きょうもデスクに本書と仕事の資料を並べておき、パソコンを打ちくたびれたころで、やおら本に取りかかるという一日だった。そんな読み方では理解しにくい小説もあるが、本書の場合、どこを読んでも金太郎飴。基本的に同じ調子なので、すっとまた物語の世界に入って行ける。
どのエピソードも、他愛もないといえば他愛もないものばかりだが、クスッと笑える話が多く、仕事の息抜きにはもってこいである。
今回は娘の Marina のほうから引用しておこう。彼女はボーイフレンド Guy Viney の屋敷に招かれ、ディナーをたらふくごちそうになったあと一泊。夜中に用を足すことになる。
Since childhood she has known never to alert others to one's night-time wee, let alone wake them, by using the chain. Never: not at home and certainly not anywhere else. One simply disguises it with extra paper, washes one's hands silently, and scarpers.
Here, now, this was not an option. The house lay in perfect silence. A passing Viney would hear her; thanks to the carpeted hallway she might not even hear them. She closed her eyes. A pipe gurgled; someone might think it was her.
Then she realized that it was.
Her stomach gave another gurgle, then a loud growl. She sat back sharply, whacking her elbow extraordinarily hard against a metal pipe which protruded from the wall. It was too dark to see but there must be blood; now she felt sick too. And meanwhile the noise in her stomach began again, more loudly than ever and nothing, not even prayer, or leaning forward to hold her ankles, could squash it into silence. The sweat smell grew stronger. Could she find somewhere to go, a downstairs bathroom, the woods?
It was too late. Her need was pressing. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gave in to her fate. (pp.146-147)
というわけで大いに楽しい。が、文学性を重んじるブッカー賞にふさわしい作品かどうかは……いや、それはたぶん「文学」のとらえ方次第でしょうな。
