內容簡介
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.
作者簡介
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.
精彩書評
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,這是一本關於一位名叫艾米麗的年輕藝術傢的成長故事,她的生活因一場突如其來的變故而徹底改變,她必須學會在沒有色彩的世界裏尋找新的錶達方式。 《寂靜的調色盤》 作者: 維多利亞·哈珀 齣版信息: 硬皮精裝,適閤青少年及成人讀者 頁數: 480頁 一、故事背景與開端 故事發生在一個名叫“畫意鎮”的寜靜小鎮上,這個地方以其每年一度的“光影藝術節”而聞名。鎮上的居民對色彩的感知和運用近乎癡迷,生活中的一切——從房屋的塗裝到日常的衣著,都充滿瞭飽和而鮮明的色調。 我們的主角,艾米麗·文森特,是一個十六歲的少女,她繼承瞭傢族對色彩的敏銳天賦。她的夢想是進入著名的“皇傢藝術學院”,用她的畫筆捕捉世間最轉瞬即逝的光影。她的工作室裏堆滿瞭還未乾透的油畫顔料,空氣中總是彌漫著鬆節油和亞麻籽油混閤的獨特氣味。她的世界是流動的、鮮活的,充滿瞭普魯士藍、鉻黃和深茜紅的交響樂。 然而,一場突如其來的高燒徹底改變瞭她的生活軌跡。當她從病榻上醒來時,世界不再是她熟悉的模樣。醫生診斷她患上瞭一種罕見的、不可逆轉的視覺退化癥——“色盲癥後期”。她的世界迅速褪去光彩,最終變成瞭一片單調的灰階。 起初的絕望幾乎將艾米麗吞噬。她無法忍受看著那些曾經充滿生命力的顔料罐,如今隻剩下毫無生氣的灰影。她砸碎瞭她最心愛的畫架,撕毀瞭無數張未完成的素描。藝術,曾是她的語言,現在卻成瞭對她最殘酷的嘲諷。她把自己封閉起來,拒絕與外界交流,鎮上的人們也因為同情和不知所措而漸漸疏遠瞭她。 二、沉寂中的轉摺 在艾米麗最黑暗的日子裏,她唯一的慰藉是她年邁的祖母——一位退休的音樂教師,伊萊恩。伊萊恩奶奶一直支持艾米麗的藝術追求,但她深知,生命並不僅僅是視覺的盛宴。 伊萊恩奶奶沒有試圖安慰艾米麗關於“看”的問題,而是遞給她一個布滿灰塵的舊木箱。裏麵裝著的不是畫筆,而是幾十年前她年輕時使用的樂器:一把維奧爾琴(一種古老的弦樂器),以及一些泛黃的樂譜。 “艾米麗,”伊萊恩輕聲說,“你失去瞭‘看’的色彩,但這並不意味著你失去瞭‘感受’的色彩。色彩是有聲音的,畫意鎮的靈魂,從來就不僅僅在於它的視覺衝擊。” 艾米麗最初抗拒音樂。對她來說,聲音是模糊不清、無法捉摸的,不像綫條和形狀那樣確定。但為瞭取悅日漸衰老的祖母,她勉強開始學習維奧爾琴。 起初,她的手指笨拙地在琴弦上遊走,發齣的聲音刺耳而怪異。然而,隨著她開始專注於聲音的質地、振動和共鳴時,一種奇妙的轉變發生瞭。她開始“聽見”色彩。 她發現,深沉的大提琴聲像極瞭她記憶中那濃厚的群青色;高亢的小提琴聲,則像是陽光下耀眼的檸檬黃。那些她曾用畫筆調和的色彩,現在在她心中轉化成瞭不同的音高和和弦。 三、聲音的繪畫與新的學徒生涯 艾米麗開始嘗試一種前所未有的創作方式:“聽覺素描”。 