In her new book, A Certain Age, author Lynne Truss includes a monologue on John, a widower who ‘thinks he is dynamic but he is not’.As he thumbs through his vinyl records with all their memories, he ponders the way young people have all their music on memory sticks (‘like chewing gum’) or on iPods the size of cigarette packets. John expresses his disgust with these new-fangled devices in which so much music is squashed together “like musical spermatozoa.” (p63)
This widower also expresses his views on the inappropriateness of people’s support when he says, “Everyone’s an expert on me and David, see; everyone’s our unofficial counselor; that’s what happens when you’re bereaved.” (p70)
Source: Lynne Truss, A Certain Age (London: Profile Books, 2007). A review of this book is available on Reviewing Books and Movies.
Image: Women in grief.