Todo está condensado en esas diez fotografías sacadas del álbum de Elizabeth y George: los nervios del primer encuentro; la exaltación de la felicidad, de la belleza y la juventud que no pueden desperdiciarse sin amor; la feminidad desbordada; el orgullo de sentirse amada; el dolor y la desesperación en los momentos de separación; la espera interminable; el rechazo de los demás. Fue durante aquellos primeros años en Inglaterra cuando Elizabeth Smart escribió En Grand Central Station me senté y lloré. Fueron tiempos duros –la guerra, los altibajos en la relación con George, el rechazo de la sociedad por su vida escandalosa– que dejaron su huella en el texto. This is about love, desperation, and mental disparity (contemplated suicide also plays a role here). It is beautiful and disjointed; somber, yet hopeful; trenchant, yet gracious, and articulate, but at times, also reticent.

O my dear, O my dear, drink a little milk, lie down and rest a little. I will comfort you. I can carry love like Saint Christopher. It is heavy, but I can carry it. It's the stones of suspicion I stumble on. Did I say suspicion? No. In the 1930's, Elizabeth Smart was browsing a London bookstore on Charring Cross Road, when she came across a book of poetry written by British poet George Barker, and instantly fell in love with the man, never having met him, and declaring him the love of her life. This epiphany would eventually bring them together, and even though he was married, they would begin a love affair that would last for years, produce four children, and cause untold grief and heartache for everyone involved. When you keep that in mind while you are reading, you can see the beauty of what she is saying, and the genius in the writing of it. Just 2000 copies of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept were printed on its initial publication in 1945, and it did not achieve popularity at its initial release. Smart's mother Louise led a successful campaign with government officials to have its publication banned in Canada. She bought up as many copies as she could find of those that made their way into the country, and had them burned. [2] Barker himself, in a letter to Smart, described the novel as " a Catherine wheel of a book." [1]Elizabeth Smart: Manuscript Gallery at Literary Manuscripts Collection of Library and Archives Canada

i like crisp prose, clean lines, smart phrasings. this seemed too self-indulgent - too emotionally bloated.too much "why use one word when you can use ten and still say nothing??" going on. Y pese a tanto sufrimiento, Smart expone claramente su preferencia por esta destructora cara del amor si la alternativa es la mera indiferencia. Pues no querría yo sentir una pasión tan desgarradora, ni que la sintieran por mí, no querría ser yo, no soy, esta yonqui del sentimiento que rehúsa cualquier método de desintoxicación y capaz de decir: Esta es la historia que hay detrás de En Grand Central Station me senté y lloré –diferente de la que había imaginado al leer el título, pero igualmente conmovedora–, pero los sentimientos cobran tal intensidad en este libro que los hechos apenas tienen importancia. Puede incluso que la autora los dejara estos en un segundo plano a propósito para centrarse en aquéllos y describir un amor llevado hasta las últimas consecuencias con completa franqueza, permitiendo al lector penetrar hasta una intimidad que otros guardarían celosamente. Y es que, cuando se ama de verdad, ¿para qué guardar secretos, de qué avergonzarse? That said, I don't think this would be for everyone. It is FLOWERY and DRAMATIC and would almost feel like teenaged angst except the metaphors and allusions are very literary and almost over my head at times. I have a hard time picturing armpits like chalices, and in moments like this, she does lose me a bit.

okay, so i have been really sad for a couple of days now. and i have reread great swathes of this book under the influence of my own ragged emotions.and i am ashamed to admit that i like it more now. i have to keep the two-stars for that is how i felt when i really read it, but might i suggest reading this when you are in the throes of some sort of emotional tidal wave?? it was not meant for happy eyes. although there still isn't any shame copulating with any houseflies here at my place.