From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Urquhart's passion for the past (The Stone Carvers) and the land (The Underpainters, winner of the Governor General's Award in Canada) are at full poetic play in this intricate story of love, loss and memory. Set in present-day Toronto and in the 19th-century world of rural Ontario timber barons, it opens with the wintry death of Alzheimer's sufferer Andrew, whose body, borne by an ice floe, runs aground on the small Lake Ontario island where artist Jerome McNaughton is seeking inspiration. The story steps back a century, to when Andrew's ancestors, owners of the same island, razed forests to build ships, then it jumps forward a year from the opening scene of Andrew's death, to when Sylvia, Andrew's married lover of 20 years, sets out to meet with Jerome, who discovered Andrew's body, and, through Jerome, to reconnect one last time with Andrew. Meanwhile, Jerome, the relationship-shy adult child of an abusive, alcoholic father, is slowly coming to trust that girlfriend Mira's love for him is real. Urquhart reveals all of their haunted personal histories in the lyrical first and third parts of the novel. But it's in the compact family-saga middle, where a slew of Andrew's memorable forebears take the stage, that this novel's luminous heart truly lies. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From AudioFile There is an ethereal, dreamy quality in Hillary Huber's reading that is well suited to Urquhart's meditative novel about love, loss, and longing. The novel begins on remote Timber Island in Lake Ontario where a young artist named Jerome discovers the frozen body of Andrew Goodman, a geographer lately suffering from Alzheimer's. The story resumes a year later with the appearance of a strange woman named Sylvia, who claims to have been Andrew's longtime lover. Sylvia begins meeting with Jerome, relaying her past with Andrew as well as the story of Andrew's forebears on Timber Island. The book sometimes has the feel of epic poetry, an impression furthered by Huber's lyrical voicing. M.O. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. See all Editorial Reviews
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人物的塑造是这本书最令人称道的部分之一,他们的复杂性简直令人着迷。我很少看到有哪部作品能将角色的优点与致命的弱点如此自然地融合在一起,他们不是非黑即白的符号,而是充满矛盾和挣扎的真实存在。特别是主角,他内心的冲突感强烈到几乎可以触摸到——那种在理想与现实、责任与自我救赎之间摇摆不定的状态,让人深感共鸣。我甚至能在他们的某些决定中,看到自己过往犹豫不决的影子。作者似乎对人性的幽暗角落有着深刻的洞察力,毫不避讳地揭示了那些隐藏在体面之下的脆弱与自私,但这种揭示并非是批判性的,而更像是一种近乎悲悯的理解。读到最后,我对他们的命运感到唏嘘,那份复杂的情感远远超出了简单的“喜欢”或“不喜欢”的范畴。
评分从语言风格来看,作者采用了大量我从未预料到的句式结构和词汇选择,这使得阅读过程充满了惊喜和挑战。某些段落的句法结构如同精密的机械装置,层层嵌套,信息密度极高,需要集中十二分的注意力去解构;而另一些地方,文字又变得如诗歌般流畅、简洁有力,一击即中,情感的张力瞬间爆发。我尤其欣赏作者在处理哲学性思考时的那种克制,它没有将宏大的主题生硬地抛给读者,而是将其巧妙地编织进日常的对话和细微的动作之中,让读者在不经意间,体会到那些关于时间、存在或记忆的沉重命题。这种高级的、含蓄的表达方式,使得全书的格调非常高远,耐得住反复品味,每次重读都会发现新的韵脚和深意。
评分这本书的封面设计就成功地抓住了我的目光,那种略带磨砂质感的纸张,配上深邃的靛蓝色调和精致的银色烫金字体,简直是艺术品。初拿到手时,我甚至有些舍不得翻开,生怕破坏了那份完美的视觉平衡。装帧工艺看得出是下足了本钱,书脊的平整度和内页的裁切都非常考究,即便是作为案头的装饰品,也绝对能撑得起场面。我通常对书籍的物理形态不太苛求,但这本书给我的感觉是,作者和出版社对内容本身抱有极大的敬意,并试图通过外在的呈现将这份敬意传达给读者。特别是内页的留白处理,恰到好处地引导着读者的视线,使得即便是大段的文字堆砌,也不会产生压迫感。翻阅时,纸张发出的那种轻微的、令人愉悦的摩擦声,也增添了几分沉浸式的阅读体验。这是一种老派的、对阅读仪式感的尊重,在这个电子阅读盛行的时代,能拥有一本如此精美的实体书,实在是一种享受。
评分阅读的旅程开始后,我发现作者的叙事节奏控制得极其精准,像是一位经验丰富的音乐指挥家,知道何时该让旋律激昂,何时又该回归宁静。故事的铺陈并非那种直白线性的推进,而是充满了巧妙的断裂与重组,仿佛是碎片化的记忆在脑海中不断碰撞、融合,直到最终形成一幅清晰的画面。有那么几个瞬间,我感觉自己完全迷失在了文本的迷宫里,被那些若隐若现的暗示和象征牵引着,不得不停下来,反复咀嚼上一句话的含义。这种“主动思考”的需求,恰恰是我在寻找的——它拒绝被动接受,强迫读者去参与到意义的构建过程中。书中对环境的描摹尤其出色,那些具体的感官细节,比如潮湿空气中泥土的味道,或者光线穿过老旧窗户时的那种特有的金黄色,都栩栩如生地定格在了我的脑海中,让我仿佛身临其境,共享着角色们的呼吸与感受。
评分抛开叙事和语言的技艺不谈,这本书最让我震撼的是它所营造出的那种难以名状的“氛围感”。这是一种混合了怀旧、疏离和某种形而上学的不安的独特混合体。它不是传统意义上的悬疑,也不是纯粹的心理描写,而更像是一场发生在意识边缘的梦境。故事发生在哪里,其实并不重要,重要的是它发生在我们内心深处的某个未被命名的角落。书中的一些意象,例如反复出现的某种特定的光影变化,或者某种反复出现的象征物,它们的作用并非推动情节,而是像声纳一样,不断探测着读者的潜意识。读完合上书的那一刻,我感受到了一种微妙的失重感,仿佛从一个极其真实但又完全虚构的世界中被猛地拽回了日常,那种意犹未尽的回味和对书中世界的持续思索,是真正优秀作品的标志。
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