More metaphors

by Jennifer Bryce

Here are some more metaphors and phrases I’ve discovered in my reading:

Leaning forward into Bastien’s breath	Alan Hollinghurst: The Sparsholt Affair, p.121
The soft jolt of happiness	Alan Hollinghurst: The Sparsholt Affair, p.179
The moment … to act moved stiflingly closer	Alan Hollinghurst: The Sparsholt Affair, p.222
Later in the night, spooned into Suzy’s back	Richard Flanagan: First Person, p.43
His gaze skidding around the room	Richard Flanagan: First Person, p.128
Describing musical improvisation: to cast off from the notated shores	Virginia Lloyd: Girls at the Piano, p.160
That springtime fragment of a boy’s youth	Michael Ondaatje: Warlight p.44
Expressionless as royalty	Michael Ondaatje: Warlight p.86
The howl of a train	Michael Ondaatje: Warlight p.230
My maths was rusting up	Ian McEwan: Enduring Love p.76
Astonishment loosens the hinge of her jaw	Ian McEwan: Enduring Love p.83
You are in love, at a point where pride and apprehension scuffle within you	Julian Barnes: A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters p.238
History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago	Julian Barnes: A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters p.241
He was dying, just a whisper of himself.	Germaine Greer on the death of Harry Hooton, cited in Elizabeth Kleinhenz: Germaine, p.75
Brooding like a storm	Toni Jordan: The Fragments, p.20
An underlying spine of melody	Toni Jordan: The Fragments, p.203

It’s been a while since I’ve added some favourite ‘metaphors’ (or great descriptions) to this section. Lately I’ve been very busy with a writing class but have read some great books, so here are some more metaphors/ descriptions that I’d like to share:

Pale amniotic light	Simon Mawer: The Glass Room, p. 400
His gaze slid away	Ian McEwan: The Children Act, p.160
The whole landscape is holding its breath	Helen Garner: True Stories, p.95
The house hunches itself in the deepening dark	Helen Garner: True Stories, p.97
A shadow of betrayal	Jane Harper: The Lost Man, p. 178
Brutal heat	Jane Harper: The Lost Man, p.323
Dead Hector: I spread the linen sheet gently over his poor ruined face and tiptoed away, leaving him alone under the indifferent stars.	Pat Barker: The Silence of the Girls, p.227
After Achilles’ death: the great roar of absence	Pat Barker: The Silence of the Girls, p.308
The cicadas stitch their song into the day	Carrie Tiffany: Exploded View, p.167
I felt a rope of fear uncoil in my stomach	Esi Edugyan: Washington Black, p.70
His face vacant as a freshly washed plate	Esi Edugyan: Washington Black, p.387
He changed his clothes and grunted off to his shed	Jen Hutchison: Motherling, p. 28
An unmoving clotted silence	Stanislaw Lem: Solaris, p.188
As quiet as cancer	Adam Roberts: The Snow, p. 1
A big 600 page thudder of a book	Adam Roberts: The Snow, p. 202
Sheep dog my thoughts back into their pen	Adam Roberts: The Snow, p. 227
Amplified silence	Adam Roberts: The Snow, p. 234