地獄設備

Susan著 小哭譯

對我來說，讀一本書就如同赴一場約會。開始時，我要麼因為找到了一本真正的好書而激動萬分，要麼會因為感覺乏味而迫不急待地想結束這第一次約會。通常，讀完第一章，如果我不喜歡這本書，我就會結束這種關係。當我真的遇到一本好書時，我就會繼續讀下去，讀得越多，我就會與書聯繫得越緊密，就好像是在與它約會一樣。但是，書和約會的不同之處在於最後總要分手：我總會讀完一本書，這事兒無可避免。如果一本書從一開始就不令人激動，那讀完也算是一種解脫。然而，當我遇到一本特別好的書時，讀完書我就會非常地難過。我通常用找到另一本好書去寄託來處理這種分手後的悲傷（我知道，那不是一個非常好的應對機制）。可是，有時分手實在是令人太傷心了，我覺得自己好像永遠也不想再去讀任何一本書了。當一本書超級精彩時，讀完就是一個讓我永遠都不想再讀書了的充滿痛苦的經歷。真是太痛苦了，那就是我讀完《地獄設備》後的感覺。

這事兒我以前說過很多次，但是我從來也沒有像這次感覺這麼強烈：《地獄設備》是我讀過的最好的書。幾乎所有的方面它都位於我最喜歡的書單上：最好的人物發展、 魔幻和現實最好的結合、最好的寫作風格、最好的關係發展、最好的場景、最感人的書，還有它是我讀過的最好的一套書。可能一段時間以後它都將是我讀過的最好的書。當我讀完這個三部曲的最後一本的最後一章時，我為書讀完了這事兒想哭。事實上，我真的就大哭了。那麼，讓我們來看看是什麼讓這套書如此地迷人吧？

如前所述，這套書有着最好的人物發展。當人物第一次出場時，我根本沒有任何感覺。隨着故事的推進，克萊爾（作者）用文字將他們變得鮮活，我越讀越覺得與他們緊密相聯並想去保護他們。人物就如同洋蔥一樣地有着他們自己的層次，象真實的人一樣，第一本書的大部和第二本書，作者發展了這些層次，幫助我從裡到外徹底地了解他們。結果我對這些人物的了解，還深過現實生活中的許多人。讀過一千頁，到了第三本書的時候，我已經了解了他們，我成為了他們。我知道這聽起來真的很荒誕，但卻是真的。我能感受到他們的絕望，我也能感受到他們的快樂。我和他們一起經歷痛苦，在形勢危急時哭泣。而當他們中的某個人講了一個妙趣橫生的笑話時則又大笑。對我來說他們已經變成真實的了。

我想這本書的寫作目的並不是去講一個想利用由發條裝置製造的機器人來掌管世界的惡人，也不是去講試圖阻止這個惡人的好人，更不是去講泰薩、傑姆和威爾之間熱烈的三角戀。完全不是。它甚至也不是去講整個故事的標題——“地獄設備”。因為所有的寫作都只是用來幫助建立和發展人物的。這本書的目的在於所講述的這個故事到底是關於什麼的——它是關於人物的，這本書是他們的故事。整個三角戀也只是故事中的一小部分。這三本書加起來有整整1554頁，這些全是獻給泰薩、傑姆和威爾的苦樂參半的故事。

這套三部曲有着令人稱奇的結局。我甚至都不知道故事是從哪裡開始結局的。如果允許，我願說最後這本書全部的570頁都是結局。最後一本顯然是最好的一本。人們通常說一個系列中的第一本是最好看的，接下來的質量則會有所下降。但《地獄設備》不是，這套書的第一本是最差的，最後一本是最好的。最後的最後，書的後記部分，是這本書最好也是最差的部分。它竟然讓我以一種非常不優雅的方式放聲大哭，而我卻說不清那是快樂的淚水還是悲傷的淚水。那最後二十頁比之前的幾百頁都讓我更受衝擊。

