Observational Metaphor
The story practically begins with an example of observational metaphor. This is the kind of usage which situates the perceptual description of character or setting as seen through the eyes of a specific character rather than simply being objective third-person narration. In this case, on the opening page, a woman is described as seen by Yao:
“Yao observed a middle-aged, overweight woman with pronounced pink shadows under distinctive sea-green eyes and wispy brown hair pulled into a sad little knot at the back of her neck…It seemed like she was something of a bigwig, if the size of this plush corner office and its floor-to-ceiling harbour views were any indication of corporate status.”
How to Save a Marriage
The intricate relationships which characterize the novels offer what has been described as one ultimately offering an optimistic lighting of the way out of a very dark tunnel. That may be so—one can argue—but even if this is true, it has to be admitted it is a peculiar sort of optimism. After all, this is a book where the most useful advice on to saving a marriage almost verges on nihilism
“He could find hatred in his heart for her, too, if he went looking for it. The secret of a happy marriage was not to go looking for it.”
Darkness
That the omnipresent imagery for modern life which has been the number one go-to literary metaphor since the atrocity exhibition of fascist Germany finds its way into the narrative during the time-bending, food-deprived “dark night of the soul” is hardy surprising. What may be surprising is that it actually takes until the characters thrown themselves literally into the dark:
“It was Napoleon who’d figured it out; he’d been the one to find the light switch this morning when he woke up. He said he’d crawled around the room on his hands and knees and run his hands around the walls until he found it. When he flicked the switch to demonstrate for them, the room was plunged into a thick, impenetrable darkness that felt like death.”
A Metaphor About Metaphor
Arguably—but only just—the most dazzling display of metaphorical imagery in the novel occurs, interestingly enough, in a passage that is actually about a metaphorically dense sentence. Dazzling, it must be mentioned, is not synonymous with insightful. It is a beautiful sentence to read, but ultimately seem doesn’t offer much useful information:
“An endless gossamer-like sentence embroidered with jewel-like metaphors, far too many clauses and meaning so obscure it had to be profound wrapped itself around Frances’s neck, but it really didn’t suit her, so she wrenched it off and flung it into space, where it floated free until at last a shy author on his way to a festival to accept a prize grabbed it from the sky and used it to gag one of his beautiful corpses.”
A Wretched State of Existence
There are plenty of descriptions in just the novels of any given year that paint a portrait of a life that just makes you want to shake your head in disbelief. These are the descriptions of people that delineate a sort of existence that moves beyond pathos and into an arena best left unexplored except by others. Such is the metaphorical imagery associated with Frances used here:
“For her, the smell of cigarettes was the smell of love. She dated far too many smokers for that reason.”
