書林選書 / “My Absolute Darling”, Gabriel Tallent 【非愛之愛,在文明與蠻荒的邊境】 “傑作”這個字已經被太多廣告宣傳弄得相當廉價,但這本書名符其實是一本傑作」 這是史蒂芬 ‧ 金對這本引發廣大討論的小說所作的評論,而且這還只是Gabriel Tallent的第一本作品。 “My Absolute Darling”描寫單親少女「小龜」和她患有精神疾病的父親馬丁同住於北加州荒涼的海岸,足不出戶的馬丁篤信世界末日終將來到,所以他教導小龜所有求生技巧、用槍方式、如何追捕獵物和宰殺。在與世隔絕的蠻荒,小龜的世界就是父親,是她的全部,她對父親的愛沒有懷疑,所以她遵從馬丁的指導,忍受訓練時的辛苦,習慣野外求生的困頓,以及那些「夜晚」。 小龜愛她的父親,當馬丁碰她的時候肌膚都像燒起來般滾燙,在杳無人煙的荒地,失去文明的管束與教化,這種感情在小龜的心中被稱作「愛」,但在馬丁走進她房間的深夜裡,卻混雜著羞恥、疑惑與恐懼,這是愛,也不是愛。當小龜發現自己可以過著不同的生活,擁有真正的朋友時,她才驚覺這份根深蒂固的傷痛是如此長久,連自己的心都能欺騙。 作者 Gabriel Tallent 不隱諱描寫讀者抗拒的議題,因為這就是性侵,你不能不正視它,但這之中的“愛”也是真的。Gabriel寫出人心既複雜又矛盾的情結和創傷,巧妙的情節安排讓讀者必須在字裡行間尋找蛛絲馬跡,然後驚覺其中隱藏的秘密。對比「文明」世界裡的正常生活,失去道德束縛的小龜在普通人眼裡看來是典型的家庭悲劇,對她來說卻是混雜愛與各種複雜情感的唯一歸宿,小龜對父親卑微又充滿恥辱的愛是真的,但她的痛苦與掙扎也是真的。 有讀者認為這本書試圖合理化家內性侵,並認為其中刻畫的場面不恰當,但切記:小說不需要政治正確才能被稱為傑作,好的作品不怕引發爭議,更不怕揭開大家避之不談的敏感話題,因為若說作品反映真實,那真實必定比小說內容還要來得恐怖曲折百倍。 A brilliant and immersive, all-consuming read about one fourteen-year-old girl's heart-stopping fight for her own soul. Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At fourteen, she roams the woods along the northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous: Turtle has grown up isolated since the death of her mother, in the thrall of her tortured and charismatic father, Martin. Her social existence is confined to the middle school (where she fends off the interest of anyone, student or teacher, who might penetrate her shell) and to her life with her father. Then Turtle meets Jacob, a high-school boy who tells jokes, lives in a big clean house, and looks at Turtle as if she is the sunrise. And for the first time, the larger world begins to come into focus: her life with Martin is neither safe nor sustainable. Motivated by her first experience with real friendship and a teenage crush, Turtle starts to imagine escape, using the very survival skills her father devoted himself to teaching her. What follows is a harrowing story of bravery and redemption. With Turtle's escalating acts of physical and emotional courage, the reader watches, heart in throat, as this teenage girl struggles to become her own hero—and in the process, becomes ours as well. Shot through with striking language in a fierce natural setting, My Absolute Darling is an urgently told, profoundly moving read that marks the debut of an extraordinary new writer. ISBN-10: 0735211183 ISBN-13: 9780735211186