OPEN A BOOK,OPEN THE WORLD
作者：Rijneveld, Marieke Lucas/ Hutchison, Michele(tr.)
出版社：Faber & Faber
年份：2020
ISBN：9780571349371
書號：20304898
裝訂：平裝
定價：$480
【脫不下的，是無法言喻的傷】
The Discomfort of Evening (原文 De avond is ongemak)
十歲的賈絲和家人生活在一處農場，爸爸每天為了牛隻操煩，媽媽總是告誡孩子們要遵守教義。大哥馬諦斯即將成年，並獲准穿越結冰的湖，前往「彼岸」。賈絲年紀太小，只能眼睜睜看著哥哥穿上冰鞋，離開村莊，前往她嚮往的禁地。滿心忌妒的賈絲，在睡前暗暗禱告，希望上帝能讓寵物兔子活得越久越好，即便要用馬諦斯去換。而當聖誕夜悄然而至，彷彿一場玩笑，賈絲的聖誕願望成真，馬諦斯一去不復返…
過節氣氛瞬間隨著凜烈的空氣凝結，爸爸沉默，媽媽悲泣，奧貝憤怒，哈娜太小，不知道發生了什麼。聖誕樹被收起，大餐被分送。賈絲流不出淚，只是在想，上帝為何唯獨應允這個願望。從那天起，賈絲再也沒脫下過身上那件外套。同學譏笑、老師同情、父母謾罵，都無法讓賈絲脫下外套，厚重的布料彷彿是她的皮膚，保護著脆弱的內臟。然而，最終在媽媽用跳樓威脅下，賈絲不得不服從，也在外套剝離身上的瞬間，她才想到，自己有多想念馬諦斯，眼淚也奪眶而出。
作者以荷蘭傳統農家為背景，透過一個十歲女孩純真的視角，敘述一家人面對死亡與失去的掙扎與悲痛。信仰作為這個家庭的核心，是為心靈寄託，卻更大一部分牽制著每個人，撫平傷痛，卻也加深傷痛。
I thought about being too small for so much, but that no one told you when you were big enough ... and I asked God if he please couldn't take my brother Matthies instead of my rabbit. 'Amen.'
Jas lives with her devout farming family in the rural Netherlands. One winter's day, her older brother joins an ice skating trip; resentful at being left alone, she makes a perverse plea to God; he never returns. As grief overwhelms the farm, Jas succumbs to a vortex of increasingly disturbing fantasies, watching her family disintegrate into a darkness that threatens to derail them all.
A bestselling sensation in the Netherlands by a prize-winning young poet, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld's debut novel lays everything bare. It is a world of language unlike any other, which Michele Hutchison's striking translation captures in all its wild, violent beauty. Studded with unforgettable images - visceral, raw, surreal - The Discomfort of the Evening is a radical reading experience that will leave you changed forever.
