Usually Tarquin s droning speeches are conveyed this way. The sudden insertion of quotation marks around a comment by Gabert, for instance, creates an effect similar to a splash of color. It draws our attention from background to foreground. In this way, Japrisot shapes and layers passages. The narrative unfolds over time as well as space.
Varied perspectives flash forwards or backwards.
Grazziano thinks of past cases and what would, could, or should happen on this one. Another example of this time-travel occurs when Gabert questions the actress about the sleeping car s mystery man. She hedges, thinking of what she could say but won t. Speculation juxtaposed with tangible detail and memory create a very full painting of life imagined and processed, as well as experienced. As in viewing a work by Monet or Renoir, the reader stands back from the details and an overall impression emerges.