Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A Familiar Sentence?

I am in the middle of John Green's 'The Fault In Our Stars'. And perhaps it is because I am unable to sleep anymore, exahusted all day, wide awake as soon as my head hits the pillow, then ready for a deep sleep as soon as the day begins...but I was struck by this  line:

As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.

Personally, I think that is a beautiful line, perfect for its simplicity.

But when I told Tyler, he thought it sounded cliche, a line he's heard a million times before.

Perhaps the simplicity of the sentence makes it feel familiar?

But I really don't believe I've ever heard love described that way. 

What do you think?

11 comments:

  1. Quiet, Tyler, I liked it, too! I'm attempting to sneak pages as I work...it's hard to do since I keep getting choked up by passages/events.

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    1. I finished it a few hours ago. Choked up is an understatement!

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  2. That sentence stuck out to me too when I read it! I feel like it's really hard to describe love without sounding sappy or cliche, and that was SO unique.

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  3. I don't think I've ever heard love described that way, either. It is very simple and everyone can relate to it. Maybe that's why it felt familiar to him.

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  4. I'm with Jennifer Pickrell: "Quiet, Tyler!" ;)

    That line is perfectly stated: simple, elegant, quiet. And yes, I think the simplicity makes it seem familiar, but it resonates more as a universal truth rather than a well worn cliche.

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  5. I absolutely loved that line, too. And I actually paused and thought about how I had never heard love described in that way before when I read it.

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  6. how amazing that I am right there in this book as well.

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  7. Lovely writing. Perhaps it sounds familiar because we all can identify with it! But I've never heard it before.

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  8. I don't think it's cliched at all. Quite beautiful actually.

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