Another lovely gift from my friend Jim (thanks). Many years ago I read John Berger’s [b:Ways of Seeing|2784|Ways of Seeing|John Berger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1464018308l/2784._SY75_.jpg|2507145]. It was a revelation to me that he was also a fine novelist. I was immediately, enthralled at this story’s lyrical trajectory, as well as by its insightful passages.

Certain men are born hosts and they find it difficult to be either guests or spectators. Such men often lead rather solitary lives – gangsters, deep-sea fishermen, cattle dealers. p. 176

But I was also (at first) confused about whose voice I was hearing. Was it the blindman or Ninon or..? Soon, I just relaxed and went with it as I realised this voice was everywhere. I love it when the depth of writer's knowledge make cross-references that lead to treats like the poems of Marina Tsvetaeva.

There is a clever magic to Berger's writing which led to many pauses for thinking. Always a sense of the past and how it reverberates within us all. As if we are all dancing to some primal music of humanity. As if the past travels up through our feet into our bodies.

The guests start to touch each other more often, the jokes pass quicker. When someone forgets, someone else remembers for him or her. They hold hands when they laugh. p.185.

She fixes her eyes on the drummer called Fats. He has the striking leanness that sometimes goes with percussion. To play a battery well, a man listens all the time to silence, until it splits itself open into rhythms, eventually into every conceivable rhythm. It does this because time is not a flow but a sequence of pulses. Listening to that silence often makes a man's body thin. p. 192.

Looking at my bookshelves, I see I have John Berger's Booker Prize winning [b:G.|15943771|G.|John Berger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1483851739l/15943771._SY75_.jpg|295874]. I think that might be next... ( )

Check goodreads, one friend has read it, none have written about it.

True he’s won the Booker, which could explain it. But on the other hand, surely one has a heart for his subsequent actions? Upon discovering that the Booker is a prize generated from slave money, he gave half of it to the Black Panthers. The other half was, I believe, earmarked for a project for farm labour in Europe. If all Booker prizer winners are guilty of sharing in the spoils of slavery, surely he comes off best of them.

Is it for the reason I think kicks in most often, he is in the period that is just before this one and therefore to be disdained. That is to say, a greater period of time between the reader and the artist may see him reinstalled. We despise the recent past.

Is it because he is communist and therefore holds an attitude to life currently scorned?

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/09/08/to-the-wedding-by-john-be... ( )

Check goodreads, one friend has read it, none have written about it.

True he’s won the Booker, which could explain it. But on the other hand, surely one has a heart for his subsequent actions? Upon discovering that the Booker is a prize generated from slave money, he gave half of it to the Black Panthers. The other half was, I believe, earmarked for a project for farm labour in Europe. If all Booker prizer winners are guilty of sharing in the spoils of slavery, surely he comes off best of them.

Is it for the reason I think kicks in most often, he is in the period that is just before this one and therefore to be disdained. That is to say, a greater period of time between the reader and the artist may see him reinstalled. We despise the recent past.

Is it because he is communist and therefore holds an attitude to life currently scorned?

rest here: https://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2017/09/08/to-the-wedding-by-john-be... ( )

A stunningly beautiful meditation on love and death told in multiple voices, like a choir. The sensual details are intoxicating, as is Berger's tenderness and hope for us frail humans, even in the face of a terrible, unchangeable fate. ( )

Poetic, lyrical in some ways...completely emotional. Probably the best review of this book is on the back cover, a quote from Michael Ondaatje "Wherever I live in the world, I know I will have this book with me." It's important to carry around the books you love and this one definitely made an impression on me both times I read it. ( )