THE OPPOSITE HOUSE
Book ID/图书代码： 02000006B09482
English Summary/英文概要： Maja Carmen Carrera, the daughter of a black Cuban couple, was only five years old when the family emigrated from the Caribbean to London, leaving her with one complete memory: a woman singing eerily at the farewell party while little Maja and an older girl peered out from beneath a table. Now, almost twenty years later, Maja herself is a singer with a small band, in love with her boyfriend, pregnant and haunted by what she calls ’her Cuba.’ Growing up in London, she struggles to negotiate her history and the sense that speaking the Spanish or the English of her people’s conquistadors makes her less of a black girl. But she is unable to find in herself the Ewe, Igbo, or Swahili of her roots. It seems all that’s left is silence. Distance from Cuba deepens Maja’s mother’s faith in Santeria - the fusion of Catholicism and West African religion - and its Yoruba gods, but it also divides the family as her father rails against his wife’s superstitions and the lost dreams of the Castro revolution. On the other side of the reality wall, Yemaya Saramagua lives in the Somewhere house with two doors: one opening to London, the other to Lagos. Yemaya is troubled by the ease with which her fellow gods have disguised themselves as saints and reappeared under different names and faces. As Yemaya and Maja seek out their own truth as to where home lies, they come to the realization that transformation can be at once painful and exhilarating indeed.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： Helen Oyeyemi繼《遺失翅膀的天使》又一耀眼之作，經由兩個年輕女性的故事，發覺信仰與身分認同之間的真實性，作者道出在現實與神話之間那道磚牆是如此的薄若蟬翼。
瑪嘉五歲離開古巴全家移居倫敦，而她對古巴僅有的記憶是在她們家庭的告別餐會中，小瑪嘉偶然往隔壁桌瞥見的一位唱歌的女人，歌聲神秘又吸引人 。
20多年後的今日，瑪嘉成為歌手並與亞倫相戀。因為意外的懷孕，讓她開始將心中的古巴情愫縈繞心頭。古巴出生倫敦長大的她，總是面臨語言文化…等種族上的問題。他總是選擇沉默寡言，逃避外界的紛擾。
瑪嘉的母親則是沉溺於Santeria 的信仰(一種結合天主教與西非宗教的信仰)，於神龕前燃燒紙花祭拜女神以作為思鄉的慰藉。她的父親對這樣的迷信行為相當不屑，每次震怒的同時，其實也是因失去卡斯楚革命夢想所牽引出的一種情緒發洩。
在真實世界的另一面，Santeria宗教之密使Yemaya Saramagua，居住於無名之境。這裡有兩個通道：一個通往倫敦，一個通往奈及利亞的拉哥斯。Yemaya感到不安，因為她的隨從可以隨意改變自己面貌將自己假扮為聖者，她卻無法辨識…
作者從古巴神話中得到靈感，善用抒情的寫作技巧，現實世界與神話世界穿插，使故事處處充滿緊張動人情節。THE OPPOSITE HOUSE 所帶來的是一個跨區域及語言，子女受父母焦慮心境影響的感受。
Awards/获奖情况：
About the Author/作者介绍： 1984年於在奈及利亞出生，四歲隨著父母舉家移民至英國，並在倫敦長大。Helen Oyeyemi 7歲就開始寫作。首次推出小說即獲出版《哈利波特》的著名出版社布魯姆伯里（Bloomsbury）垂青，預付40萬英鎊稿費，成為英國出版史上稿費最高的年輕作家之一，現就讀於劍橋大學。Helen Oyeyemi (born September 28, 1984) is a British novelist. She was born in Nigeria and moved to London when she was four. She wrote her first novel, The Icarus Girl, while still at school studying for her A levels. Upon sending the first 20 pages to a publisher, she was offered two-book deal worth a rumoured ￡400,000.
Oyeyemi read Social and Political Sciences at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 2006. At Cambridge, two of her plays, Juniper’s Whitening and Victimese, were performed by fellow students, to critical acclaim, and subsequently published by Methuen. In 2007 Bloomsbury is to publish her second novel, The Opposite House, which will take inspiration from Cuban mythology. She lives in London, but currently resides in New York.
Format:TRADE PAPERBACK
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
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