"The pub was tucked away on a junction of centuries-old back streets — Old Queen Street, Cockpit Steps — amid a motley collection of quaint, sedate buildings that stood at oblique angles to each other."
"There was no question of anybody challenging his right to sole occupancy of a table made for four. Strike was large enough, and surly enough in appearance to make even this group of civil servants doubt their ability to negotiate a compromise."
"Like a tongue probing a pair of ulcers, Strike’s thoughts kept returning fruitlessly to the Knight brothers: Jimmy, charismatic, articulate, thuggishly good-looking, a chancer and a hothead, and Billy, haunted, filthy, unquestionably ill, bedeviled by a memory no less dreadful for the fact that it m"
"Strike had a sudden feeling that he was being watched. Ossie, the bolder of Nick and Ilsa’s kittens, was sitting at the kitchen window, beside the kitchen taps, staring through the window with eyes of pale jade. His gaze felt judgmental. (36)"
"Strike turned off the light, closed his eyes and sank, once more, into uneasy dreams of the empty house where squares of unfaded wallpaper bore witness to the removal of everything of value, but this time he walked alone, with the strange sensation that hidden eyes were watching. (52)"
"‘Pringle. That’s what they call the eldest grandson. Fizzy’s got three children,’ Robin explained, ‘Izzy was always banging on about them: Pringle, Flopsy and Pong.’ ‘Jesus Christ,’ muttered Strike. ‘It’s like interviewing the Teletubbies.’ (41)"
"The idea that this incident should have been reported to either police or social work seemed not to have occurred to Izzy, or indeed her father. It was as though Jack o’Kent and his son were wild creatures in the wood, behaving, regrettably, as such animals naturally behaved. (42)"
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罗姨渐入佳境,要接阿婆衣钵的节奏
It took me 2 months to finish reading this book. It is a long story with very complicated plot. The language is good as usual, but the mystery itself is not as gripping as I’d expected it to be.
越写越长…开局一憨人,后边全靠聊,现场证据几乎为零,全靠访谈和推测人物关系,具体方法在于窃听、激怒和讨好客户,以便得到对办客户的案子有利的消息——权贵阶级真是矫情。罗宾shithole婚姻让我莫名共情,她于彻底疲惫失意之时想起Blanc de Blanc是全书最佳段落,超越了推理作品,罗琳突围。同是糟糕童年,有人成为光明,有人堕入黑暗,斯特莱克可没有什么制度化的同情,命运理所当然假定被握在人自己手中。中译本必须把put horse翻成“放马”,不然我是不答应的!每本书引文都为我种草,这次打算去读罗斯莫庄
piebald, twin swans, and blanc de blanc — 这些小心思和小伏笔真是so exquisitely-executed, just like the murder. 那种近乎偏执的繁复环境描写(这才是真的可以让人按图索骥在伦敦逛一个月的书吧!)和复古人物刻画(不管多minor的角色都要认真写上一页)里无与伦比的实感真的可以让人原谅(甚至爱上)谋杀发生前的三百页,而后三百页就太太好看了。也依旧没忘记作为系列核心的social commentary,把左右两头从上到下都骂了一通,Izzy的那种“善良的虚伪”塑造得也太好了。各种隐秘的心理活动绝对满分:采访是一面,另一面robin和cormoran的互动就读得满脸姨母笑哈哈哈,再不发生点啥😇立马下单book 5!