名著阅读

Denver knew that her mother was through with it — for now anyway. The single slow blink of hereyes; the bottom lip sliding up slowly to cover the top; and then a nostril sigh, like the snuff of acandle flame — signs that Sethe had reached the point beyond which she would not go.
"Well, I think the baby got plans," said Denver. "What plans?""I don't know, but the dress holding on to you got to mean something.""Maybe," said Sethe. "Maybe it does have plans."Whatever they were or might have been, Paul D messed them up for good. With a table and a loudmale voice he had rid 124 of its claim to local fame. Denver had taught herself to take pride in thecondemnation Negroes heaped on them; the assumption that the haunting was done by an evilthing looking for more. None of them knew the downright pleasure of enchantment, of not suspecting but knowing the things behind things. Her brothers had known, but it scared them;Grandma Baby knew, but it saddened her. None could appreciate the safety of ghost company.
Even Sethe didn't love it.
She just took it for granted — like a sudden change in the weather.
But it was gone now. Whooshed away in the blast of a hazelnut man's shout, leaving Denver'sworld flat, mostly, with the exception of an emerald closet standing seven feet high in the woods.
Her mother had secrets — things she wouldn't tell; things she halfway told. Well, Denver had themtoo. And hers were sweet — sweet as lily-of-the-valley cologne.
丹芙知道妈妈讲完了———至少目前如此。塞丝的眼睛缓缓地眨了一下，下嘴唇慢慢抿上来盖住上嘴唇；然后是鼻孔里的一声叹息，就像一点烛火的熄灭———标志着她的讲述到此为止。
“嗯，我想那个娃娃有计划。”丹芙说。“什么计划？”“我不知道，可是那件搂着你的裙子肯定有说道。”“也许吧，”塞丝道，“也许它真的有计划。”无论她们曾经如何，或者本该如何，保罗·D都不可挽回地搅乱了她们的生活。他用一张桌子和雄性的怒吼，使124号失去了在当地享有恶名的资格。丹芙早已学会了将黑人们压在她们身上的谴责引以为荣；他们把闹鬼者想当然地说成一个不知餍足的恶鬼，她也感到满意。他们谁都不知道闹鬼的真正乐趣，不是怀疑，而是洞悉事物背后有事物的乐趣。她的哥哥们知道，可他们给吓着了；贝比奶奶知道，可她因此悲伤起来。谁都不会品味鬼魂相伴的安全感。
甚至塞丝也不喜欢。
她只不过是逆来顺受———权当面对天气的突然变化。
可是现在它走了。在榛色男人的那阵吼叫的狂风中飞走了。丹芙的世界骤然萧索，只剩下林中一间七英尺高的祖母绿密室。
她的妈妈有秘密———她不愿讲的事情，讲了一半的事情。瞧，丹芙也有。而且她的是香甜的———好像铃兰花香水一般香甜。
背景阅读

本书简介：

《宠儿》是托妮·莫里森最震撼人心、最成熟的代表作，现已经成为当代文学史上不朽的经典，也是美国文学史上最畅销的作品之一。小说完成于1987年，1988年即获得美国普利策小说奖。2006年《纽约时报》召集125位知名作家、评论家、编辑及文坛泰斗等选出自己心目中“25年来最佳美国小说”，《宠儿》得票最高，名列第一。

“你的爱太浓了！”——一个不可能重复的故事！！！
女黑奴塞丝怀着身孕只身从肯塔基的奴隶庄园逃到俄亥俄，奴隶主循踪追至；为了使儿女不再重复自己做奴隶的悲惨命运，她毅然杀死了自己刚刚会爬的幼女宠儿……十八年后宠儿还魂重返人间，和塞丝、塞丝的女儿丹芙以及塞丝的情人保罗•D生活在同一幢房子里。她不但加倍地向母亲索取着爱，甚至纠缠和引诱保罗•D，不择手段地扰乱和摧毁母亲刚刚回暖的生活……全书充满苦涩的诗意和紧张的悬念。

作者简介：

托妮·莫里森，美国当代最重要的女作家之一。1931年生于美国俄亥俄州，曾担任兰登书屋编辑、资深编辑，1989年起任普林斯顿大学教授。主要代表作有《最蓝的眼睛》、《秀拉》、《所罗门之歌》、《宠儿》、《爵士乐》、《天堂》等，曾获美国普利策小说奖、美国图书评论协会奖等多项大奖。1993年获诺贝尔文学奖，是历史上得此殊荣的唯一黑人女作家。