内容简介
Twelve-year-old Ana Rosa is a blossoming writer growing up in the Dominican Republic, a country where words are feared. Yet there is so much inspiration all around her -- watching her brother search for a future, learning to dance and to love, and finding out what it means to be part of a community -- that Ana Rosa must write it all down. As she struggles to find her own voice and a way to make it heard, Ana Rosa realizes the power of her words to transform the world around her -- and to transcend the most unthinkable of tragedies.
作者简介
Lynn Joseph is the author of many picture books for hildren about her island home of Trinida including A Wave in Her Pocket, An Island Christmas, and Jump Up Time: A Trinidad Carnival Story. This novel is her first book about her new island home: the Dominican Republic. Ms. Joseph is also an attorney for the City of New York and is protected by two superheroes, Jared and Brandt.
精彩书评
What 12-year-old Ana Rosa Hèrnandez wants more than anything is a notepad of her very own. Writing is her passion, and words flow out of her pencil onto the paper bags that Papi brings his rum home in, onto napkins, onto gray shop paper. In the República Dominicana, however, only the President can write books. But as Mami sighs and says, "Ana Rosa, there always has to be a first person to do something." These supportive words are difficult for her mother to muster, as everyone on the island knows too well that writers do not have freedom of expression--and in their political climate "silence was self-defense."
When the chilling news arrives that the government wants to buy all the land in the village to build hotels and generate more tourism, people learn what it means to break their silence. Ana Rosa's handsome 19-year-old brother Guario Hèrnandez is appointed as official spokesperson for the villagers' cause, but when an out-and-out rebellion against the government erupts, he--and everyone else--is endangered. As the bulldozers roll in, Ana Rosa and her family discover how utterly worthless words really are in the face of brute force.
Lynn Joseph paints a vibrant, colorful landscape of this Caribbean island where love, warmth of community, and abundant natural beauty soften the kind of poverty that makes paper--and sometimes doing what you think is right--a luxury. Ana Rosa's engaging, heartfelt poems--"Merengue Dream," "My Brother's Friend"--begin every chapter, setting the tone of the events to follow, and reinforcing how words shape her life and how her life shapes her words. Young readers will be inspired by Ana Rosa's drive and talent, warmed by vivid stories of her close-knit family, and moved by those who fight for what's right at the greatest possible cost. This lovely, lyrical book dances the merengue, glimmers with sunshine, and sways with island breezes.
——Karin Snelson
In finely wrought chapters that at times read more like a collection of related short stories than a novel, Joseph (Jump Up Time) presents slices from the life of Ana Rosa just as she is about to turn 13. Through the heroine's poetry and recollections, readers gain a rare intimate view of life in the Dominican Republic. Ana Rosa dreams of becoming a writer even though no one but the president writes books; she learns to dance the merengue by listening to the rhythms of her beloved ocean; and the love of her older brother, Guario, comforts her through many difficulties. The author's portraits of Ana Rosa and her family are studies in spare language; the chapters often grow out of one central imageAsuch as the gri gri tree where Ana Rosa keeps watch over her village and gets ideas for her writingAgiving the novel the feel of an extended prose poem. The brevity of the chapters showcases Joseph's gift for metaphoric language (e.g., her description of Ana Rosa's first crush: "My dark eyes trailed him like a line of hot soot wherever he went"). When the easy rhythms of the girl's island life abruptly change due to two major events, the author develops these cataclysms so subtly that readers may not feel the impact as fully as other events, such as the heroine's unrequited love. Still, it's a testimony to the power of Joseph's writing that the developments readers will empathize with most are those of greatest importance to her winning heroine.
—— Publishers Weekly
Joseph paints the world of Ana Rosa and her family in this gem of a novel. The girl dreams of being a writer, but knows that this is a very unusual wish in the Dominican Republic. Like her ever-drinking father, she is a dreamer, but like her Mami, who fears for her daughter's safety if she writes, she learns that time is like the river that rushes by and never passes again. When the government tries to destroy the houses in the village to make room for foreign investors, Ana Rosa writes an article quoting her beloved older brother, Guario, and tries to get support for protecting their homes. Her article is distributed by three newspapers, but her words are not powerful enough to divert money, contracts, bulldozers, and guns. On her 13th birthday, the government troops arrive, shooting begins, and Guario is killed. Six months later, as a late birthday celebration, Ana Rosa receives a typewriter and hundreds of sheets of white paper. Now she has her brother's story to tell and the words are filling up her head. Although Ana Rosa lives in a Caribbean country, readers everywhere will connect with her story, especially those who have dreams, disappointments, tragedy, environmental concerns, and a love of words and writing. Each chapter opens with a poem that sets the mood. A finely crafted novel, lovely and lyrical, this book is a unique addition to library shelves.
