6/3/2023 0 Comments Midwinter break book![]() ![]() They hold hands crossing the road because Stella is fearful and prone to mistiming her run to the other side. The relationship has moved beyond irritation (her frugality verges on the pathological, he can be obtuse) and they are unexpectedly sweet with each other. They have coffees and pastries, robust stews, glasses of wine, naps and sex ("Sly bastard" he says, catching sight of himself afterwards in the bathroom mirror), they get along very well. They plan to do the tourist things, the Rijksmuseum, Anne Frank's house, a walk through the red-light district. They both enjoy words and banter he loves music and architecture she loves people, both strangers and those close. Their relationship runs along lines long familiar to both. She likes her hot water bottle, he likes a drop of whiskey. Stella and Gerry are on a four-day break in Amsterdam, they have been together a long time. These characters are very married indeed. Reading Midwinter Break is, at first, a question of behaving yourself. The imagination is a dangerous thing, at least it is if you are using it properly. Perhaps when we pick up a book we are looking for “something different”, which makes reading a very minor form of adultery and writing, clearly, a case of sleeping around. The world is full of long-married people, and literature almost devoid of them. ![]()
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