A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo: they walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share meals in small cafes and restaurants, and visit galleries to see some of the city's most radical modern art. All the while, they talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes, and objects, about family, distance, and memory. But uncer...
A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo: they walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share meals in small cafes and restaurants, and visit galleries to see some of the city's most radical modern art. All the while, they talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes, and objects, about family, distance, and memory. But uncertainties abound. Who is really speaking here--is it only the daughter? And what is the real reason behind this elliptical, perhaps even spectral journey? At once a careful reckoning and an elegy, Cold Enough for Snow questions whether any of us speak a common language, which dimensions can contain love, and what claim we have to truly know another's inner world.
Selected from more than 1,500 entries, Cold Enough for Snow won the Novel Prize, a new, biennial award offered by New Directions, Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK), and Giramondo (Australia), for any novel written in English that explores and expands the possibilities of the form.
作者简介
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Jessica Au is a writer based in Melbourne, Australia. Cold Enough for Snow will be published by New Directions, Fitzcarraldo Editions, and Giramondo, and is already set to be translated into twelve languages.
原文摘录
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“As we walked, she asked me about my work. I didn't answer at first, and then I said that in many old paintings, one could discover what was called a pentimento, an earlier layer of something that the artist had chosen to paint over. Sometimes, these were as small as an object, or a color that had been changed, but other times, they could be as significant as a whole figure, an animal, or a piece of furniture. I said that in this way too, writing was just like a painting. It was the only way that one could go back and change the past, to make things not as they were, but as we wished they had been, or rather as we saw it. I said, for this reason, it was better for her not to trust anything she read.” (查看原文)
“Then she reached for her bag and took out a small book. She explained she had found it at a store near her home, and that it described the nature of your character based on the date of your birth. (...) I thought some of it was true and some of it was not, but the real truth was how such things allowed someone to talk about you, or what you had done or why you did it, in a way that unraveled your character into distinct traits. It made you seem readable to them, or to yourself, which could feel like a revelation.” (查看原文)
“Maybe it’s good, I said, to stop sometimes and reflect upon the things that have happened, maybe thinking about sadness can actually end up making you happy.”
0 有用 阿芒 2023-03-22 16:00:10 四川
整个旅程包含回忆都不存在什么重要的情节 只是一直描绘那些很难捕捉和具象化的体会 在回忆里再插入回忆 用碎片结合现实的景点编织出真实感 但日本对于作者和我都是访地 又有恰好的疏离
2 有用 零点倒数 2022-09-19 19:29:13 澳大利亚
帮老师看房子那段蛮好的
1 有用 reginaphalange 2022-10-17 17:45:02 德国
Simple yet intimate, I wish the mother’s story was explored more, but I guess that’s how it is when you speak one language and she speaks another
0 有用 Jesuispersonne 2024-01-01 18:46:35 澳大利亚
wish this book can continue to be flowing on and on
0 有用 amiko 2022-12-16 09:43:43 美国
阅读图像般的感受，细节到寺庙的穹顶和火车上的点心口感，第一次意识到原来写作可以如此沉溺。看到作者和妈妈的关系感觉好安心，可惜好几段（哥哥的恋情，爬山的竞赛）的粘腻亲密感都消失得过于突然
0 有用 TOIMATO 2024-01-22 16:34:03 江苏
游记
0 有用 Jesuispersonne 2024-01-01 18:46:35 澳大利亚
wish this book can continue to be flowing on and on
0 有用 Lueur 2023-12-30 22:27:34 美国
“Maybe it’s good, I said, to stop sometimes and reflect upon the things that have happened, maybe thinking about sadness can actually end up making you happy.”
0 有用 Way 2023-10-15 08:33:49 中国香港
关于一对母女在日本汇合一起旅行的故事。文字冷静甚至有点昏暗，似乎不带感情只是事无巨细地陈述。但是讲述的背后，却又透露着母女关系里微妙的克制和距离感。很符合我对母女关系的感受——遥遥万里，一方前进就会有一方退后。小说里也稍微描述了女儿男朋友和他父亲的关系，似乎就没有那么小心翼翼，甚至还有点洒脱。是什么让一些母女关系如此脆弱？
0 有用 普宁困意 2023-09-02 07:43:00 黑龙江
这本书的标签基本精准在我感兴趣的点上，英语文学留学生、亚裔、母女关系、日本旅行、旅行中重新认识彼此，但最后一点实在完成得太差了，如果说好的文字能让人物跃然纸上，作者成功做到把母亲甚至自己（哪怕全程都是以作者本人视角出发）在纸上拍得扁平，语言非常没有力量。作者像一个观察者，而妈妈则是失语的被观察对象，流水账般行为动作下是期待妈妈做出某种回应而落空，作者也就没有再向下推进了。甚至每节开头也是当我们上了... 这本书的标签基本精准在我感兴趣的点上，英语文学留学生、亚裔、母女关系、日本旅行、旅行中重新认识彼此，但最后一点实在完成得太差了，如果说好的文字能让人物跃然纸上，作者成功做到把母亲甚至自己（哪怕全程都是以作者本人视角出发）在纸上拍得扁平，语言非常没有力量。作者像一个观察者，而妈妈则是失语的被观察对象，流水账般行为动作下是期待妈妈做出某种回应而落空，作者也就没有再向下推进了。甚至每节开头也是当我们上了去xx的火车/我们到餐厅吃饭了/这是我们旅途的最后一站，太多愁善感小学生旅行游记了，能选择出版这本的出版社和它获得的奖项会被我永久拉黑。 (展开)