——Helen Foster James, University of California at San Diego
The author of A Wave in Her Pocket (1991) and other picture books set in Trinidad moves to the Dominican Republic for her first novel. Ana Rosa may not have her eye fixed on the future the way her beloved big brother, Guario, does, but as she's already filling every available scrap of paper with poems and stories, her vocation is clear. In simple but eloquent verse and prose, she introduces her family and her small, tightly knit community as she recounts pivotal events in her twelfth year, from a first crush to learning that her rum-and-merengue -loving Papi isn't her real father. Then news comes that the whole neighborhood is going to be razed to make way for a tourist hotel. Led by Guario, all band together to protest, but on Ana Rosa's thirteenth birthday the bulldozers arrive, with soldiers to defend them, and she sees Guario shot down. Unlike Frances Temple's Taste of Salt (1992), set in neighboring Haiti, this is less an indictment of a violent, corrupt, repressive regime than a coming-of-age story, propelled as much by the joy of finding the right words and capturing them on paper as by past or present tragedy. In the end, the words that had deserted Ana Rosa at her brother's death begin to sing inside her again, and with a new sense of purpose she resolves to use them to tell her brother's story.
——John Peters
前言/序言
好的,这是一本关于一位名叫艾米丽的年轻艺术家的成长故事,她的生活因一场突如其来的变故而彻底改变,她必须学会在没有色彩的世界里寻找新的表达方式。 《寂静的调色盘》 作者: 维多利亚·哈珀 出版信息: 硬皮精装,适合青少年及成人读者 页数: 480页 一、故事背景与开端 故事发生在一个名叫“画意镇”的宁静小镇上,这个地方以其每年一度的“光影艺术节”而闻名。镇上的居民对色彩的感知和运用近乎痴迷,生活中的一切——从房屋的涂装到日常的衣着,都充满了饱和而鲜明的色调。 我们的主角,艾米丽·文森特,是一个十六岁的少女,她继承了家族对色彩的敏锐天赋。她的梦想是进入著名的“皇家艺术学院”,用她的画笔捕捉世间最转瞬即逝的光影。她的工作室里堆满了还未干透的油画颜料,空气中总是弥漫着松节油和亚麻籽油混合的独特气味。她的世界是流动的、鲜活的,充满了普鲁士蓝、铬黄和深茜红的交响乐。 然而,一场突如其来的高烧彻底改变了她的生活轨迹。当她从病榻上醒来时,世界不再是她熟悉的模样。医生诊断她患上了一种罕见的、不可逆转的视觉退化症——“色盲症后期”。她的世界迅速褪去光彩,最终变成了一片单调的灰阶。 起初的绝望几乎将艾米丽吞噬。