Temina – Gillian Flynn vs. Holly – Stephen King

Naj začnem s Temina, od Gillian Flynn. Prebrala sem jo v dveh kosih. Razlog je bila glavna junakinja – Libby Day. Je oseba, ki je bila globoko ranjena in je razvila obupen, bodičast značaj. Stežka sem se premikala skozi prve strani. Zagrabilo me je šele, ko je v iskanje resnice potegnilo tudi njo. Še vedno je pihala na vsakega s katerim je prišla v stik, a v tem se je skrivala njena iskrenost.

Nekje proti koncu branja sem ugotovila, da je po tej zgodbi že narejen film in da junakinjo igra Charlize Theron. Igralka mi je všeč, nisem pa si je predstavljala kot Libby Day. Filmska Libby je previsoka, prelepa in premehka. V romanu je Libby Day 147cm visoka rdečelaska (rdeča barva je v tej zgodbi pomemben simbol), pobarvana na blond, z velikimi joški in grenka kot žolč. Tukaj imata obe junakinji, Libby in Holly (Stephen King) skupno točko; ne osvojita te na prvo žogo. Holly sem brala, brez da bi prebrala Kingove prejšnje romane, v katerih jo že predstavi. Nikoli je nisem spoznala kot deklico, zato mi je šel njen miselni tok malce na živce. Težje je bilo razumeti razkol med njeno negotovostjo in trdnim prepričanjem v nekaterih stavareh. Bila je detektivka, a ogromno je razmišljala o Covidu, politiki v ZDA ter odnosu z mamo. Vse skupaj je razvleklo Kingovo pisanje in pustilo za sabo tako velik vtis, kot samo iskanje morilca. Je knjiga o času pandemije ali o brutalnih umorih?  Lahko je oboje. Smrt in iskanje krivca je konec koncev skupna točka obeh tem v tej zgodbi.

eng – Let me start with Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I read it in two stretches. The reason was the protagonist, Libby Day. She’s someone who’s been deeply wounded and has grown a desperate, thorny personality. I struggled through the opening pages. The story only grabbed me once she was pulled into the search for the truth. She still snapped at everyone she came into contact with, but that was where her honesty lived.

Somewhere near the end, I realized the story had already been adapted into a film and that Charlize Theron played Libby. I like the actress, but I never imagined her as Libby Day. The film’s Libby is too tall, too beautiful, too soft. In the novel, Libby Day is a 147-centimeter redhead—red being an important symbol in the story—dyed blond, with big breasts and a bitterness sharp as bile. Here, Libby and Holly (Stephen King) share a common trait: neither of them wins you over on the first try.

I read Holly without having read King’s earlier novels in which she’s introduced. I never met her as a girl, and because of that, her stream of thought got on my nerves at times. It was harder to grasp the split between her insecurity and her absolute certainty about certain things. She was a detective, yet she spent a huge amount of time thinking about COVID, U.S. politics, and her relationship with her mother.

All of this stretched King’s writing out and left as strong an impression as the hunt for the killer itself. Is it a novel about the time of the pandemic, or about brutal murders? It can be both. Death and the search for the guilty are, after all, the common ground between the two themes in this story.

Temina me ni osvojila takoj. Libby Day je zagrenjena, neprijetna in čustveno zanemarjena odrasla ženska, ki jo je življenje že v otroštvu zmlelo brez milosti. A ko se neha upirati resnici in vanjo vstopi, roman eksplodira. Skozi vso zgodbo se Libby razvija, a še vedno ostaja celovito zgrajena junakinja. Flynnova ne išče simpatičnosti, išče pritisk.

Roman Holly gre v drugo smer. King v svoj lik vnese toliko družbene vsebine, da kriminalna zgodba izgublja ostrino. Covid, politika in družinski odnosi preglasijo umore, namesto da bi jih poglobili. Dobila sem občutek, da je roman razpršen in da bi bila junakinja lahko bolje zgrajena.

Kateri roman me je bolj pritegnil? Temina me je bolj držala. Je zgodba, ki ne popušča in ne prizanaša.

eng- Dark Places didn’t win me over right away. Libby Day is a bitter, abrasive, emotionally neglected adult woman, someone whose life crushed her without mercy when she was still a child. But once she stops resisting the truth and steps into it, the novel explodes. Throughout the story Libby develops, yet she remains a fully constructed character. Flynn isn’t looking for likability; she’s looking for pressure.

The novel Holly moves in a different direction. King loads his character with so much social commentary that the crime story loses its sharp edge. Covid, politics, and family relationships drown out the murders instead of deepening them. I was left with the feeling that the novel is scattered, and that the protagonist could have been built more solidly.

Which novel pulled me in more? Dark Places held me tighter. It’s a story that doesn’t let up and doesn’t show mercy.