“His voice was low and soft, a piece of silk you might keep in a drawer and pull out only on rare occasions, just to feel it between your fingers.” – from All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
The source of the sentence
That is Marie-Laure describing her great-uncle in All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. It would be a beautiful piece of imagery even if Marie-Laure were not blind. Knowing she cannot see with her eyes gives the sentence a deeper meaning.
What does this sentence make me do?
As a reader, it makes me shut my eyes and pretend I have a piece of silk to gently rub between my fingers. What a clever way to describe the heightened hearing of a person without sight!
As a lover of rich prose, the sentence makes me stop and read it again.
As a writer, it makes me grab a pen and write it in my writer’s notebook so I can revisit it any time I want to.
Pro or Con?
If you’ve followed my blog very long, you know I’m not a fast reader. Perhaps my noticing this particular line from Pulitzer Prize winner All the Light We Cannot See is a benefit of being a slow reader — something I’ve always considered a fault.
Until my next blog post . . .
I hope you have a good book to read. If you’re a writer, I wish you productive writing time.
Janet
Janet's Writing Blog 