她无法忍受看着那些曾经充满生命力的颜料罐,如今只剩下毫无生气的灰影。她砸碎了她最心爱的画架,撕毁了无数张未完成的素描。艺术,曾是她的语言,现在却成了对她最残酷的嘲讽。她把自己封闭起来,拒绝与外界交流,镇上的人们也因为同情和不知所措而渐渐疏远了她。 二、沉寂中的转折 在艾米丽最黑暗的日子里,她唯一的慰藉是她年迈的祖母——一位退休的音乐教师,伊莱恩。伊莱恩奶奶一直支持艾米丽的艺术追求,但她深知,生命并不仅仅是视觉的盛宴。 伊莱恩奶奶没有试图安慰艾米丽关于“看”的问题,而是递给她一个布满灰尘的旧木箱。里面装着的不是画笔,而是几十年前她年轻时使用的乐器:一把维奥尔琴(一种古老的弦乐器),以及一些泛黄的乐谱。 “艾米丽,”伊莱恩轻声说,“你失去了‘看’的色彩,但这并不意味着你失去了‘感受’的色彩。色彩是有声音的,画意镇的灵魂,从来就不仅仅在于它的视觉冲击。” 艾米丽最初抗拒音乐。对她来说,声音是模糊不清、无法捉摸的,不像线条和形状那样确定。但为了取悦日渐衰老的祖母,她勉强开始学习维奥尔琴。 起初,她的手指笨拙地在琴弦上游走,发出的声音刺耳而怪异。然而,随着她开始专注于声音的质地、振动和共鸣时,一种奇妙的转变发生了。她开始“听见”色彩。 她发现,深沉的大提琴声像极了她记忆中那浓厚的群青色;高亢的小提琴声,则像是阳光下耀眼的柠檬黄。那些她曾用画笔调和的色彩,现在在她心中转化成了不同的音高和和弦。 三、声音的绘画与新的学徒生涯 艾米丽开始尝试一种前所未有的创作方式:“听觉素描”。 她不再尝试描绘她“看”到的景象,而是将她听到的声音——风吹过松树林的低语、钟楼上沉重的报时声、镇上铁匠铺里有节奏的敲击声——转化成音乐。更进一步,她开始尝试用音乐来“构建”画面。 她发现,她可以将一段旋律想象成一条线条,一个和弦的紧张程度,可以代表画面的阴影对比。她的创作不再是静止的二维图像,而是流动的、有时间维度的“声音雕塑”。 为了精进她的这项“新艺术”,艾米丽找到了镇上最古怪也最受尊敬的隐士——老鲁道夫。鲁道夫是一位失聪的作曲家,他住在镇子边缘一座废弃的风车里。他用颤动、触摸和空气的压力来感知世界。 鲁道夫收下了艾米丽。在与鲁道夫的相处中,艾米丽学会了如何去“触摸”声音。鲁道夫教她如何将乐器的音箱放在木板上,感受声音的物理振动,如何通过调整琴弓与琴弦的摩擦力度来改变声音的“厚度”。 这段学徒经历充满了挑战。艾米丽不仅要克服失去视觉的生理障碍,还要对抗画意镇根深蒂固的艺术观念——即艺术必须是可见的。许多过去的同学和朋友认为她放弃了真正的艺术,转而追求一种“怪异的噪音”。 四、艺术节的审判 时间来到了下一届“光影艺术节”。艾米丽决定打破常规,她不再提交任何视觉作品。取而代之的是,她申请了一个特殊的表演时段,一个专门用来展示“新声音艺术”的环节。 镇民们对此议论纷纷,充满了怀疑和不屑。当艾米丽,这位曾经的色彩天才,推着她那架陈旧的维奥尔琴登上舞台时,全场陷入了一种尴尬的寂静。 在聚光灯下,艾米丽闭上了眼睛。她没有看向观众,而是将全部的感知集中于她指尖的颤动和空气的流动。她演奏的不是传统的曲目,而是她为“画意镇的日出”创作的一首交响乐。 她用颤抖的弓法模拟了晨雾的弥漫,用快速、明亮的琶音描绘了第一缕阳光刺破云层的瞬间。她将复杂的复调结构构建成了一个宏伟的画面,每一个音符都像被精心挑选的颜料颗粒,按照特定的位置和密度排列。 当她演奏到最高潮时——一个由多个和弦叠加形成的、充满张力和希望的乐章——观众席上传来了惊呼。 那些原本认为她只是在制造噪音的人们,开始在脑海中“看见”了她试图描绘的画面。他们不再关注她是否能看见,而是被她所创造的“听觉光影”所震撼。他们听见了比任何油画都更深刻、更纯粹的色彩。 五、遗产与新生 艾米丽的表演彻底改变了画意镇对艺术的理解。光影艺术节的评审团最终授予了她一个前所未有的荣誉奖项——“灵魂共鸣奖”。 这场胜利标志着艾米丽的重生。她不再是那个因为失去视觉而受限的艺术家,而是一位跨越感官界限的先驱。她明白,真正的艺术并非存在于媒介本身(颜料或琴弦),而是存在于艺术家如何将内在的体验转化为可被他人感知的形式。 她和鲁道夫一起,将他们的理论和实践编纂成册,名为《振动的几何学》。这本理论书不仅影响了音乐界,甚至启发了雕塑家和建筑师,去思考如何用触觉和空间感来构建美学体验。 艾米丽最终没有进入皇家艺术学院——因为她已经创造了一个不需要被传统学院定义的领域。她的工作室里,维奥尔琴和画笔并置,她继续探索视觉与听觉之间的奥秘,用她独特的、无声的色彩,为世界谱写出最动人的乐章。她用寂静的调色盘,调出了比任何已知色彩都更为丰富的生命体验。