GRACE NOTES

Book ID/图书代码： 02330010B34737

English Summary/英文概要： Returning to Belfast after a long absence to attend her fathers funeral, it is brought home to Catherine exactly why she left. But she also remembers the more innocent times and realises she must come to terms with her past. A novel from the author of CAL.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 凯瑟琳再回到故乡贝尔法斯特是参加她父亲的葬礼，她已经很久没有回过了，这次回来也让她忆起了当初离开的原因。她记得那些无知无忧的美好时光，过去的一切她从未忘怀。这篇小说的作者同时也是《卡尔》（CAL)的作者。(XJJ)

Awards/获奖情况：词人凯瑟琳•麦克肯纳（Catherine McKenna）对音乐的天赋胜于最平常的快乐，但是她贝尔法斯特的家人无法理解，一度产生了巨大的摩擦。伯纳德•麦克•拉夫蒂（Bernard MacLaverty）描绘了两个相等面，即凯瑟琳的女性主义和美学上的奋斗以及她母亲的传统。然而你无法驳斥麦克肯纳夫人的回答，她认为音乐只需用来听就可以了。
《优雅的音符》（Grace Notes）是麦克•拉夫蒂自《卡尔》（cal）以后写的首部长篇小说，故事围绕他爱尔兰的身份和艺术展开。凯瑟琳的新曲佳作需要新教徒在游行时打大鼓。这个声音会很可怕，震耳欲聋像雷声，整个小镇顿时就被笼罩在黑压压的噪音下。在她的天主教伙伴的帮助下，凯瑟琳决心将这些鼓当作威胁的乐器融入到她全新的创作中去。
她回贝尔法斯特参加她父亲的葬礼时随同带回了几个魂魄，这些鬼魂中有一个会高谈论阔优雅的音符。这部小说充满了此类例子，扭曲的对话以及难忘的观察，即新开的中国餐馆要靠提供薯片来维持正常经营或者是新开的酒吧位于一个昏暗的小山丘等怪事。当狗在门口撒完尿，黑暗中的光线折射到了水槽。这些都是作者透过一个女性艺术家想要呈现的桥段。然而，故事结尾，凯瑟琳创作的现场广播演唱会的乐章，是对她一个女词人和刚强的作者的成功明证。

Amazon.co.uk Review
Composer Catherine McKenna has more of a gift for music than happiness, but she has long since been driven beyond harmonies (musical and personal) that her Belfast family can comprehend. Bernard MacLaverty renders both sides of the equation: Catherine’s feminist and aesthetic striving and her mother’s more traditional grasp--it’s hard not to sympathize with Mrs McKenna’s impatient rejoinder, "You don’t cope with music, you listen to it."
Grace Notes, MacLaverty’s first novel since Cal, is as much about Irish identity-- and possibility--as it is about art. Catherine’s newest piece, a mass, includes the huge drums Protestants play in parades. "It was a scary sound--like thunder. Like the town was under a canopy of dark noise." Though her fellow Catholics see the drums as instruments of threat, Catherine is determined to integrate them into her composition.
Her return to Belfast for her father’s funeral brings back several ghosts, among them an influential professor who spoke of grace notes--"the notes between the notes". This novel is full of such instances, wry snatches of conversation and unforgettable observations: the new Chinese restaurant that has had to offer chips to stay in business, or the pub that’s "on a slight hill. When dogs pissed at the door the dark lines ran diagonally to the gutter." These transcend the occasional passage in which MacLaverty tries too hard to see into the life and rhythms of a female artist. The final section, however, a live radio concert of Catherine’s piece, is a triumph for both woman composer and male author. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author/作者介绍： 伯纳德•麦克•拉夫蒂（Bernard Mac Laverty）是小说《羔羊》（Lamb）、《卡尔》（Cal）的作者，他还有诸如《遛狗》（walking the dog）等短篇故事集。他土生土长于北爱尔兰，目前住在苏格兰的格拉斯哥。

Bernard MacLaverty is the author of the novels Lamb and Cal and several short story collections, including Walking the Dog. A native of Northern Ireland, he lives in Glasgow, Scotland. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Format:TRADE PAPERBACK

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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