Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me

Posted on 15 June 2017 by Javier Marías

No one ever suspects, begins Tomorrow in the Battle Think On Me, that they might one day find themselves with a dead woman in their arms Marta has just met Victor when she invites him to dinner at her Madrid apartment while her husband is away on business When her two year old son finally falls asleep, Marta and Victor retreat to the bedroom Undressing, she feels suddenly ill and in his arms, inexplicably, she dies.What should Victor do Remove the compromising tape from the phone machine Leave food for the child, for breakfast These are just his first steps, but he soon takes matters further unable to bear the shadows and the unknowing, Victor plunges into dark waters And Javier Mar as, Europe s master of secrets, of what lies reveal and truth may conceal, is on sure ground in this profound, quirky, and marvelous novel Brilliantly imagined and hugely intricate, as La Vanguardia noted, it is a novel one reads with enormous pleasure. Best Read Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me [ author ] Javier Marías [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr It is unbearable that people we know should suddenly be relegated to the past. Death is inevitable From the very first page of Javier Mar as flawlessly executed novel Tomorrow In the Battle Think On Me , death becomes a constant companion to the reader, always whispering in our ear the truths of our impermanence and the endles...Incredible In freakin credible This is one of those titles you want to recommend to everyone, but you know damned well that it isn t going to be everyone s cup of tea one of those novels that folds up on itself into something origami like a piece of paper manipulated into a work of art something like this even if your own looklike this my paper birds have wings that flap Why do you read Why do you read what you read When you pick up a novel for the first time, do you think thi Incredible In freakin credible This is one of those titles you want to recommend to everyone, but you know damned well that it isn t going to be everyone s cup of tea one of those novels that folds up on itself into something origami like a piece of paper manipulated into a work of art something like this even if your own looklike this my paper birds have wings that flap Why do you read Why do you read what you read When you pick up a novel for the first time, do you think this looks good and wonder how it will end or do you look over the book and consider how the story might be told, how...He must have thought his luck was in, they arranged to meet around her place, she had a two year old son, who was hopefully now off in the land of dreams, just the two of them alone in her bedroom, the muted TV is playing an old black and white movie with subtitles, after a few glasses of wine to soften the mood he is hopeful one thing will lead to another, gearing up for the moment passion takes hold, he wants her The last thing he expected was for her to die, suddenly, at that very moment A He must have thought his luck was in, they arranged to meet around her place, she had a two year old son, who was hopefully now off in the land of dreams, just the two of them alone in her bedroom, the muted TV is playing an old black and white movie with subtitles, after a few glasses of wine to soften the mood he is hopeful one thing will lead to another, gearing up for the moment passion takes hold, he wants her The last thing he expected was for her to die, sudden...Everything is travelling towards its own dissolution and is lost and few things leave any trace, especially if they are never repeated, if they happen only once and never recur, the same happens with those things that install themselves too comfortably and recur day after day, again and again, they leave no trace either. The writing of Javier Marias is a different case altogether Repetition and recurrence are common aspects of his books and yet they always leave an everlasting trace on readEverything is travelling towards its own dissolution and is lost and few things leave any trace, especially if they are never repeated, if they happen only once and never recur, the same happens with those things that install themselves too comfortably and recur day after day, again and again, they leave no trace either. The writing of Ja...I don t propose to talk about the details of the plot of Javier Marias thought provoking piece of writing but instead I will simply describe my experience of reading this Richard the III style monologue, because that is what this book is, a long speech by the narrator, Victor, in a calm, unvarying tone, a speech that states quite clearly that he is aware that his story is sometimes bizarre and frightening, and that we may find it unbelievable, in fact he says, I am the person doing the telling I don t propose to talk about the details of the plot of Javier Marias thought provoking piece of writing but instead I will simply describe my experience of reading this Richard the III style monologue, because that is what this book is, a long speech by the narrator, Victor, in a calm, unvarying tone, a speech that states quite clearly that he is aware that his story is sometimes bizarre and frightening, and that we may find it unbelievable, in fact he says, I am the person doing the telling and people can either