A Wonderful Sentence

[zingerella]

"Her father would have streamed fire from his nostrils and bellowed like a huckster; her brother would have imitated an icicle, dripping words like cold water; her aunt Fanerl would have suggested six eminently suitable young men for her to marry on the spot, all of them completely unbearable."

Patricia A. McKillip, Od Magic

SQUEE!Just had to

Comments

[poldy]

This is my favorite part: "her aunt Fanerl would have suggested six eminently suitable young men for her to marry on the spot, all of them completely unbearable." The underlined parts represents the evaluation of the young men by two different characters, but not marked as such -- subtle and effective.

[zingerella]

There's also the contrast between the father ("streamed fire from his nostrils"), and the brother ("would have imitated an icicle, dripping words like cold water"). She's packed an incredible amount into that beautifully balanced, breathtakingly vivid sentence; one knows all one needs to about the subject's family and her relationships with its members.

[poldy]

Balanced and sophisticated. It is a tricolon crescendo, each member of which has a slight variation in structure. I would have to look hard to find a sentence quite so effective.