These paper boats of mine are meant to dance on the ripples of hours, and not reach any destination... Rabindranath Tagore

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past...F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby

We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.
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On the way to the river are the old dormitories, used for something else now, with their fairy-tale turrets, painted white and gold and blue. When we think of the past it's the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.
--from Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale

Reading is the sole means by which we slip, involuntarily, often helplessly, into another's skin, another's voice, another's soul.
- Joyce Carol Oates

Friday, August 10, 2012

The Red Piano Begins


The Red Piano ~ Andre LeBlanc. Wilkins Farago. 2008. Australia.
Illustrated by Barroux

To Zhu-Xiao-Mei, the virtuoso pianist who, in April 2007, told me her story and encouraged me to interpret it with 'imagination' for the children of today. - A.L.


Opening words:
Zhangjiake Camp 46-19 on China's border with Inner Mangolia is blighted by an eerie moonlight. 
In the hut, the cramped rooms reek of warm sweat, the foul smell of extinguished coal fires and packed earth. Crammed together, the comrades are already sleeping on the bare ground. Taking small, careful steps, the young girl leaves the communal house.

Comment:
Always love a few brush strokes of history in a tale - especially dark history!

Manual labour
Children re-educated
Cultural madness


Linking to:
Book Beginnings on Fridays

8 comments:

JC Jones said...

What an interesting choice. Here is my post:
BBOF

Laurel-Rain Snow said...

This one sounds suspenseful. Thanks for sharing.

Here's MY FRIDAY MEMES POST

Chris Thompson said...

I like the details in the opening. It really brings everything to life.

Here's my Book Beginning.

Eva said...

Great beginning. I have to find out more about this book.

Amber said...

Great opener and I agree with your comment entirely.

Here's my beginning:
http://morosebookshelf.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-beginnings-devil-in-blue-dress.html

srivalli said...

Great beginning! Wonder where the girl is going?

test said...

whoa, this looks like a goody!

http://www.guiltlessreading.blogspot.ca/2012/08/friday-56-book-beginnings-last-policeman.html

Anonymous said...

Hard way to live each day without....

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