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讀書筆記: “ Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

(2017-01-21 17:09:33) 下一個

“ Purple Hibiscus” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

故事的背景在上世紀90年代正經曆政治騷亂的奈及利亞。 15歲的Kambili文靜害羞,和父母哥哥過著令人羨慕的優渥生活,爸爸是當地的富豪,媽媽溫柔美麗,兄妹兩都上私立學校,品學兼優,表麵上堪稱完美的picture perfect。

Kambili的爸爸出生微寒,卻因天主教神父的幫助得以受教育,留學英國。 回國後開設工廠,作為虔誠(宗教狂熱)的天主教徒資助教會,廣施善事,還辦報紙揭露政府的腐敗,抵觸恐怖,捍衛人權,他是當地的大善人,大英雄。

在外聖人一般的他回家卻是一個十足的暴君。 雖然深愛家人,但他同時又對他們有極其嚴苛的標準,稍不如意就施以家暴,用棍杖打兒子,用沸水燙女兒的腳,把好不容易懷孕的老婆打到流產。。。

在大學教書的姑姑是唯一不怕和爸爸頂嘴的人。 她性格樂觀堅強,鼓勵孩子們獨立自主。 Kambili兄妹好容易有機會去姑姑家跟表姐弟們度假。 在姑姑家的日子雖然清貧,但他們第一次有了思想的自由,第一次嚐到沒有恐懼不用戰戰兢兢的生活。 但其後回到家的日子,因為有了對照,就更難以忍受。 眼看這個家庭步向分崩離析,而圍牆外,奈及利亞整個國家也在經曆著政變、動亂,一步步崩潰。

小說以這個十五歲女孩的眼睛了解複雜的議題:軍人政變,家庭暴力,宗教壓迫,後殖民地對英國文化的認同和衝突,少女的愛情。。。 作者對奈及利亞的描寫很生動,政府的腐敗、學生動亂、以及生活必需品的缺少:沒水沒電沒汽油。 

節奏上,前麵2/3過於拖拉,作者用了太多筆墨描述食物、花朵等等細節,跟主題沒有多少關聯,如果能夠更簡練些,整篇故事會流動得更為順暢吸引人。

這是作者Adichie的處女作小說,當時她才25歲。 也讓我想到"God of Small Things",同樣是以孩子的視角描述後殖民地一個基督教富裕家族的悲劇,文化上的衝突,信仰上的壓抑,家庭成員的愛恨糾葛,令人動容。 一本好小說,推薦。 

節選:

We did that often, asking each other questions whose answers we already knew. Perhaps it was so that we would not ask the other questions, the ones whose answers we did not want to know.

I meant to say I am sorry that Papa broke your figurines, but the words that came out were, ‘I’m sorry your figurines broke, Mama.’

The Reverend Sisters gave us our cards unsealed. I came second in my class. It was written in figures: “2/25.” My form mistress, Sister Clara, had written, “Kambili is intelligent beyond her years, quiet and responsible.” The principal, Mother Lucy, wrote, “A brilliant, obedient student and a daughter to be proud of.” But I knew Papa would not be proud. He had often told Jaja and me that he did not spend so much money on Daughters of the Immaculate Heart and St. Nicholas to have us let other children come first…I wanted to make Papa proud, to do as well as he had done. I needed him to touch the back of my neck and tell me I was fulfilling God’s purpose. I needed him to hug me close and say that to whom much is given, much is also expected. I needed him to smile at me, in that way that lit up his face, that warmed something inside me. But I had come second. I was stained by failure.

There are people, she once wrote, who think that we cannot rule ourselves because the few times we tried, we failed, as if all the others who rule themselves today got it right the first time. It is like telling a crawling baby who tries to walk, and then falls back on his buttocks, to stay there. As if the adults walking past him did not all crawl, once.

As we drove back to Enugu, I laughed loudly,above Fela's stringent singing. I laughed because Nsukka's untarred roads coat cars with dust in the harmattan and with sticky mud in the rainy season. Because the tarred roads spring potholes like surprise presents and the air smells of hills and history and the sunlight scatters the sand and turns it into gold dust. Because Nsukka could free something deep inside your belly that would rise up to your throat and come out as freedom song. As laughter.

She seemed so happy, so at peace, and I wondered how anybody around me could feel that way when liquid fire was raging inside me, when fear was mingling with hope and clutching itself around my ankles.

 

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lepton 回複 悄悄話 回複 '夕陽影裏一歸舟' 的評論 : 旅行、讀書、煮飯都是我的愛好。 開心遇到同好,多多交流喔。
夕陽影裏一歸舟 回複 悄悄話 你也喜歡旅行,對嗎?還有讀書:-)同喜,感謝推薦!
lepton 回複 悄悄話 回複 'Rosaline' 的評論 : 她還有其他作品,應該比這本更成熟。
Rosaline 回複 悄悄話 謝謝介紹。應該找來閱讀
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