具体描述
With this new work, master storyteller James
Carroll has written his most ambitious novel to
date: Family Trade is as compelling a narrative as
his bestselling Morta/Fr/ends and as rich in moral
vision as his critically acclaimed Fault L/nes. A grip-
ping story of international intrigue, Family Trade is
also a profound exploration of the morality of the
hidden conflict between East and West. Told from
the perspective ofJake McKay, son and nephew of
two of the men who plan and conduct this "quiet
war; James Carroll s novel focuses on the human
costs of choices that intelligence officers must make.
Washington, D.C., 1960: Against a background
of the election of a new President and the crises
caused by Berlin, the U-2 and notorious defections,
Jake McKay begins a promising career as a student
at Georgetown University. At an art gallery he is
smitten by the sight of a beautiful young girl, but
suddenly his youthful preoccupations are shattered
as he stumbles on a first sign of his father s great
secret. The discovery implies adultery, deceit, and
betrayal, and it devastates him. Seeking the truth
he turns to his uncle, only to suffer an even more
devastating blow, one that destroys his family.
London, Berlin, 1945: The orders come from
number 10 Downing Street. Group Captain Giles
Patterson, Jake s uncle, and Colonel John McKay,
his father, are to undertake the greatest challenge
of their exemplary wartime careers in British and
American military intelligence: to parachute into
Berlin and, with the aid of the local Communist
underground, to cut off Hitler s planned escape
from the city. Yet this=extraordinary mission is
merely a cover for their real assignment-- to
destroy all documents and evidence of Nazi work
on the atomic bomb before they can fall into Rus-
sian hands. In the chaotic and violent moments
between the Nazis defeat and the Red Army s vic-
tory, these two men discover one of the great secrets
of the coming Cold War, and a great secret about their persona/friendship. Now they must find a way
of living with both forever.
Boston, Berlin, 1980: Jake McKay is an English
professor whose complacent and comfortable life
cannot protect him from a keen sense of failed
expectations. He is visited by a beautiful German
woman, who was the young girl from the art gallery
years before and whose image in Jake s mind has
always been tied to the unanswered questions of his
youth. These mysteries still haunt him, and so he
accompanies her on a secret mission to Berlin.
There, amid the painful memories of the last war
and the dramatic symbols of the present quiet one
Jake learns the shocking truth, and it is not at all
what he expects. Suddenly he discovers that he is at
the center of the secret, and for one extraordinary
moment he must ply the family trade at last.
If Family Trade has a special depth and urgency,
