I've just reached page 119 in Donna Leon's novel The Jewels of Paradise and I'm hooked. But it was hard work getting here. Well, no, not hard work; perhaps that's too harsh. Let's say it was uphill. But now I know why I kept coming. Those few pages, the ones I have just finished reading, from the bottom of page 117 to the end of Chapter 13 on page 124, have turned the whole story round.
They are a delight.
It is the account of a conversation in a restaurant; this is Venice, of course. It is a conversation between two people, one man and one woman. I am not going to tell you any more. You will have to read the other 117 pages first. You owe it to yourself.
In these pages, the atmosphere changes and the writing flows. Two minds meet, explore one another and they find something that might be the beginnings of joy. It is a magical moment, pure alchemy, and it is for moments like these that I read books.
The rest of the book might be rubbish but I doubt it. Donna Leon is too good a writer to lose what she has gained. I'll let you know.
It is interesting, though. I don't as a rule read at lunchtime. I read at bedtime. But somehow today I went and fetched the book to read with my after lunch cup of tea (It is green tea today.) There must have been something, last night, as I closed the book and turned off the light, that alerted me to what was about to happen. Otherwise, why was I so keen to go and get the book today?
These are the mysteries of the mind, and of writing, and reading.
Ends
No comments:
Post a Comment