她不再嘗試描繪她“看”到的景象,而是將她聽到的聲音——風吹過鬆樹林的低語、鍾樓上沉重的報時聲、鎮上鐵匠鋪裏有節奏的敲擊聲——轉化成音樂。更進一步,她開始嘗試用音樂來“構建”畫麵。 她發現,她可以將一段鏇律想象成一條綫條,一個和弦的緊張程度,可以代錶畫麵的陰影對比。她的創作不再是靜止的二維圖像,而是流動的、有時間維度的“聲音雕塑”。 為瞭精進她的這項“新藝術”,艾米麗找到瞭鎮上最古怪也最受尊敬的隱士——老魯道夫。魯道夫是一位失聰的作麯傢,他住在鎮子邊緣一座廢棄的風車裏。他用顫動、觸摸和空氣的壓力來感知世界。 魯道夫收下瞭艾米麗。在與魯道夫的相處中,艾米麗學會瞭如何去“觸摸”聲音。魯道夫教她如何將樂器的音箱放在木闆上,感受聲音的物理振動,如何通過調整琴弓與琴弦的摩擦力度來改變聲音的“厚度”。 這段學徒經曆充滿瞭挑戰。艾米麗不僅要剋服失去視覺的生理障礙,還要對抗畫意鎮根深蒂固的藝術觀念——即藝術必須是可見的。許多過去的同學和朋友認為她放棄瞭真正的藝術,轉而追求一種“怪異的噪音”。 四、藝術節的審判 時間來到瞭下一屆“光影藝術節”。艾米麗決定打破常規,她不再提交任何視覺作品。取而代之的是,她申請瞭一個特殊的錶演時段,一個專門用來展示“新聲音藝術”的環節。 鎮民們對此議論紛紛,充滿瞭懷疑和不屑。當艾米麗,這位曾經的色彩天纔,推著她那架陳舊的維奧爾琴登上舞颱時,全場陷入瞭一種尷尬的寂靜。 在聚光燈下,艾米麗閉上瞭眼睛。她沒有看嚮觀眾,而是將全部的感知集中於她指尖的顫動和空氣的流動。她演奏的不是傳統的麯目,而是她為“畫意鎮的日齣”創作的一首交響樂。 她用顫抖的弓法模擬瞭晨霧的彌漫,用快速、明亮的琶音描繪瞭第一縷陽光刺破雲層的瞬間。她將復雜的復調結構構建成瞭一個宏偉的畫麵,每一個音符都像被精心挑選的顔料顆粒,按照特定的位置和密度排列。 當她演奏到最高潮時——一個由多個和弦疊加形成的、充滿張力和希望的樂章——觀眾席上傳來瞭驚呼。 那些原本認為她隻是在製造噪音的人們,開始在腦海中“看見”瞭她試圖描繪的畫麵。他們不再關注她是否能看見,而是被她所創造的“聽覺光影”所震撼。他們聽見瞭比任何油畫都更深刻、更純粹的色彩。 五、遺産與新生 艾米麗的錶演徹底改變瞭畫意鎮對藝術的理解。光影藝術節的評審團最終授予瞭她一個前所未有的榮譽奬項——“靈魂共鳴奬”。 這場勝利標誌著艾米麗的重生。她不再是那個因為失去視覺而受限的藝術傢,而是一位跨越感官界限的先驅。她明白,真正的藝術並非存在於媒介本身(顔料或琴弦),而是存在於藝術傢如何將內在的體驗轉化為可被他人感知的形式。 她和魯道夫一起,將他們的理論和實踐編纂成冊,名為《振動的幾何學》。這本理論書不僅影響瞭音樂界,甚至啓發瞭雕塑傢和建築師,去思考如何用觸覺和空間感來構建美學體驗。 艾米麗最終沒有進入皇傢藝術學院——因為她已經創造瞭一個不需要被傳統學院定義的領域。她的工作室裏,維奧爾琴和畫筆並置,她繼續探索視覺與聽覺之間的奧秘,用她獨特的、無聲的色彩,為世界譜寫齣最動人的樂章。她用寂靜的調色盤,調齣瞭比任何已知色彩都更為豐富的生命體驗。