О книге Elizabeth Gilbert "The Signature of all things" - Происхождение всех вещей: цитаты и обзор

[avatarakali]

Про прогресс "Трансформация происходит под влиянием мотивации, вызванной отчаянным усилием или экстренной ситуацией "
(c) Alma Whittaker, героиня романа "Происхождение всех вещей"

Наконец-то я добралась до окончания книжки "Происхождение всех вещей" The Signature of All Things

• Первое впечатление было Первое впечатление было вот тут:
  
  "на 2 часа я погрузилась в детство! Я чувствовала себя 13-ти-летним подростком в мире фантазий, летящем на велосипеде и, одновременно, витающей в мире Жюля Верна, первооткрывателей, и книг о первопроходцах"
  
  "Книга сама написана очень утонченным, красивым, искусно сплетенным языком. Это - лучшее 19го века, это - decency, это - стиль и качество; это - легкий юмор и увлекательный рассказ; это уровень литературного мастерства сравнимый с классиками: без грубости и топорности, без вульгарности современной литературы.
  The Signature of All Things - это та самая "чистая информация", не замутненная дегтем современной жажды привлечь читателя грубыми методами. "
  
• Чуть поже впечатления уже были менее воссторженными
  "приятная вещица, почти Джен Эйр, но с современным взглядом на то, каким мог бы быть эпизод из жизни ботаников 19го века =) Немного жаль времени на прочтение уже, хотя и очень радует чистота языка и сюжета, действительно милое произведение."
  
  Теперь уже, после прочтения общее впечатление...
  
  Знаете, есть такие фильмы, когда картинка красивая, идея была хорошая, но сюжет - скучнейший? Так получилось и с "The Signature of all things" - я добралась до конца просто чтобы уж составить полное впечатление об этой истории и не бросать недочитанное. Книга действительно прекрасно сделана, красиво составлена, красиво представлена, великолепное изложение идеи и красочные описания мира путешествий в 19м веке. Главная героиня живет в довольстве и счастьи, изучает себе ботанику и мхи Филадельфии, влюбляется, разочаровывается, и внезапно задается вопросом "А зачем это всё?" и отвечает на него своим способом, по-своему осмысливая концепцию эволюции. Экшна мало, но красивостей много =) Наверное, когда-нибудь Голливуд сделает из этого красивый фильм.
  
  Я выписала для себя несколько цитат, тем не менее, которыми хотела бы поделиться, не раскрывая сюжета книги для тех, кто еще собирается прочитать
  
  
  
  Тортик, созданный для Элизабет Гилберт ко дню выхода книги
  
  
  
• Про умение рассуждать и учиться A parent is inexcusable who does not personally teach her child to think. - научить учиться - это главное, чему меня научили в физ-мат-лицее и универе
  
• Про смерть Before she even properly understood what death was, he was forbidding her to fear that, as well. “People die every day,” he told her. “But there are eight thousand chances against its being you.”
  - прекрасное изложение того, почему не надо бояться смерти =)
  
• Про критичность взгляда на этот мир “Forgive us, sir, but in this household we are never permitted to rest upon the assumption that any fact is well known enough to evade the necessity of accurate documentation.”
  - я запишу эту цитату и буду ее девелоперам на дефекты копипастить =)
  
• Про трудолюбие Alma saw no choice but to clean out this Augean stable, one piece of paper at a time.
  - Story of my life =)
  
• She remembered her mother’s having warned her, years ago, “Never put away your labors while the sun is high, Alma, with the hopes of finding more hours to work tomorrow- for you shall never have any more extra time tomorrow than you had today, and once you have fallen behindhand in your responsibilities , you will never catch up.”
  - о! Мой профессор в универе дал нам, выпускникам, единственный совет. И это был именно этот совет!
  
• Про сожаления In all of our lives, there are days that we wish we could see expunged from the record of our very existence. Perhaps we long for that erasure because a particular day brought us such splintering sorrow that we can scarcely bear to think of it ever again. Or we might wish to blot out an episode forever because we behaved so poorly on that day-we were mortifyingly selfish, or foolish to an extraordinary degree. Or perhaps we injured another person and wish to disremember our guilt. Tragically, there are some days in a lifetime when all three of those things happen at once- when we are heartbroken and foolish and unforgivably injurious to others, all at the same time.
  
