“Vigil
half turned in his chair, raised a hand, and when the waiter arrived he ordered
two more bottles of the mineral water. He smiled at David. He was not an ugly
man until he smiled.”
—Ron Faust, Nowhere
to Run. Turner Publishing Company, 2013 (© 1981). Page 57. Captain Vigil, a
Mexican policeman, is questioning David Rhodes about the murder of a young woman.
[No Comment is a series of posts featuring passages that
caught my attention. It may be the idea, the texture, or the presence that
grabbed my eye. There is no analysis provided, and it invariably is out of
context.]
That last line...those are the kind I like reading in a story.
ReplyDeleteRon Faust's work is loaded with beautifully designed sentences. This one spoke to me because it is so startling. It plays against expectation--he wasn't ugly until he smiled.
ReplyDelete