The Sea Book (Conservation for Kids)

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I could see then the brilliance of the writing but couldn’t relate to the hero's frame of mind, one that sets in later in life. He is so easy to mock, yet there is something there, something relatable, something so human in that selfish human way we all have. It reflects what’s going on in the sky, and like the never-ending conversation inside our heads, it unceasingly clamors on and on.

We quickly revise our opinion that he seemed to be a mildly eccentric but likeable ageing actor, who liked to have his ego massaged every now and then. Es entonces cuando Charles cae en la cuenta de que no es suficiente con escribir una autobiografía maquillando sus faltas, reconociendo humilde que quizá no ha sido un ángel y, de un modo discreto, pidiendo perdón por el daño que haya podido causar. Anchovy paste on hot buttered toast, then baked beans and kidney beans with chopped celery, tomatoes, lemon juice and olive oil… Then bananas and cream with white sugar. He leaves his apartment in London for a godforsaken village somewhere in the north and a quaint house surrounded by the sea. He sets about trying to convince her to leave her husband and run away to him, and this is the scenario that plays out over most of the novel.

My own feeling that I have ‘won the game’ comes partly from a sense that he has been disappointed by life, whereas I have not.

Sin embargo, las entradas en el diario que describen las comidas ofrecen una pista valiosa porque, por mucho que Charles se empeñe en adornarlo, el lector sabe cuánto hay de delicioso en una sopa de lata enriquecida con salchichas, cebollas y manzana, en unas lonchas de corned beef acompañadas de coles hervidas y castañas encurtidas, o en unas tostadas untadas con pasta de anchoa, con judías cocidas de lata y apio encima. What innumerable chains of fatal causes one’s vanity, one’s jealousy, one’s cupidity, one’s cowardice have laid upon the earth to be traps for others.

Between his exquisite observations on the ever changing sea and maybe less exquisite, yet interesting and unique meals, the scene is almost ideal. After forty long years, Mary Hartley Smith remains in Charles’ heart as his one true and only love, or so he claims.