In A Different Light by Elizabeth Taylor, 1961
The magic trick:
Showing the way life resists plot twists, even the ones we try to manufacture
Elizabeth Taylor takes us to a Greek island today – on holiday from England. And it’s a strange trip.
Strange because it’s all so normal.
I read on and on expecting a dramatic turn. Whirlwind romance, surprise exit, some kind of painful lesson learned. Anything?
As it became clear that this just wasn’t going to be that kind of story, I was able to see that the lack of easy-to-decipher plot twist wasn’t a bug; it was the story’s primary feature. The characters too are looking for the same thing. This trip to Greece could’ve been a turning point. Perhaps, they feel, it should’ve been.
But it’s not. It’s a story about the way life continues on, almost impervious to any possible plot twists you try to find.
And that’s quite a trick on Taylor’s part.
The selection:
“I wasn’t complaining,” he said quickly, wondering if there had been impatience in her voice – even, perhaps, contempt. In fact, he had wanted – and still wanted – everything to be quite different from at home, and had already written almost boastingly to tell his wife about the shower.
“I know that the man who understands how to work the pumps has gone to Athens to have his chest X-rayed,” Jane said. “He will be back on the boat the day after tomorrow and then you’ll be all right.”
“I wasn’t complaining,” he said again, thinking, Two more days!
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