“It is a funny aspect of life, thought Charlie, how a group of grown people can convince themselves to do something that none of them really want to do. They start by talking an idea into existence. Once the idea begins to take shape and dimension, they’ll talk away their hesitations, replacing them with all the supposed benefits, one by one. They’ll talk away their instincts and their second thoughts and their common sense too, until they are moving in lockstep together toward some shared intention that doesn’t appeal to any one of them.”
Stol za dvoje kolekcija je šest kraćih priča smještenih u New York i novele smještene u Los Angeles. Od Puškina, preko Timothyja, Jerryja, Smittyja, Johna, Arthura i Percivala, sve do Eve u Hollywoodu, Towles nas vodi kroz slučajne susrete, bračnu dinamiku i probleme, želju za uspjehom i bogatstvom, gubitak voljenih, stvaranje novih prilika i razne druge teme. Uz nove likove tu je i Evelyn Ross iz romana Pravila uljudnosti koja umjesto u Chicagu završava u Los Angelesu gdje ju čeka nova budućnost.
Towles me zauvijek osvojio Plemenitim gospodinom u Moskvi i uvijek ću mu se rado vraćati i radovati. Volim kratke priče, ponekad su snažnije od čitavih romana, a ponekad mi ostave i gomilu upitnika iznad glave i potaknu me na duga razmišljanja o likovima i događajima. Sve je to uspio Amor Towles u Stolu za dvoje. Svaka priča bila mi je zanimljiva na svoj način, neke zbog likova, neke zbog radnje, a neke zbog osjećaja koje su u meni izazvale.
Uz sve ovo još jedan razlog zbog kojeg ću se uvijek vraćati ovom autoru je njegov božanstveni stil pisanja. Mislim da bih mogla čitati njegov opis padanja kiše i ne bi mi bilo dosadno. Uživala sam u njegovoj umjetnosti pisanja gdje mi je i najobičnija rečenica bila kao najljepša melodija koju mogu čuti.
Ljubitelji Towlesa nemojte propustiti ovu poslasticu od knjige.
[english]
Table for Two – Amor Towles
Table for Two is a collection of six short stories set in New York and a novella set in Los Angeles. From Pushkin, through Timothy, Jerry, Smitty, John, Arthur and Percival, all the way to Eve in Hollywood, Towles takes us through chance encounters, marital dynamics and problems, the desire for success and wealth, the loss of loved ones, the creation of new opportunities and various other topics. Along with the new characters, there is also Evelyn Ross from the novel Rules of Civility , who ends up in Los Angeles instead of Chicago, where a new future awaits her.
Towles won me over forever with his novel A Gentleman in Moscow and I will always happily return to this author. I love short stories, sometimes they are more powerful than entire novels, and sometimes they leave me with a lot of questions and encourage me to think about characters and events for a long time. Amor Towles managed all this in Table for Two. Each story was interesting in its own way, some because of the characters, some because of the plot, and some because of the feelings they evoked in me.
In addition to all this, another reason why I will always return to this author is his divine writing style. I think I could read his description of the rain falling and not be bored. I enjoyed his art of writing where even the most ordinary sentence was like the most beautiful melody I could hear.
Towles fans, don’t miss this treat of a book.
