El Déu de les coses petites, d'Arundhati Roy

El Déu de les coses petites (The God of Small Things), publicat el 1997 i escrit al llarg de quatre anys per Arundhati Roy, és un llibre esplèndid.

Quan vaig començar la lectura no esperava que m'acabés agradant tant, però he de dir sincerament que no m'ha decebut gens ni mica. És un llibre que té de Tot. Parla de temes molt humans que ens fan reflexionar. Val a dir que és dur, toca unes atrocitats importants i indaga en la pitjor part de l'ésser humà, tenint present la cultura en què es desenvolupa la Història. Però alhora el concepte de les Coses Petites i les Coses Grans és aplicable arreu. 

Un llibre molt recomanable sobretot per a aquelles persones que tinguin un cert temps per dedicar a la novel·la, ja que degut a la quantitat de Vides que abraça, pot ser complicat seguir-ne el fil si les lectures són massa espaiades.

Deixo algunes frases, en català i en anglès, que m'han agradat:

“But what was there to say?

Only that there were tears. Only that Quietness and Emptiness fitted together like stacked spoons. Only that there was a snuffling in the hollows at the base of a lovely throat. Only that a hard honey-colored shoulder had a semicircle of teethmarks on it. Only that they held each other close, long after it was over. Only that what they shared that night was not happiness, but hideous grief.

Only that once again they broke the Love Laws. That lay down who should be loved. And how. And how much.”

"El preu de la vida es va enlairar a unes altures inassequibles."

"El seu Amor, la seva Follia, la seva Esperança, la seva Joia Infinnata."

"Durant les tretze nits que van seguir aquesta, instintivament es van aferrar a les Coses Petites. Les Coses Grosses sempre es van esperar dins d'ells, a l'aguait. Sabien que no podien anar enlloc. No tenien res. No tenien futur. Per això es van aferrar a les coses petites."

"Es va girar per dir-ho una altra vegada: «Naaley». Demà."

"Lentament, el terror va tornar a xopar-li les entranyes. Pel que havia fet. I pel que sabia que tornaria a fer una altra vegada. I una altra."

“And the air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these, only the Small Things are ever said. Big Things lurk unsaid inside.”

“The way her body existed only where he touched her. The rest of her was smoke.”

“If he touched her, he couldn't talk to her, if he loved her he couldn't leave, if he spoke he couldn't listen, if he fought he couldn't win.”

“It is curious how sometimes the memory of death lives on for so much longer than the memory of the life that is purloined. ”

“Little events, ordinary things, smashed and reconstituted. Suddenly, they become the bleached bones of a story.”

“Pointed in the wrong direction, trapped outside their own history and unable to retrace their steps because their footprints had been swept away.”

“There are things that you can't do - like writing letters to a part of yourself. To your feet or hair. Or heart.”

“He could do only one thing at a time. If he held her, he couldn't kiss her. If he kissed her, he couldn't see her. If he saw her, he couldn't feel her.”

“Biology designed the dance. Terror timed it. Dictated the rhythm with which their bodies answered each other. As though they already knew that for each tremor of pleasure they would pay with an equal measure of pain. As though they knew that how far they went would be measured against how far they would be taken.”

“They looked at each other. They weren't thinking anymore. The time for that had come and gone. Smashed smiles lay ahead of them. But that would be later. Lay Ter.”

“What came for them? Not death. Just the end of living.”

“The twins were too young to know that these were only history’s henchmen. Sent to square the books and collect the dues from those who broke its laws. Impelled by feelings that were primal yet paradoxically wholly impersonal. Feelings of contempt born of inchoate, unacknowledged fear—civilization’s fear of nature, men’s fear of women, power’s fear of powerlessness. Man’s subliminal urge to destroy what he could neither subdue nor deify.”

 Anna