書的結局讓我思考死亡。通常的書會有一個大團圓的歡樂結局。尤其是象《地獄設備》這類關於愛情與冒險的書，它們會留給讀者一個關於男女英雄的快樂想像——手牽着手，雙唇熱烈地吻在一起。這類書通常不會突然間跳到半個世紀之後，花上三頁紙的篇幅去描寫主人公最後因為年老而死，那樣會徹底毀掉讀者對於主人公的青春印象。喂，可這本書的後記卻竟然就這麼做了。事實上，它跳到了整整一個世紀之後，用個閃回來描寫青春、帥氣、詼諧並娶了泰薩的這個大男孩威爾的死。更糟糕的是，那是一個自然死亡，你不能怪罪任何人。為什麼？！為什麼克萊爾把我帶到這樣的境地？這簡直是往傷口上撒鹽！克來爾竟然還花費了幾個自然段去描寫威爾和泰薩在一起的那些快樂記憶，讓威爾的死亡令人甚至更難以接受。

這讓我意識到永生不死是一個什麼樣的咒詛。泰薩是永生不死的，因此，當威爾在她的臂彎中老死時，那時的她看起來還是二十歲出頭時的青春模樣。她永遠也不會死，她不得不看着她深愛着的那些人在她身邊慢慢地老死。我不得不看着那些我已經慢慢地愛上的人物變老並衰弱死去。我知道所有我喜歡的人物最後都會死，但我還是寧願自己不去想這件事兒。然而，克萊爾強迫我去面對這一現實，去接受威爾的死亡。在這一點上，我不知道自己是愛克萊爾呢，還是恨她。結局裡介紹了所發生的一大把的事情，讓我感慨萬千。把這些都放在一起去想，後記中的這些內容就猶如子彈射向我的心房。當我最後讀完這套書後心亂如麻。再也不會有一本書能讓我有這麼強烈的感覺了。

總體來說，《地獄設備》是一個精彩的故事，它讓人思考愛和友誼的極限。這是一個充滿了失去與背叛、而最終又充滿了愛的故事。故事的背景是十九世紀七十年代的英國倫墩，作者用的是有點舊式的語言寫作，文筆優美。克萊爾真是一個令人稱奇的作家，她創造的世界栩栩如生，讓我很難相信那只是一個故事。她也參考了很多諸如“坦尼森”和“莎士比亞”等的古典文學，她書中的人物對書的喜愛和我很像。《地獄設備》是我讀過的最好的書。雖然讀完了這套三部曲我很傷心，可我竟又迫不急待地想去讀克萊爾寫的其它系列了。《聖杯神器》這個系列的故事背景與“影子獵人”的世界一樣。我願意把《地獄設備》三部曲推薦給所有的人。它們是迄今為止整個世界上我最喜歡的書，我很高興我曾經有機會與它們“約會”過（參見文中第一段）。

【小哭介紹背景】這個讀後感譯得辛苦，主要是涉及到卡珊卓拉.克萊爾寫的不少書的背景，而我一本也沒有讀過，對其沒有任何了解。最後在網上查了半天，才算基本上弄清了克萊爾所著的這些暢銷書的三個主要系列：《地獄設備》系列有三本書，故事發生在倫墩，屬於前傳，已經於2010～2013年間出版；《聖杯神器》（又譯《致命契約》、《凡人聖物》、《魔人麗都》）系列有六本書，故事發生在紐約，已經於2007年後出版了五本，第六本即將在2014年春季出版，並且於2012年始有台版中譯本；《黑暗詭計》系列有三本書，故事發生在洛杉磯，屬於後傳，計劃在2015年出版第一本書。

這三個系列講的都是“半人半神”的影子獵人的故事，故事的背景是一個與我們日常生活的世界所不同的一個世界——“影子獵人”（又譯“暗影獵人”）世界。其中《聖杯神器》系列中的第一本《骸骨之城》已拍成電影，並於2013年在北美暑期檔上映，被稱為《暮色》的接力棒，可見受歡迎程度之深。Susan另有一篇讀後感，寫的就是關於《聖杯神器》這個系列的。作者克萊爾曾在遠期展望中希望還能再寫一、兩個前傳與後傳，不過她也說這些都是說不清的事情。當然，所有的這些故事都將是關於影子獵人這個世界的。她說在一個已經建立起來的世界中寫的故事，與在一個全新的世界裡寫的故事相比，類似於一個五歲的孩子和一個剛出生的小嬰兒，兩個孩子都可愛。

