好书,美文

乱看

2015-12-15
       此书也极好,其实书本不厚,前半本中文译本,后半本原版。送芒果色的书签,和一个芒果色的小记事本。值得一提的是,里面插图极好,版画风格,黑线条,套明亮的芒果色。
值得一买的。
       很好看,墨西哥裔孩子们在底层街区的童年生活。
       大家都表扬这段:
       But my mother’s hair, my mother’s hair, like little rosettes, like little candy circles all curly and pretty because she pinned it in pincurls all day, sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you, holding you and you feel safe, is the warm smell of bread before you bake it, is the smell when she makes room for you on her side of the bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep near her, the rain outside falling and Papa snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama’s hair that smells like bread. 
       毫无疑问这段是如此温暖芬芳让人眷恋。回旋往复的叠唱句式柔肠百转。唯一的问题是,想不出尚未烘烤的面包暖香到底是什么样子的。
       看了小半被打动的还有两处:
       一处是,前面讲了她家的房子如何简陋,与梦想相差甚远。然而孩子们在邻居家的大树上疯玩的时候,回首沿街道看下去,远处自家小小的房子,就像个胖猫咪那样埋着两个前爪乖乖地蹲在那里。(Down at the base of the tree, the dog with two names barks into the empty air, and there at the end of the block, looking small still, our house with its feet tucked under like a cat.)这个景象在原文里是那么简洁生动,寥寥几个字就清晰可见,喜欢得不得了。不知为何在译文里就完全没感觉,虽然也是译了说房子像猫咪,而且译得也挺好的。
      另一处是说邻居家的表哥开了辆卡迪拉克回来,孩子们兴高采烈一拥而上坐上兜风,兜啊兜啊兜啊兜,七八圈之后,警车呼啸着追了过来,表哥把小孩赶了下去逃跑,然而街道太窄转弯不利抓了个正着,铐上手铐押走的时候,一排小萝卜头站在街边老老实实地向远处的表哥挥手道别。They put handcuffs on him and put him in the backseat of the cop car, and we all waved as they drove away. 都能清清楚楚的看到那些孩子憨憨的样子和波澜不惊的亲近之情。
       总之很好看。书送到的时候我同事翻,说奇怪啊,怎么里面字居然都认得,很少原版书是这样,用极简单的字句。大概因为是孩子的口吻吧。
       作者在出中文版的时候说,虽然你不住在芒果街,但也许在中国也有类似的这样一条街,它混乱底层丑陋平凡甚至不安全,但你在里面度过了整个温暖安全的童年。这让我想起了自己埋没在居民区巷陌里面的小学,门口临着个大垃圾箱,校园里种着几棵笔直的水杉,微型煤渣操场边种了一溜紫色的鸢尾,高年级的学生负责课余打扫全校唯一的厕所,同学忙着和街头混混挥着皮带打架,剩下的则好奇地打听怎么个打法,有一年还有同学集体出走,要一路走到苏州,结果最后一个个饿得不行找警察把自己给送了回来,回来后父母们个个好吃好喝对待一句都不敢多说。但这真是个适意的愉快的友善的非常好的小学。
       继续读下去,在孩子童稚的背景下大人们艰难的生活清晰准确,那些孩子成长时没有出路的挣扎,这些描绘都直指人心。
       比如远在故乡的爷爷去世时父亲痛哭起来:My papa, his thick hands and thick shoes, who wakes up tired in the dark, who combs his hair with water, drinks his coffee, and is gone before we wake, today is sitting on my bed.
       And I think if my own Papa died what would I do. I hold my Papa in my arms. I hold and hold and hold him.
       让人心疼的'I hold and hold and hold him'.比如曾经青春美丽的Ruthie,曾经嫁了好人家住进远方漂亮房子里的Ruthie,终于又住回芒果街,but she says she's just visiting and next weekend her husband's going to take her home. But weekends come and go and Ruthie stays. 曾经写儿童故事的Ruthie,当‘我’向她背诵爱丽丝漫游奇境记里面童谣的时候,她眼眶湿了。Ruthie looked at the sky and her eyes got watery at times. Finally I came to the last lines...She took a long time looking at me before she opened her mouth, and then she said, You have the most beautiful teeth I have ever seen, and went inside.
       Ruthie抬眼看向天空的时候,她想到了什么,那长久沉默和最终吐出的一句看似不相关的评语,字与字的空隙里充满了辛酸。这并不是一本孩子的书,它让大人们黯然神伤。
       再或者是不断挣扎中成长的Sally,这样的挣扎对‘我’感同深受,所以Sally这一章是完全直白的倾诉,感情如此强烈,仿佛那是‘我’自己的内心呐喊:Sally, do you wish your feet would one day keep walking and take you far away from Mango Street, far away and maybe your feet would stop in front of a house, a nice one with flowers and big windows and steps for you to climb up two by two upstairs to where a room is waiting for you... There'd be no nosy neighbors watching, no motocycles and cars, no sheets and towels and laundry. Only trees and more trees and plenty of blue sky. And you could laugh, Sally. You could go to sleep and wake up and never have to think who likes and doesn't like you. You could close your eyes and you wouldn't worry what people said because you never belonged here anyway and nobody could make you sad and nobody would think you're strange because you like to dream and dream. And no one could yell at you if they saw you out in the dark leaning against a car, leaning against somebody without someone thinking you are bad, without somebody saying it is wrong, without the whole world waiting for you to make a mistake when all you wanted, all you wanted, Sally, was to love and to love and to love and to love, and no one could call that crazy.
      这,不是一本孩子的书。
 标签:外国文学  成长  小说  美国  文学  
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