When you live on a scattered islet, you want to get back to the mainland. That’s the insight I had when reading Zoe Heller’s excellent novel What Was She Thinking? (retitled Notes on a Scandal because of the film adaptation, but I’m stubborn). There’s a scene where the very lonely narrator encounters another isolated person and recoils. She doesn’t want to be around someone like that; she wants people, real people. A person trapped on a tiny island isn’t hoping to wave at somebody else trapped on a second tiny island. Читать дальше...