Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The world of adults

At the time Lola was twenty-two, and she was strong-willed and smart, up to a point, of course, because if she'd been really smart, she wouldn't have gotten involved with me. She was fun, but responsible too, and she had an amazing gift for happiness. I don't think we were too bad for each other. We got on well, we started going out, and after a few months we got married. We had a child, and when the boy was two years old, we got divorced. She introduced me to the world of adults, although I only realized that after we split up. With Lola, I was an adult, living among adults; I had adult problems and desires, and reacted like an adult; even the reasons for our separation were unambiguously adult. The aftermath was long and sometimes painful, but the upside was that is brought a degree of uncertainty back into my life, which what I had really been missing.

— from The Skating Rink, by Roberto Bolaño.

2 comments:

claire said...

I didn't realise how much I miss reading Bolaño till this. Also didn't realise how much I miss reading your blog.

Isabella K said...

Glad to hear from you again, Claire. I also hadn't realized how much I missed Bolaño -- good thing there are a few more of his that I can store up for a rainy day.