美国国家公共电台 NPR Bad Things Happen Out Of The Blue In Sadie Jones' 'The Snakes'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

There are two sets of reptiles¹ in Sadie Jones' new novel "The Snakes." There is the slithering kind and the human version. Bea is a newly married psychologist and the daughter of a ruthless billionaire, and she wants nothing to do with her dad's money. Her husband Dan grew up the son of a single mom and can't understand why his wife is so unwilling² to take advantage of what wealth has to offer. Then there's Bea's brother Alex, who suffers from addiction⁴ and hopes to get his life together while running a ramshackle hotel his father has purchased in France. Sadie Jones is the author of five novels. And she joins us now from London to talk about her new thriller⁵.

Hi.

SADIE JONES: Hi. It's lovely to be here.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is a story about an unhappy family with a lot of secrets. And the action centers around a semi-derelict country hotel in France. Bea and Dan, her husband, come to visit Alex, her brother, and find him in a terrible state.

JONES: Yes. They're both 30. They're Londoners. They live a - what Bea thinks is a really good life and Dan finds very hard. They are mortgaged up to the hilt in their very small flat. And when they get to France to really have a break in Europe, for - mainly, for him to find himself - she's very happy with her life. They find her brother. The hotel is - he's meant to be renovating⁶ it, and he's sort of meant to be renovating himself. He's an addict³ and a kind of hopeless, sweet creature. And he's never - we don't think he's probably ever had any guests in the hotel. And it sort of gradually comes out what a mess he is. And they're very close. And they have a mutual⁷ shared memory of the pain of their childhood. And then her parents come to stay, and all hell breaks loose.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Indeed. Their names are Griff and Liv. Griff, the dad, is a very particular and recognizable kind of villain⁸ - selfish, self-entitled.

JONES: He certainly is. I wrote the book - I started writing the book in 2016.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Oh.

(LAUGHTER)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What could have happened then?

JONES: (Laughter) Exactly. And I was in a sort of state of anxiety and shock at the world around me. And I was worried I was going to be writing too big a moral tale of good and evil. And then the rest of 2016 happened, and I realized that I almost couldn't write it big enough.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. I mean, you have Griff talking politics very explicitly⁹ in this - his opinions on everything, his view of the world.

JONES: He is a quite a charming character, and it's interesting hearing feedback about him that some people love being with him - readers. And other people are completely appalled¹⁰ and shocked and disgusted by him. And he's just absolutely sure that he's right about everything. And he - I think that that level of money does erode¹¹ people's - it erodes¹² empathy, and it allows people to - you know, if they're getting the rewards, they must be right about the rest of the world. And then they gradually lose their humanity, I think.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Liv, the wife, on the surface, seems like a sort of cruel and selfish wife. But there is a horrific secret about her relationship with her son that you reveal very early on.

JONES: She - in a way, you know, Griff is the sort of obvious villain. He's brash, and he's outspoken¹³. And he does what he does. He's sort of - what you see is what you get. But with Liv is this sort of - she's like the hollow to his full or the shadow to his spotlight¹⁴. She's really just this moral vacuum.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Did you want to show the corrosive¹⁵ power of wealth? Because both these - because these parents use their children utterly¹⁶ selfishly for their own ends.

JONES: I think there are very few people who could have that much wealth and not be corrupted¹⁷ by it, and Bea is one of them. She's this good person trying to just separate herself from it and live in a real world.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We don't want to give too much away, but I do want to talk about, perhaps, the creepiest character in this creepy story, which is Russ. Who is Russ?

JONES: In writing this book, I felt that I was sort of writing an anti-thriller or anti-murder mystery because, really, it's a book about chaos¹⁸ and the surprise terrible things that happen we - that we can't foresee. And it seems to me that, mostly, a murder mystery or thriller is very tidy. And this is a book about things happening out of the blue. And Russ is a character who happens out of the blue. He's the only American in the book. He's - if Griff was the sort of - people have often said, oh, he's a bit Trumpian. But I really saw Russ as my sneaky Trumpian character because he is - he just turns up and breaks all the rules and screws everything up (laughter). So that was my - it was kind of a joke to myself as I was writing, but there's really nothing funny about him at all. He is a desperately¹⁹ dark creature.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And the end is shocking. Did you know that it was going to end that way from the beginning of the book?

JONES: Yes. I always know what my ending will be. Getting there is another thing, but I knew what I was going to do. And I knew the expectations that I was setting up to break down, to get there. And so it was an ending that I sort of - you know, I didn't want to chicken out of the ending because I think that endings really describe - they define a book. And if it's going to be a harsh book and it's going to be truthful²⁰, then you can't mess around and just compromise.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sadie Jones - her new book is called "The Snakes."

Thank you very much.

JONES: Thank you.

1 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

3 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

4 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

5 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

6 renovating   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The increased production was largely attained by renovating old orchards and vineyards. 通过更新老果园和葡萄园，使生产大大增加。
• Renovating that house will cost you a pretty penny. 为了整修那所房子，你得花很多钱。

7 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

8 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

9 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 appalled   

v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• They were appalled by the reports of the nuclear war. 他们被核战争的报道吓坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

12 erodes   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的第三人称单数 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The sea erodes the rock. 海水侵蚀岩石。
• The sea erodes the land. 海洋侵蚀陆地。

13 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

14 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

15 corrosive   

adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的

参考例句：

• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。
• Many highly corrosive substances are used in the nuclear industry.核工业使用许多腐蚀性很强的物质。

16 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

17 corrupted   

（使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏

参考例句：

• The body corrupted quite quickly. 尸体很快腐烂了。
• The text was corrupted by careless copyists. 原文因抄写员粗心而有讹误。

18 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

19 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

20 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。