• Про страдание But someday you will understand that nobody passes through this world without suffering- no matter what you may think of them and their supposed good fortune.” “What are we to do, then, with our suffering?” Alma asked. This was not a question Alma would ever have posed to a minister, or a philosopher , or a poet, but she was curious- desperate, even- to hear an answer from Hanneke de Groot. “Well, child, you may do whatever you like with your suffering,” Hanneke said mildly. “It belongs to you. But I shall tell you what I do with mine . I grasp it by the small hairs, I cast it to the ground, and I grind it under the heel of my boot. I suggest you learn to do the same.”
  
  Про мхи
• Mosses were typically defined by what they lacked, not by what they were, and, indeed , they lacked much. Mosses bore no fruit. Mosses had no roots. Mosses could grow no more than a few inches tall, for they contained no internal cellular skeleton with which to support themselves. Mosses could not transport water within their bodies. Mosses did not even engage in sex. (Or at least they did not engage in sex in any obvious manner, unlike lilies or apple blossoms- or any other flower, in fact- with their overt displays of male and female organs.) Mosses kept their propagation a mystery to the naked human eye. For that reason, they were also known by the evocative name Cryptogamae-“ hidden marriage.” In every way mosses could seem plain, dull, modest , even primitive. The simplest weed sprouting from the humblest city sidewalk appeared infinitely more sophisticated by comparison. But here is what few people understood, and what Alma came to learn: Moss is inconceivably strong. Moss eats stone; scarcely anything, in return , eats moss. Moss dines upon boulders, slowly but devastatingly, in a meal that lasts for centuries. Given enough time, a colony of moss can turn a cliff into gravel, and turn that gravel into topsoil. Under shelves of exposed limestone, moss colonies create dripping, living sponges that hold on tight and drink calciferous water straight from the stone. Over time, this mix of moss and mineral will itself turn into travertine marble.
  
• Про работу “Do you find dignity in your labors?” he asked. “I do,” Alma said, after considering the question for the moment. “Though sometimes I wonder why. The majority of the world- especially the suffering poor-would be happy, I think, never to work again. So why do I labor so diligently at a subject about which so few people care? Why am I not content simply to admire mosses, or even draw them, if their designs please me so much? Why must I pick at their secrets, and beg them for answers about the nature of life itself? I am fortunate enough to come from a family of means, as you can see, so there is no necessity for me to work at all in my life. Why am I not happy, then, to idle about, letting my mind grow as loosely as this grass?” “Because you are interested in creation,” Ambrose Pike replied simply, “and all its wonderful arrangements.”
  
• Про пейсеров -бегунов he was a rauti. Do you know about the rauti? The Reverend Welles has tried over the years to enlist my help in translating this word, but it’s difficult. My good father uses the word ‘haranguer,’ but that does not convey the dignity of the position. ‘Historian’ comes close, but it is not quite accurate, either. The task of the rauti is to run alongside men as they charge into battle, and to keep up their courage by reminding them of who they are. The rauti sings out the bloodlines and the lineage of each man, reminding the warriors of the glory of their family history. He ensures that they do not forget the heroism of their forefathers. The rauti knows the lineage of every man on this island, all the way back to the gods, and he chants out their courage for them. One could say it is a kind of sermon, but a violent one.”
  
• Про выживание and this was the most important realization of all: she knew that the world was plainly divided into those who fought an unrelenting battle to live, and those who surrendered and died. This was a simple fact. This fact was not merely true about the lives of human beings; it was also true of every living entity on the planet, from the largest creation down to the humblest. It was even true of mosses. This fact was the very mechanism of nature -the driving force behind all existence, behind all transmutation, behind all variation- and it was the explanation for the entire world.
  
• Про выход из воды после триатлона (на самом деле там эпизод был в книге соответствующий ) If anyone on the beach was either cheering for her or against her, she could not possibly have noticed. She came striding out of the sea like she was born from it.
  
  Но главная героиня - ботаник 19го века, во всех смыслах этого слова, настолько мне не близка и не интересна как персонаж, что мне теперь очень хочется найти книгу о женщине, о которой мне было бы приятно читать, с которой хотелось бы взять пример!
  Советы хороших, качественно и деликатно написанных красивых, мудрых книг - принимаются!
  
  (А пока у меня на очереди - "Месяц в небе" karial еще недочитан =) )