Sunday Snippet

Of Kate Atkinson's books, this is one of my favourites. 'Emotionally Weird' is described by the author as 'a comic novel'. And so it is. I am including two snippets (of which the first portrays thoughts and the second depicts a scenario, in a rather whimsical manner):

'What if I didn't leave Bob? What if our slouch towards commitment ended at the altar? What would it be like if I occupied the wife-shaped space next to Bob? My life as a wife. In a Barratt's starter-home, with an avocado bathroom and a three-piece suite in leather. If we ever had a child (curious idea) I thought we should call it Inertia. Although our occasional dull missionary encounters didn't seem passionate enough to produce anything as real and lasting as a child, even one called Inertia, and Bob (more likely to consult Mr. Spock than Dr. Spock) wasn't fit to be in charge of a push-and-pull lawnmower let alone a baby in a pram.'

'On the dull stainless-steel draining.bvoard a huge raw slamon was laid out as if waiting for a post mortem.
'We're having a party,' Archie said, indicating the salmon, rather morosely. It didn't look much of a party-going sort of fish; its silver lamé scales may have gleamed under the kitchen lights but its dead eye was lustreless and fixed and it had leaked blood onto the draining-board. The cat made a great pretence of not seeing the fish.'

'Emotionally Weird' by Kate Atkinson