it is because it comes out of the imagination of a
gifted novelist who is himself the son of an Amer-
ican intelligence official. A fast-paced story of
espionage at the highest level, it is also a deeply felt
examination of the shattering consequences that
men and women suffer when their most crucial duty
involves deceit and their loyalty requires betrayal.
]ames Carroll is the author of Madonna Red,
Mortal Friends, and Fault Lines. He and his wife,
the author Alexandra Marshall, live in Boston with
their daughter, Elizabeth.
作者简介
目录信息
读后感
评分
评分
评分
评分
用户评价
从整体的阅读体验来看，这本书具有极强的“后劲”。它不是那种读完后立刻合上书本，然后转身就忘的快餐式读物。相反，它像是一滴墨水滴入清水，需要时间才能完全扩散开来，并在你的思维深处留下持久的晕染效果。在接下来的几天里，我发现自己会不自觉地在日常生活中寻找书中的影子——路边的一棵老树、邻居的一次匆匆会面，都会触发我对书中某个场景或哲思的回忆。这本书成功地将虚构的故事提升到了对普遍人类境遇的探讨层面。它没有给出标准答案，反而提出了更多需要我们自己去消化的疑问，关于身份、关于联结、关于我们如何构造和维护我们自己的“世界”。这种持续性的思考激发，是衡量一部优秀作品的重要标准。它真正做到了“进入”读者的内心，并悄悄地重塑了一些既有的认知框架。所以，我强烈推荐给那些不满足于被动接受故事，而是希望与文本进行深度对话的读者，这本书绝对值得你投入时间和心力去细细品味和反复咀嚼。
评分这本书在处理‘冲突’与‘和解’的主题上，展现了一种令人耳目一新的成熟与克制。它没有采用戏剧化的、爆发性的矛盾冲突作为推动力，相反，所有的紧张感都内化于人物的日常互动之中，那是一种存在于空气中、未被言明的张力。你会看到，即便是最亲密的两个人之间，也存在着一道无法逾越的鸿沟，而那道鸿沟有时比任何激烈的争吵都更具毁灭性。作者对“沉默的重量”的描绘尤为精湛，那些没有说出口的话，那些被刻意回避的眼神，它们所蕴含的信息量，远远超过了冗长的对白。而‘和解’也并非是那种传统意义上的冰释前嫌，而更像是一种相互接纳了彼此不完美状态的疲惫共存。它揭示了一个深刻的现实：有些裂痕是无法完全修复的，我们能做的，是学习如何优雅地生活在这些裂痕周围。这种对人性复杂性的深刻洞察，避免了说教的倾向，而是提供了一种近乎残酷的真实感。它让人意识到，真正的成长，往往不是战胜了外部的敌人，而是学会了与自己内心那些永恒的矛盾和平共处。
评分这本书的结构设计堪称精巧，如同一个多面体的雕塑，从不同的角度切入，都能看到新的光泽和纹理。我欣赏作者摒弃了传统线性叙事的手法，而是采用了一种碎片化、交织并进的方式来构建故事的骨架。时间线索在书中自由穿梭，过去、现在乃至是模糊的未来预兆，都被巧妙地缝合在一起，形成了一张巨大而又细腻的情感之网。这种叙事方式极大地考验了读者的耐心和理解力，但一旦你跟上了作者的节奏，那种豁然开朗的体验是无与伦比的。每一次章节的转换，都像是在推动一个齿轮，将原本分散的人物关系和事件节点，慢慢咬合起来，最终揭示出一个宏大而又令人唏嘘的全景图。尤其是作者在处理‘记忆’这个主题时，那种不确定性、主观性和易逝性，都被拿捏得恰到好处，让你不禁思考，我们所认定的“真实”，究竟有多少是经过了时间滤镜的美化或扭曲。这种对叙事本体的探索，使得这本书的层次远超一般的小说范畴，更像是一部关于“存在”的哲学寓言。读罢合卷，我感觉自己像是在一个错综复杂的迷宫中穿行了一遭，最终不仅找到了出口，还领悟了迷宫本身的建造原理。
评分这本书的氛围营造简直是大师级的。从翻开扉页的那一刻起，我就被一股浓郁的怀旧气息所笼罩。作者对细节的捕捉能力令人叹为观止，每一个场景的描绘都栩栩如生，仿佛我能亲身感受到那些古老木地板的吱呀声，闻到壁炉里燃烧的松木的独特香气。叙事节奏把握得恰到好处，并非那种快节奏的跌宕起伏，而更像是一首缓缓流淌的田园牧歌，让你沉浸其中，细细品味那些被时光打磨过的温情与遗憾。人物的内心世界刻画得尤为深刻，那些沉默寡言的长辈，他们眼中藏着的故事比任何宏大的史诗都要动人。我特别喜欢作者处理那些日常琐事的方式，即便是最平凡的家庭聚餐，也能被赋予一种近乎神圣的仪式感。那种对逝去时光的追忆，不是简单的伤感，而是一种对生命纹理的深刻理解和接纳。它让我开始重新审视自己的家庭相册，那些模糊的照片背后，似乎都隐藏着与书中人物相似的、复杂而又真实的情感纠葛。这本书的文字本身就具有一种疗愈的力量，读完后，心头萦绕的不是空虚，而是一种被温柔安抚后的平静与释然。它让我们明白，真正的宝藏，往往就藏在我们习以为常的生活细节之中，只是我们常常因为忙碌而忽略了去珍惜。
评分我必须指出，这本书的语言风格是极其大胆且充满实验性的。它完全打破了我对当代文学的固有期待。作者似乎对手头的词汇拥有近乎暴力的掌控欲，常用一些看似不协调的词语进行并置，却能产生一种奇异的张力和美感。那种句法上的破碎感和跳跃性，初读时可能会让人感到吃力，仿佛在阅读一篇高密度的诗歌散文集，而不是传统小说。但随着阅读的深入，你会发现这种“不和谐”正是作者刻意营造的氛围，它精准地映射了书中角色们内心世界的疏离与挣扎。书中大量运用了拟人化和通感的手法，让抽象的情感变得可以触摸、可以听见，甚至可以品尝出味道。例如，描述‘失落感’时，作者可能会用到‘潮湿的青铜’或‘被遗忘的钢琴音色’这类意象，极大地拓宽了读者的感知边界。这种写作策略，使得每一次阅读都更像是一次主动的“解码”过程，需要调动全部的感官和智力去参与到意义的建构中。它挑战了语言的常规边界，迫使我们重新审视词语组合的可能性，对于那些追求纯粹文字美学和语言创新的人来说，这无疑是一份极其丰盛的盛宴。
评分 评分 评分 评分 评分相关图书
本站所有内容均为互联网搜索引擎提供的公开搜索信息，本站不存储任何数据与内容，任何内容与数据均与本站无关，如有需要请联系相关搜索引擎包括但不限于百度，google,bing,sogou 等
© 2026 book.quotespace.org All Rights Reserved. 小美书屋 版权所有