The best part of the book focuses on Brazil’s 7-1
thrashing
in the semi-final at the hands of Germany. Mr Knausgaard’s description of David Luiz, a
defender
whose mistakes cost Brazil the game, captures the sense of panic at the Mineirão stadium. And Mr Ekelund’s
portrait
of Rio after the match is
haunting
. He sees “a restaurant that’s open but empty of customers, hundreds of vacant seats, and the rain pours.” The morning after, the impersonal sounds of a city reluctantly back at work—“a
jackhammer
…a street cleaner sweeping up a pile of leaves, a taxi moving at full speed, a bus thundering inexorably on”—
signify
definitively that Brazil has been knocked out. For a book which, at heart, is no more than two friends chatting about football, there is a lot to like.
该书最精彩的部分在于德国队以7-1的优势在半决赛中彻底击败了巴西队。Knausgaard认为后卫——David Luiz的失误导致了巴西的大败，这引起了Mineirão体育馆上观众内心的悲痛。而Ekelund先生笔下Rio在比赛结束时的肖像画，将永远的让人无法忘怀。他看到“餐厅是营业，然而里面却空无一人，上百空缺的位子，店外下着大雨……”第二天早晨，这座没有人情味的城市重新开始了工作——“一个手提箱工人……保洁员清扫着一堆落叶，出租车加足马力穿梭在城市中，公交车“发出无情的隆隆声。”——这意味着巴西最终淘汰出局。这本书，本质上，无非是两个朋友谈论足球，然而其中:却包含着许多闪光之处。