choose to listen to me or not, so he is not setting himself up as someone reliable, irreproachable, quite the contrary in fact, and I was freq...The Strange Workings of TimeThe act of telling a story takes up time, it prolongs time and, in doing so, prolongs life.It preserves memories while we are alive, but it can also preserve them beyond our death Paradoxically, story telling might even help us to accept death As Marias protagonist, Victor, saysI can tell the story a...This novel blew me away and I m still working to fit my pieces together I got lost into Mar as winding train of thoughts and I m still trying to find my way back to reality What was it that I liked so much about this novel Well, everything the plot, the subtle humor, the flow of words, the ideas, the profound pondering I found and lost myself at the same time, and I really can t explain this if you haven t done it yet, you should read the novel and see for yourself.Mar as talks about deat This novel blew me away and I m still working to fit my pieces together I got lost into Mar as winding train of thoughts and I m still trying to find my way back to reality What was it that I liked so much about this novel Well, everything the plot, the subtle humor, the flow of words, the ideas, the profound pondering I found and lost myself at the same time, and I really can t explain this if you haven t done it yet, ...This book no longer exists.I told this to the owner of the bookstore, it was of course empty You are the second person to complain The first was much younger than you More my age You have not read the book, I asked as he sat at the edge of a table mostly emptied He shook his head Then, that would explain it, I would like my money returned Can t do But I no longer have a book that I bought here Explain yourself.O.K It begins with a dead woman in the narrator s arms He will remember her This book no longer exists.I told this to the owner of the bookstore, it was of course empty You are the second person to complain The first was much younger than you More my age You have not read the book, I asked as he sat at the edge of a table mostly emptied He shook his head Then, that would explain it, I would like my money returned Can t do But I no longer have a book that I bought here Explain yourself.O.K It begins with a dead woman in the narrator s arms He will remember her name but never see her face again I m hooked The three hundred and eleven pages solid in my hands It read fast.But you were disappointed No, you re not understanding He was a great storyteller...Marvellous Loved the serpentine sentences with their astonishing thought within thought, near metaphysical poetic lilt, preference for the cosy comma over the sloppy semicolon, their use of not oft seen things like reported speech and thought within parentheses, or another character s dialogue , repeated phrases dark back of time about six times and callback to earlier passages and quotations to elevate the plot matter to something loftier than the obvious Mike is right Mar as, aside Marvellous Loved the serpentine sentences with their astonishing thought within thought, near metaphysical poetic lilt, preference for the cosy comma over the sloppy semicolon, their use of not oft seen things like reported speech and thought within parentheses, or another character s dialogue , repeated phrases dark back of time about six times and callback to earlier passages and quotations to elevate the plot matter to something loftier than the obvious Mike is right Mar as, aside from being Spain s premier James Belushi impersonator, is an origamist But where is that elusive fifth star, ye cry Despite my love for these sentences, not every one was lusciously lickingly lovely plenty felt like stylistic run ons, not unlike Hubert Selby deploying his punctuationless style merely as a formality in later books like The Willow Tree, and left this asthmatic reader gasping for that most arcane of necessities, a paragraph br...When I had around thirty or so pages left to read, I felt a real stab of melancholy, a pungent sadness, that I would soon be finished with this particular narrator and his story I liked him, commiserated with him, enjoyed the manner in which he presented his fascinating tale, the thoughtfulness with which he considered what had seemingly transpired, both to himself and allegedly to others, during the period of his enchantment, his haunting by the dead spirit of an unconsummated lover Mar When I had around thirty or so pages left to read, I felt a real stab of melancholy, a pungent sadness, that I would soon be finished with this particular narrator and his story I liked him, commiserated with him, enjoyed the manner in which he presented his fascinating tale, the thoughtfulness with which he considered what had seemingly transpired, both to himself and allegedly to others, during the period of his enchantment, his haunting by the dead spirit of an unconsummated lover Mar as writes in an elegant and restrainedly profuse manner very placid and tempered, lushly verbose in the absolute best of ways that is the literary equivalent of silk sheets in an ornate hotel room in which every element operates at exactly the right level for maximum pleasure and satisfaction I have read reviews that complain of Mar as multi page paragraphs, the massive interior peregrinations that the narrator...

English
15 June 2017

Javier Marías