Sometimes a phrase or a passage in a book can stop the reader in his tracks. It might be a particularly elegant piece of prose, almost poetic in its construction, or it might be a cold, brutal collection of words describing a bleak, hopeless situation.
I came across one such phrase yesterday as I was reading the first Cormoran Strike book in the series. Yes, I became so frustrated with Book 5, I had to go back to the beginning of the series and start again. I’ll read them in sequence now, over a period of a few weeks and hope I can cling on to the thread of detail this time.
Anyway, in Book 1, The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robin has become engaged to Matthew and has taken a job as a temp with Cormoran Strike. She doesn’t know it yet, but her life is about to take a very sudden and sharp turn.
She is at home, washing up, and explaining to Matthew about her day at the detective agency and he is not taking her as seriously as she might like. She examines her feelings and finds Matthew fails to live up to her expectations
“Robin felt as though her own worth had been impugned. Strike had seemed interested in the things she had found online. Strike expressed gratitude for her efficiency and initiative.
She waited until (Matthew) had walked away into the sitting room before turning off the tap. There was, she noticed, a fragment of frozen pea caught in the setting of her engagement ring.”
The engagement ring, symbol of her hopes for the future, now sullied and defaced by a fragment of pea. Is this a sign that her engagement is doomed, that she will realise that Matthew is not the man for her? I wouldn’t be surprised, and it’s a very nice piece of writing.
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