种沉甸甸的象征意义。我尤其欣赏它对“非凡”与“平庸”之间那条模糊界限的探讨。它没有急于给出一个明确的答案，而是将读者置于一个永恒的询问之中：究竟是环境造就了我们，还是我们自身的选择，将寻常的日子镀上了一层奇异的光泽？书中的人物，那些看似毫不相关的个体，他们的内心挣扎和微妙的情感波动，却以一种无形的方式相互影响着。那种感觉就像是在一个巨大的、寂静的图书馆里，忽然听到了一串遥远而清晰的脚步声，你不知道声源在哪里，但它真实地存在着。语言的运用上，充满了破碎感和诗意，句子结构时而极简，时而又拉伸至近乎意识流，迫使读者必须放慢呼吸去品味每一个词语的选择。它不是一本让人读完后能立刻合上的书，更像是一面棱镜，反射出我们自身生活中那些被我们忽略的细微光芒。