Word count: 282 words
Reading time: Just over 1 minute
I like to share interesting pieces of figurative language I encounter in my reading. Today’s comes from novelist Nicole Bokat.
If you read my blog regularly, you may recall my recent post about a sentence by Nicole Bokat. That sentence had originally appeared in a column she wrote, about anxiety, published by the New York Times. I had never heard of Bokat and liked her writing so much I resolved to read one of her books immediately.
The book I selected, Redeeming Eve, was delivered to me via my library in less than a week. Redeeming Eve is what I would call High- Brow Chick Lit. The story of a Manhattan-based literature scholar writing her thesis on Jane Austen features a dominating mother, crazy friends, a churlish thesis supervisor and an unplanned pregnancy. I can’t imagine many men finding it terribly compelling. I don’t normally enjoy Chick Lit myself but I found certain aspects of the the book both interesting and compelling. The characters were well drawn. Cliches stayed at a minimum. The writing was relatively sophisticated.
As well, Bokat gave me an image — a simile– that resonated deeply:
Gemma – head lobbed to one side of her carseat – had been placed in the middle of the table like a wedding centerpiece.
It reminded me of when we brought our newborn son home from the hospital. He was eleven days old and the first of our triplets allowed to leave (professional) care. We plunked him on our kitchen table and sat around looking at him. Not knowing what to do. We were tremulous with the thought of the new responsibilities suddenly facing us.
