En smakebit på søndag - A Thousand Ships

Denna vecka är det Mari på Flukten fra virkeligheten som står som värd för smakebiten. Dela med dig en snutt av det du läser just nu - inga spoilers!

Det går pruttdåligt med mitt läsande. En och samma bok har jag hållit på med i två veckor(!) - inte för att den är dålig, tvärt om, det bara funkar inte att läsa. Men lyssnar gör jag i alla fall, så här kommer en snutt från den senast färdiglyssnade. Med reservation för interpunktionen och att jag kan ha hört/uppfattat fel:


But this is the women's war just as much as it is the men's. And the poet will look at their pain, the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men, and he will tell it - or he will tell nothing at all. They have waited long enough for their turn. And for what reason? Too many men telling the stories of men to each other. Do they see themselves reflected in the glory of Achilles? Do their aging bodies feel strong when they describe his youth? Is the fat belly of a feasted poet reminscent of the hard muscles of Hector? The idea is absurd. And yet there must be some reason why they tell and retell tales of men. If he complains to me again, I will ask him this: Is Oinone less of a hero than Menelaos? He looses his wife so he stirs up an army to bring her back to him, costing countless lives and creating countless widows, orphans and slaves. Oinone looses her husband - and she raises their son. Wich of those is the more heroic act?

Riktigt, riktigt bra! A Thousand Ships är shortlisted för Women's Prize for Fiction 2020.