A short blog about a long sentence

 

 

'Jesus wept' is the shortest sentence in the Bible, and a very powerful sentence it is too, for so many reasons. Yet the sentence I want to talk about involves not the son of God but a dog, well to be more specific - a man and his dog - and their travels across America.  

I'd heard about John Steinbeck when I was at school but I'd never read any of his books. I guess his subject matter didn't appeal to a teenage boy. It was a dog walk that finally led me to this great man's work. A fellow dog walker who I know from our local library, knowing my dog is called Charlie, recommended Steinbeck's book to me and I'm very glad he did.

It took me a little while to get into it but it wasn't long till I was regularly reading extracts out to my wife, most often when Steinbeck mentions his dog. A French poodle who he calls Charley. The following piece is one of my favourites.

That night was so cold that I put on my insulated underwear for pyjamas, and when Charley had done his duties and had his biscuits and consumed his usual gallon of water and finally curled up in his place under his bed, I dug out an extra blanket and covered him – all except the tip of his nose – and he sighed and wiggled and gave a great groan of pure ecstatic comfort

A sentence of 72 words. Not a giant one like Virginia Woolf's epic 181 word sentence that opens up her essay 'On Being Ill' - I discovered this whopper in Francine Prose's excellent book 'Reading like a Writer', and the chapter on sentences - but one of the most delightful sentence's that I've ever come across.  It has a wonderful comforting feel to it, almost like a line that you'd read in a child's bedtime story. It makes perfect use of the comma. You naturally want to take a breath after reading about Charley's bedtime routine. The cute sentence between the dashes. And that adorable ending which makes me want to give a sigh of comfort myself! 

I'm about 100 pages from the end, and it's my bedside book  – so it may take me a while as I only manage one or two pages before turning off the bedside lamp –but maybe that will warrant another post. 

I'd love to hear your favourite long or short sentences, thoughts on Steinbeck or books you've read that have sentences that you want to shout from the rooftops. 

Until next time, may you have many moments that bring you sighs of 'pure ecstatic comfort.' 

Martin is a writer, baker, photographer and storyteller. He's been published in the ACW Christmas anthology and Lent devotional. He's currently honing his craft at flash fiction and you can find him on Twitter here.