How To Be Both by Ali Smith
Friday, May 12, 2017
BY FARHIRA FARUDIN
I am currently reading this book written by Ali Smith. The book is divided into two parts; the first part is about a painter from the 14th century and the second part is about the life of a person who lives in the 60s. I bought this book for only RM 17.90 at Book Xcess. So far I am enjoying this book perhaps because of Ali Smith's unique writing style and also the peculiar settings for both of the main characters. Here I will share some of my favourite parts from the book:
"Cause I know this is not hell cause I am intrigued not hopeless and cause I am surely put here for some good use albeit mysterious: in hell there is no mystery cause in mystery there is always hope." (page 41)
"So always risk your skin, she said, and never fear losing it, cause it always does some good one way or another when the powers that be deign to take it off us." (page 64)
"Girl I remember it, the way the game of love makes the rest of the world disappear. Best not to watch it through such a small window, though. Best on the whole not to watch it at all: love is best felt: the acts of love are hard and disillusioning to view like this unless done by the greatest master picturemakers: otherwise the seeing of them being done and enjoyed by figuration of other people will always lock you outside them unless your pleasure comes from taking solo pleasure or pleasure art one remove, in which case, yes, that's your pleasure." (page 68)
"Cause nobody knows us: except our mothers, and they hardly do and also tend disappointingly to die before they ought. Or our fathers, whose failings while they're alive and absences after they're dead, infuriate. Or our siblings, who want us dead too cause what they know about us is that somehow we got away with not having to carry the bricks and stones like they did all those years. Cause nobody's the slightest idea who we are, not who we were, not even we ourselves." (page 96)
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