Читать онлайн книгу «Black Boxes» автора Caroline Smailes
Black Boxes
Caroline Smailes
Julie Myerson meets Ian McEwan in this gripping novel of family breakdown.Ana Lewis is trapped by her own expectations. Her intense relationship with fellow student Alex begins to crack beyond repair when she falls pregnant, and his subsequent withdrawal, emotionally and sexually are hard for Ana to bear. Eventually, following the birth of Pip and then Davie, Alex leaves Ana to a life of question and blame. Locked in her room for much of the time she woefully neglects her children, preferring instead to replay scenes from her life over and over, fighting the urge to blink for fear it should dissipate the memories.Told within the context of two black boxes, one Ana’s and one Pip’s, the story reveals the key factors that have contributed to this catastrophic breakdown of life. In Black Box 01 we meet Ana as she begins to deconstruct her life. She rails against Alex and his inability to love her, or to put her ahead of his domineering mother.Black Box 02 is Pip’s diary which details in a schoolgirl terms the neglect that both Pip and Davie have suffered. Pip talks of her mother’s deterioration, lack of cleanliness and of her mother’s obsessions. Pip and Davie communicate through finger sign language, as their mother demands silence. Davie retreats into his own world, permanently soiled and communicating only by sign, while Pip, fat and desperate, sneaks out of the house at night to have sex with a boy who hates her. Pip and Davie exist in parallel, with only Ana's bedroom door separating her from them. She does not want to see them. They are the present and Ana chooses to live in a past, continually raking over the ashes of a relationship that was never really hers.Accomplished and affecting, Caroline Smailes weaves together a catastrophic tale of mismatched lives.
Black Boxes
Caroline Smailes
‘Aha!’ she cried mockingly, ‘you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her again.’
Rapunzel—Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
‘The man had not known one happy hour since he had left the children in the forest; the woman, however, was dead. Gretel emptied her pinafore until pearls and precious stones ran about the room, and Hansel threw one handful after another out of his pocket to add to them. Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness.’
Hansel and Gretel—Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
From The Project Gutenberg Etext Fairy Tales, by the Grimm Brothers, April, 2001 [Etext #2591]
A Promise.
For my son. Jacob.
For my son. Benjamin.
For my daughter. Poppy Elisabeth.
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u08614c58-18d6-59ef-b790-88dc12fa4e9e)
Title Page (#u163e2a07-5804-5768-a823-fcf43522d5d9)
Excerpt (#u57970d93-6546-5d5a-a1a3-0d74abac254c)
Dedication (#u61d1a7e3-ee66-5fc8-ade2-992553cc28cc)
Other books written by Caroline Smailes (#u7d57b5ad-db3f-5220-ab4d-55139a54e614)
Black Box #01 (#u3a56a7d6-85da-55ec-82cf-fa13c4c8b01a)
Black Box #02 (#ue52e1aae-fd16-5001-8fa6-bc2308ce8304)
Black Box #01 (#uf6fc9d74-ba09-557e-a0f3-5f8eb93342b1)
BLACK BOXES (#u28a68bd2-7a0d-52f6-ba92-d0f2d5b95707)
Acknowledgements (#u921c462c-dc6a-5a5c-bab7-ed3d8524000f)
Copyright (#ua9b614f9-8eb5-5515-be8b-d155a77802d7)
About the Publisher (#u77d8f59b-75b2-53e1-bbf6-1052d1827eca)
Other books written by Caroline Smailes
In Search of AdamDisraeli Avenue
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/caroline-smailes-17795506/black-boxes/) на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
Caroline Smailes
Julie Myerson meets Ian McEwan in this gripping novel of family breakdown.Ana Lewis is trapped by her own expectations. Her intense relationship with fellow student Alex begins to crack beyond repair when she falls pregnant, and his subsequent withdrawal, emotionally and sexually are hard for Ana to bear. Eventually, following the birth of Pip and then Davie, Alex leaves Ana to a life of question and blame. Locked in her room for much of the time she woefully neglects her children, preferring instead to replay scenes from her life over and over, fighting the urge to blink for fear it should dissipate the memories.Told within the context of two black boxes, one Ana’s and one Pip’s, the story reveals the key factors that have contributed to this catastrophic breakdown of life. In Black Box 01 we meet Ana as she begins to deconstruct her life. She rails against Alex and his inability to love her, or to put her ahead of his domineering mother.Black Box 02 is Pip’s diary which details in a schoolgirl terms the neglect that both Pip and Davie have suffered. Pip talks of her mother’s deterioration, lack of cleanliness and of her mother’s obsessions. Pip and Davie communicate through finger sign language, as their mother demands silence. Davie retreats into his own world, permanently soiled and communicating only by sign, while Pip, fat and desperate, sneaks out of the house at night to have sex with a boy who hates her. Pip and Davie exist in parallel, with only Ana's bedroom door separating her from them. She does not want to see them. They are the present and Ana chooses to live in a past, continually raking over the ashes of a relationship that was never really hers.Accomplished and affecting, Caroline Smailes weaves together a catastrophic tale of mismatched lives.
Black Boxes
Caroline Smailes
‘Aha!’ she cried mockingly, ‘you would fetch your dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out your eyes as well. Rapunzel is lost to you; you will never see her again.’
Rapunzel—Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
‘The man had not known one happy hour since he had left the children in the forest; the woman, however, was dead. Gretel emptied her pinafore until pearls and precious stones ran about the room, and Hansel threw one handful after another out of his pocket to add to them. Then all anxiety was at an end, and they lived together in perfect happiness.’
Hansel and Gretel—Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
From The Project Gutenberg Etext Fairy Tales, by the Grimm Brothers, April, 2001 [Etext #2591]
A Promise.
For my son. Jacob.
For my son. Benjamin.
For my daughter. Poppy Elisabeth.
Table of Contents
Cover Page (#u08614c58-18d6-59ef-b790-88dc12fa4e9e)
Title Page (#u163e2a07-5804-5768-a823-fcf43522d5d9)
Excerpt (#u57970d93-6546-5d5a-a1a3-0d74abac254c)
Dedication (#u61d1a7e3-ee66-5fc8-ade2-992553cc28cc)
Other books written by Caroline Smailes (#u7d57b5ad-db3f-5220-ab4d-55139a54e614)
Black Box #01 (#u3a56a7d6-85da-55ec-82cf-fa13c4c8b01a)
Black Box #02 (#ue52e1aae-fd16-5001-8fa6-bc2308ce8304)
Black Box #01 (#uf6fc9d74-ba09-557e-a0f3-5f8eb93342b1)
BLACK BOXES (#u28a68bd2-7a0d-52f6-ba92-d0f2d5b95707)
Acknowledgements (#u921c462c-dc6a-5a5c-bab7-ed3d8524000f)
Copyright (#ua9b614f9-8eb5-5515-be8b-d155a77802d7)
About the Publisher (#u77d8f59b-75b2-53e1-bbf6-1052d1827eca)
Other books written by Caroline Smailes
In Search of AdamDisraeli Avenue
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию (https://www.litres.ru/caroline-smailes-17795506/black-boxes/) на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.