"No one ever expects that they might some day find themselves with a dead woman in their arms, a woman whose face they will never see again, but whose name they will remember. No one ever expects anybody to die at the least opportune of moments, even though this happens all the time, nor does it ever occur to use that someone entirely unforeseen might die beside us."
- Javier Maris, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, translated from Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa
I've had this book for a long time. I don't remember why I bought it nor why it took me so long to pick it up, but when Marias sadly died earlier this year, I learned more about him and realized it was time. So far i'm impressed by both the sheer length of his sentences and his powerful observations. For example: I suspect that this early line will be a recurring theme of the novel: "... the misery of not knowing what to do and of having to act regardless, because one has to fill up the insistent time that continues to pass without waiting for us, we move more slowly: having to decide without knowing, having to act without knowing and yet foreseeing, and that is the greatest and most common of misfortunes, foreseeing what will come afterwards, it is a misfortune generally perceived as quiet a minor one, yet experienced by everyone every day."
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