Susan熱愛閱讀，這已不是什麼還需要多說的事情了。可是，這麼多年下來，我頭一次看到她因為讀完了喜歡的書，哭得如此稀里嘩啦的，幾天都不能恢復平靜。那些天只要她一開口，就是《地獄設備》，就跟中了邪似的，最後我們不得不問她，可不可以換個話題？她不斷地跟我們解釋着那套書有多麼地好！！！作者有多麼地了不起！！！說是書的結尾有多麼地不可思議。她總是會忍不住站在作者的角度去理解作品，但同時還能享受着當讀者的那一份快樂。如果不是認真地翻譯這篇讀後感，我真的是不知道她到底在讀書的過程中經歷了些什麼。我把她的這篇讀後感傳給了才女教授昭君，想看看同樣熱愛閱讀的昭君的小兒子是否也酷愛這個系列。結果昭君說：“給兒子看了，他對第一段非常有共鳴(他曾經也跟我提到過一個自己喜歡的series 結束的時候那種痛苦的感受)。這套書他沒有讀過，但聽說過，我有點想動員他也借來看看呢。”

Susan對於這個系列結尾中關於死亡與永生之間關係的思考，是我覺得這篇小文最有思想的部分。讀到她對永生不死的重新理解——簡直是一種詛咒，上我也想到了自己對“長壽”的理解之轉變。當年母親去世時，我一直為勤勞善良的母親一生所遭遇的坎坷感到不平，我覺得老天很不公。但是當幾年後父親也去世了，對比兩個老人最後的歲月再重新來思考這個問題，發覺事實上後走的人，未必是幸福的那個，沒有老伴兒的日子其實很痛苦。因此在我眼中，活得久和活得有質量完全是兩回事兒！

另外，我們曾經有一次在從教會團契回家的途中，放過一曲小寶的英文兒歌。歌詞講的是沙灘上有一個小男孩和一條小龍，一同玩耍一同長大。可是有一天小男孩長大了，去了遠方後再也沒有回來，孤單的小龍一直留在沙灘上苦苦守候卻從未守到小男孩的歸期。就這麼一首兒歌，Susan聽後哭得一把鼻涕一把淚的，最後我都不知道是應該理解她、還是笑她。我們不停地用我們能夠想到的理由給她解釋，這事兒不是她所理解的那麼傷心。小男孩長大了離開了，但人類還在繼續，還會有新的小男孩來到沙灘上和小龍做朋友，小男孩永遠地留在海灘上並不一定代表着一個美好的人生。但是，不管我們講什麼，Susan一直在車裡哭泣不止。這除了讓我們想到了Susan的善良之外，也想到了“永生不死”這事兒到底有多麼地好。

關於Susan所說的這本書其實即不是講這也不是講那，所講的僅僅就是三個人的故事而已，我並不是很理解。翻譯完我還專門和她討論過這一點，但她仍堅持認為這個系列就是講了三個人的故事而已。至於若干年後她是否還會持同樣的觀點，答案顯然是“不會”。正如她前幾天告訴我的，說她重讀了一些去年寫的作文，發現七年級時所持的觀點和對未來的判斷，她現在就已經開始不同意了：）她說當初怎麼會對現在這個學校印象那麼不好呢？我說就是，當初一直拖着不讓我們搬家呢。要是按照現在的觀點，應該早點搬過來才是。給她時間讓她慢慢地長大吧，八年級生能夠有這麼多的人生思考，我已經很為她驕傲了。

附上英文原文：

The Infernal Devices

For me, reading a book is like dating. When I first start, I either get really excited because I’ve found a really good book, or I get really bored by it and can’t wait for the first date to end. Usually, after the first chapter, if I don’t like the book, I end the relationship. When I come across a really good book, I keep on reading it, and the more I read, the more attached to it I become, just like how it is with dates. However, one way book are different from dates is that eventually, I have to break up: I have to finish the book. It’s unavoidable. If it wasn’t that exciting of a book in the first place, finishing it would be a relief. However, when I come across a particularly good book, finishing it can be quiet sad. I usually deal with that post-break up trauma by finding another good book to get attached to (I know, that’s not a very good coping mechanism). However, sometimes, the break up can be so bad that I feel like I never want to read a single book ever again. When the book is super-amazing, finishing it can be a tear-filled experience that makes me want to swear off book forever. It’s painful. That’s how I felt when I finished The Infernal Devices trilogy.

