The deathbed promise, the sel...

The deathbed promise, the self-denial, the wholesale sacrifice. And the more absurd the better. This was what she had given in to. And not for love of her father, either (her mother implied), but for the thrill of it. Sheer noble perversity. - P40

Enid would find herself pumping water from contaminated wells and breaking ice in winter washbasins and battling flies in summer and using an outdoor toilet. Scrub boards and coal-oil lamps instead of washing machines and electricity. Trying to look after sick people in those conditions and cope with housework and poor weaselly children as well. - P43

"But sometimes it’s a devil of a lot of work," she said. "This being the mother of a saint." - P44

But when he actually laid a finger on her shoulder, tapping for attention, when he bent forward, almost touching or maybe really touching—she could not tell for sure—her thick hair that was wild even in a bob, then she felt forgiven. In a way, she felt honored. Restored to seriousness and to respect. - P46

[100자평] 바스커빌가의 사냥개

바스커빌가의 사냥개 ㅣ 민음사 세계문학전집 448
아서 코난 도일 지음, 박산호 옮김 / 민음사 / 2024년 11월

새 번역이 박산호 작가라면, 원작을 또 얼마나 잘 살렸을지 기대가 됩니다.

부고 쓰기 프로그램은 처음에는 실용적인 차원에서 내게...

부고 쓰기 프로그램은 처음에는 실용적인 차원에서 내게 도움이 되었다. 그것은 이혼에 쏠려 있던 나의 관심을 딴 데로 돌려주었다. 그때까지 마치 충성스러운 개처럼 오직 남편과 파탄 난 우리의 결혼 생활만을 향해 질주하고 또 질주하던 생각들이 이제 다른 사람들의 삶에 머물기 시작했다.

-알라딘 eBook <이름 없는 여자의 여덟 가지 인생> (이미리내 지음, 정해영 옮김) 중에서 - P14

3은 사람들이 쉽게 받아들이는 경향이 있는 마법의 숫자다. 한 단어는 너무 제한적이고 둘은 마치 이중생활을 암시하는 것처럼 뭔가 꺼림칙하게 느껴질 수 있다. 그러나 셋은 삼두정치와 3부작, 삼위일체에서처럼 완벽한 균형을 암시한다. 사람들은 너무 작지도 너무 크지도 않은 3이라는 숫자에서 편안함을 느낀다.

-알라딘 eBook <이름 없는 여자의 여덟 가지 인생> (이미리내 지음, 정해영 옮김) 중에서 - P15

우리 모두 자신의 삶에 대한 온전한 부고를 가질 자격이 있지 않을까? 모든 삶과 죽음이, 가장 눈에 띄지 않고 민폐가 되는 삶조차도, 말해야 할 중요한 이야기를 품고 있다고 믿고 싶었다. 그리고 나는 굴러다니는 풀들의 마지막 휘파람에 귀 기울이고 그것을 받아 적기 위해 그곳에 있었다.

-알라딘 eBook <이름 없는 여자의 여덟 가지 인생> (이미리내 지음, 정해영 옮김) 중에서 - P16

묵미란은 이상해 보이는 외모에 걸맞게 이상한 성을 가진 노파였다. 내가 묵이라는 성을 가진 한국인을 만난 건 그때가 처음이었다. 그녀는 머리 전체가 새하얀 데다 부스스하게 들떠 있어서, 마치 머리 주위로 커다란 훈륜(暈輪)이 걸려 있는 것처럼 보였다. 팔다리는 대게처럼 길고 가늘었다. 형광등 불빛 아래서 나는 그녀의 몸을 지도처럼 읽을 수 있을 것만 같았다. 투명한 피부를 통해 십자로 얽힌 산길 같은 핏줄이 자줏빛과 연푸른색으로 드러났다. 눈부신 백색광이 높은 광대뼈 밑에 한 쌍의 나비 같은 그림자를 드리웠다.

-알라딘 eBook <이름 없는 여자의 여덟 가지 인생> (이미리내 지음, 정해영 옮김) 중에서 - P18

His new program was met with ...

His new program was met with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. Lots of patients reported they felt mentally and physically better after they had participated in the arrangements for their passing. It gave them a sense of control and reassurance, and an invaluable opportunity to derive their own meaning from their short journeys on earth. - P2

As I listened to the clicks of her heels fade away, I wondered if divorce would be any easier the second time around. - P3

The obituary-writing program first helped me on a practical level. It diverted my attention from divorce. My thoughts, which until now had raced back to my husband and our fallen marriage again and again like a faithful dog, began to dwell on the lives of others. - P3

Three is the magical number that people tend to fall for. A single word seems impossibly limiting, while two may feel unpalatable, as if they imply a double life. But three suggests a perfect balance, as in triumvirate and trilogy and trinity. People feel comfortable with it- neither too little nor too much. - P4

Mook Miran was a strange-looking woman with an equally strange name - it was my first time meeting a Korean with the last name Mook. She had big frizzy hair, which was entirely and evenly white, and it hung around her head like a halo. Her limbs were long and thin like a snow crab‘s. Under the fluorescent light I felt I could read her body like a map. Veins showed through her translucent skin, like crisscrossed mountain paths, mostly mauve and pale blue. The bleaching light also drew a pair of butterfly-like shadows under her high cheekbones. - P6

˝Because you hear one thing a...

"Because you hear one thing and another," Mrs. Green said. "You hear that sometimes a woman might take some pills. They get these pills to take for when their period is late and if they take them just like the doctor says and for a good purpose that’s fine, but if they take too many and for a bad purpose their kidneys are wrecked. Am I right?" "I’ve never come in contact with a case like that," Enid said. - P31

Mrs. Quinn was going to die, at the age of twenty-seven. (That was the age she gave herself—Enid would have put some years on it, but once an illness had progressed this far age was hard to guess.) When her kidneys stopped working altogether, her heart would give out and she would die. - P32

Enid had been in the same class as Rupert, though she did not mention that to Mrs. Green. She felt some embarrassment now because he was one of the boys—in fact, the main one—that she and her girlfriends had teased and tormented. - P33

Impossible that he would have forgotten. But he treated Enid as if she were a new acquaintance, his wife’s nurse, come into his house from anywhere at all. And Enid took her cue from him. - P33

Lois and Sylvie were seven and six years old, and as wild as little barn cats. - P34