Friday, October 06, 2006

This (among other reasons) is why I've always liked reading David Malouf

Because every now and then -- as here, in 'Mrs Porter and the Rock' from his new book Every Move You Make -- you come across something like this:

'She had never fathomed what men were really up to, what they wanted. What it was they were asking for, but never openly, and when they didn't get it, brooded and fretted over and clenched their jaws and inwardly went dark ...'

Indeed.

5 comments:

genevieve said...

Kerryn, surely women do it too. Then there's when you half-guess what someone wants, play dumb and watch them seethe inside their own personal moratorium.

Kerryn Goldsworthy said...

I do think women are much more likely to try to resolve tension and strain by putting their cards on the table -- even though my experience has been that when you do that, blokes just sit there waiting for your mouth to stop moving.

genevieve said...

I think I've suffered from having a female parent who wants you to guess everything so she can contradict you....!!! She doesn't wait for your mouth to stop moving though.

genevieve said...

More's the pity.

Anonymous said...

Oh god, sounds like someone I know very well...