I’ve said this a lot of times before, but I’ve never meant it as much as I do this time: The Infernal Devices are the best books I have ever read. They are at the top of my list for almost everything: best character developement, best mixing of fantasy and reality, best writing style, best relationship development, best setting, most emotional books ever, and finally: the best books that I have ever read. And probably the best that I will ever read for some time. When I finished the last chapter of the last book in the trilogy, I felt like crying my eyes out over the fact that it has ended. Actually, that was exactly what I did. So, shall we take a look at what made the books so amazing?

Like I mentioned earlier, these books had one of the best character developments ever. When they were first introduced, I didn’t feel anything for them at all. As the story progressed, Clare (the author) brought them to life with her words, and the more I read, the more attached and protective of them I became. The characters had layers to themselves like onions, just like real people, and for most of the first book and the second book, the author developed those layers, helping me know them, inside and out. The result was characters who had more depth to them than a lot of the people I know in real life. By the third book, one thousand pages later, I understood them, I became them. I know that sounds really weird, but it’s true. I felt their despair, I felt their joy. I went through their struggles with them, crying when things went horribly wrong and laughing when one of them make a witty joke. They became real to me.

I think the whole point of the book wasn’t about this evil guy who is about to take over the world with robots made of clockwork, or about the good guys trying to stop him. It wasn’t about the passionate love triangle between Tessa, Jem, and Will. Not really. It wasn’t even about the Infernal Devices, the title of the whole story. Those were all things things that were written to help build and develop the characters. That’s what the story was about. It was about the characters. It was their story. That whole love triangle thing was only a small part of it. All three books, all one thousand five hundred fifty-four pages, was dedicated entirely to the bittersweet story of Tessa, Jem, and Will.

This trilogy had an amazing ending. I don’t even know where the end of the story started. If I’m allowed to, I would say the whole five hundred and seventy pages of the last book was the ending. The last book was definitely the best one. Usually, people say the first book is the best, and the quality of the writing decreases. Not so with The Infernal Devices. The first book was the worst, and the last book the best. The end of the end, the epilogue, was the best and the worst part of the book. It did make me start bawling in a very ungraceful manner, but I don’t know whether those were tears of joy or tears of sorrow. Those last twenty pages had more impact on me than all those hundreds of pages before it.

The ending made me think about death. Usually, books end on a happy note. Especially romance-adventure books like The Infernal Devices. They end leaving the reader with a happy image of the heroine and the hero, hand in hand, their lips sealed in a passionate kiss. Usually, they don’t suddenly jump to half a century later and spend three pages describing the main character die of old age. That just complete ruins that youthful image of the main character. Well, that’s exactly what the epilogue did. In fact, it jumped to a whole century later, and had a flashback describing the death of Will, the young, handsome, and witty boy that Tessa married. What made it even worse was that it was a natural death, so there was nobody to blame. WHY?! Why would Clare put me through that? And to rub some salt on the wound, Clare also had to spend paragraphs describing the happy memories Will and Tessa had together, making it even more unbearable for Will to pass away.

That made me realize how much of a curse immortality is. Tessa is immortal, therefore, when Will was old and gray and died in her arms, she still looked like she was in her late teens/early twenties. She would never die, and she had to watch those whom she love grow old and die around her. I had to watch those whom I had grown to love grow old and fade away. I had already known that all the characters I like in books would eventually die, but I would rather not think about it. However, Clare forced me to see the truth, to accept Will’s death. I don’t know if I love her or hate her for that. There are a bunch of other things that happened in the ending that I have mixed emotions about, and stringed together, the events in epilogue of the book were like gunshots to my heart. Finally, when I finished the trilogy, my emotions were in a big, huge, tangled mess. Never has a book triggered that sort of response in me.

Overall, The Infernal Devices was an amazing story. It pushed the limits of love and friendship. It was a story full of loss and betrayal, and ultimately, love. Set in the English city of London during the 1870’s, the story was written in beautiful and somewhat old-fashioned language. Clare is truly an amazing author, and the world she has created is so real and vivid that I have a hard time convincing myself that it’s just a story. She also referenced to a lot of classic literature like Tennyson and Shakespeare, and her characters’ love for books is equivalent with my own. The Infernal Devices are the best books I have ever read, and although I am sad to have finished the trilogy, I can’t wait to keep on reading Clare’s other series, The Mortal Instruments, also set in the world of Shadowhunters. I would recommend The Infernal Devices trilogy to everyone and anyone. They are by far my favorite books in the whole wide world, and (referencing back to the first paragraph) I am happy that I have had a chance to “date” them.