IN THE APPROACHES

Book ID/图书代码： 11701214B71609

English Summary/英文概要： ‘Open yourself up again to all that terrible light and savage bliss and deafening reverberation …’

In the Summer of 1971, a charismatic family seeks refuge in the quiet, English coastal backwater of Pett Level. Bran Cleary is a controversial Irish muralist; his fractious and promiscuous wife (and muse) ’Lonely’ Allaway is half Aboriginal; their strange, sickly daughter, Orla Nor, is almost a Saint.

Thirteen years later, a shifty individual turns up in Pett Level, apparently determined to get to the bottom of the bizarre and ultimately tragic events which unfolded in the aftermath of that arrival. But does he really want to understand, or is he just way too close to the story to make any clear sense of it? And what of the locals who seem so determined to resist and undermine his investigations?

‘In The Approaches’ is a fabulously twisted comedy of very bad manners which starts out as a seaside idyll and ends up as a pilgrimage – sometimes sacred, sometimes profane, and frequently both at once. Set in a 1984 which seems almost as distantly located in the past as Orwell’s was in the future, Nicola Barker’s tenth novel offers a captivating glimpse of something more shocking than any dystopia – the possibility of faith

Chinese Summary/中文概要： “将自己重新拉回那段不堪回首的记忆中去......”

1971年的夏天，克利里一家为了寻求庇护来到了英国安静的海岸城市佩特。父亲布莱恩是位备受争议的爱尔兰壁画师，他易怒而滥交的妻子奥拉维有一半的原住民血统，而他们古怪，体弱多病的女儿奥尔拉则几乎是一个圣徒。

13年后，一个机智的年轻人来到了佩特，想要揭开当年那个奇怪的悲剧的谜底。他是真心想要揭露真相吗？还是只是为了个人的好奇心？为什么当地人千方百计地想要阻止他呢？

《在路上》是部颇为扭曲的喜剧故事。故事以美丽的湖滨风光开篇，却以朝圣之路结尾。故事时而神圣，时而世俗，大多数时候是两者皆有之。故事背景设置在1984年，尼古拉•巴克的第十本小说向读者揭示了些令人震惊，非理想化的事实——信仰的可能性。（XAT）

Awards/获奖情况：“我从未读过这样的作品。巴克就像是一个天才。这本书阐述了些哲学思想，相当感人，也非常有趣。我一口气读完了最后150页，心情十分复杂。”——爱德华•德克斯，《观察者》 “巴克笔下的人物十分夸张，她拒绝任何传统的小说情节或叙事方式，语言滑稽，字里行间蕴含了许多大想法，巴克将平庸的文字变得宏大起来。听起来这好像是本很严肃的小说？不用担心，这实际上是一本轻快的浪漫喜剧，而且是本会给读者带来无限希望的小说。”——露西斯•科尔斯，《独立报》 “这个故事实际上讲述了两个感性的，受伤的，古怪的成年人相爱的故事，简直是场暴乱。”——阿曼达•克雷格，《展望》 “令人振奋......巴克是一位能将喜剧能量传播出去的作家。”——《每日邮报》 "心灵纺织机。"——《星期天独立报》 “与英式风格截然不同。”——《卫报》 “巴克独特的散文形式，有自己独特的远见，带有些戏剧的现实主义，神奇的魔幻色彩，总之非常多面。”——《文学评论》 “巴克的文学魅力在于语言的创新结合主题的颠覆。她的反抗精神和理性特质总是在剧情中碰撞。她的小说以丰富的细节，生动地刻画和精致的象征意义闻名。纵观她所有的不按常理出牌的喜剧小说，对于人心的刻画最为出神入化。”——露丝•思科 “巴克这部作品就像给读者们下了一个奇妙的咒语一般。”——《闲谈者》 ‘I have never read anything like it … Barker is some kind of genius … The book is textured, playfully philosophical and increasingly moving. I read the last 150 pages at a sitting with my heart and mind stirred… And yet it’s also funny’ Edward Docx, Observer

‘With her cast of extravagant characters, a refusal to be tied down to anything as parochial as a traditional plot or narrative arc, near-farcical humour and big ideas, Nicola Barker is an author who transforms the mundane into the magisterial … Sounds a bit heavy going? Fear not, it’s also a delightful romantic comedy… More than the mere sum of its parts, it’s a novel that propels you helplessly forward into the light’ Lucy Scholes, Independent

‘This novel – which is, among other things, an account of how two irritable, damaged and eccentric adults fall in love – is a riot’ Amanda Craig, Prospect

‘Exhilarating… she is an author whose comic energy is infectious’ Daily Mail

‘Mind-spinning’ Independent on Sunday

‘Hardy rebelled against Englishness, Barker exults in it’ Guardian

‘The antic virtuosity of Barker’s prose style… carries a kind of visionary intensity of its own. There’s a sort of realism in play, too – a magical or, better perhaps, mystical realism… the sheer blethering strangeness of life thickens into a kind of metaphysical dimension’ Literary Review

‘The formidable energy of Barker’s writing arises from linguistic innovation combined with subversive subject matter … In her rebellious and uproarious celebration of spiritual over rational qualities, Barker can be seen as a present-day Pre-Raphaelite; her novels notable for their abundant detail, vivid coloration and elaborate symbolism. Throughout all her comedies of bad manners and carnivalesque parades of flamboyant characters, it is the human heart and its capacity for grandeur that most interests Barker’ Ruth Scurr, TLS

‘The banshees Barker summons up in this delightful novel cast a magic spell over her readers’ Tatler

About the Author/作者介绍： 尼古拉•巴克的作品包括《爱你的仇敌》（获大卫•海曼小说奖）、《反转的预测》、《小藏品》、《驶向内陆》（获1997年约翰•卢埃林里斯奖/星期日邮报奖）、《五英里外的希望》、《敞开》（获2000年国际IMPAC都柏林文学奖）、《背后》、《晴空》（入围2004年布克奖）和《黑暗人心》（入围2007年布克奖）。最近，巴克的最新作品已初选入围2012年布克奖。她被格兰塔评为2005年20个英国最佳青年小说家之一。她的作品已被翻译成十多种语言。

Nicola Barker’s work includes LOVE YOUR ENEMIES (David Higham Prize for Fiction, joint winner of the Macmillan Silver Pen Award for Fiction), REVERSED FORECAST, SMALL HOLDINGS, HEADING INLAND (1997 John Llewellyn Rhys/Mail on Sunday Prize), FIVE MILES FROM OUTER HOPE, WIDE OPEN and winner of the 2000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, BEHINDLINGS, CLEAR (long-listed for the 2004 Man Booker Prize) and DARKMANS, shortlisted for the 2007 Man Booker Prize, the 2008 Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Award and winner of the Hawthornden Prize for 2008. Most recently, Barker’s work THE YIPS has been longlisted for The Man Booker Prize 2012. She was named as one of the 20 Best Young British Novelists by Granta in 2005. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages.

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