今天推一本去年讀過的書，安安靜靜往下讀的時候，思緒就被帶到了戰(zhàn)火紛飛的年代。

本書作者邁克爾·莫爾普戈(Michael Morpurgo)，英國作家。書不厚，在讀美國語文的間隙夾雜聽完了這部作品。是一部實打?qū)嵉膬和髌罚瑫胁⑽闯霈F(xiàn)過多殘酷的描述，但戰(zhàn)爭的一角也多少掀開了一戰(zhàn)中的大場景。"窺一斑而知全豹"放在這里恰如其分。

Desolation and destruction were everywhere. Not a building was left intact. Not a blade of grass grew in the torn and ravaged soil. 荒荒涼涼的殘垣斷壁，僅存下來的居民是四處逃竄的野貓。

When the troop returned and the squadron moved off again, there were always one or two horses without riders.戰(zhàn)場上的下一瞬間就是戰(zhàn)友的別離。

主人公并不是馬的主人，少年Albert，而是這匹被父親喝多了買回來中看不中用的愛爾蘭馬(應(yīng)該是純血馬，書中未多提)。Albert為其取名為Joey 是因為與它的第一個伙伴一匹溫順的母馬Zoey 押韻。I shall call you Joey, only because it rhymes with Zoey.全書通過一匹馬的顛沛流離，從馬的視覺觀察人類世界，雖是客觀的角度也有不少情緒擱置其中。目前印象最深的莫過于兩位主人兩個父親的對比:

Albert的父親為了不失去農(nóng)場，讓孩子有個安定生活，還是把已經(jīng)學(xué)會耕地的Joey當(dāng)成軍馬賣掉了?！甕ou’ll be all right, old son,’ he whispered to me. ‘You won’t understand and neither will Albert, but unless I sell you I can’t keep up with the mortgage and we’ll lose the farm. I’ve treated you bad – I’ve treated everyone bad. I know it and I’m sorry for it.’ And he walked away from me leading Zoey behind him. His head was lowered and he looked suddenly a shrunken man.這是一位老父親在萬般無奈下與Joey告別時的話語，讓人心酸。腦海中一直想著母親對小Albert說的一句話"He’s over fifty, you know – children don’t think of their fathers as being old or young."

而另一位少年Trooper Warren (trooper騎兵)在Captain Nicholls 戰(zhàn)死沙場后接管Joey，他的命運卻是另一種。Then the war had broken out. He did not want to join up, he said; but the squire of the village had spoken to his father and his father, who rented his house and his smithy from the squire, had no option but to send him off to war.不過印象中，電影似乎刪除了這個部分。

書中也有吐槽的部分，算是對于整體肅穆氣氛的一種調(diào)節(jié)。除此以外，后半部分包括與Emilie的相遇，與好伙伴Topthorn(另一匹馬)的分離，戰(zhàn)場扔硬幣，與Albert的相認(rèn)均是動人的畫面。書的難度并不大，多是一些不常見的生詞部分。不過讀書過程中一度想起另一本書Black Beauty和《亮劍》中的騎兵連。藝術(shù)果然都多有相通。

因為剛讀完Civil War這一段歷史，看到大量的日記信件日志對于Fort Sumter, Gettysburg ,Bull Run等幾處戰(zhàn)役的描述，所以緊承著這本書并沒有太多的違和感。

對比圖書，就不得不感慨斯皮爾伯格改編的功底，電影硬生生將書拔高了海拔。不到兩百頁的圖書有序而精彩填充了兩個多小時的影片。禎禎賞心悅目，但戰(zhàn)爭的渲染還是過于純真，或許也是為了心底的最后一層柔軟。當(dāng)然也屬于斯皮爾伯格導(dǎo)演一貫的戰(zhàn)爭片特征。推薦此片。

另外，相衍生的舞臺劇極其驚艷。道具相當(dāng)出彩，節(jié)奏流暢。推薦一觀(小破站)。

有聲書來自大表哥Dan Stevens，全長三個小時左右，演繹也是靈魂再現(xiàn)。如果是Frank Muller的聲線就更完美了。

總之，這匹戰(zhàn)馬無論是從書到影像或者是聲音的記錄均是難得的翹楚。剛開始讀的時候會有陌生帶來的隔離感，讀進去卻再也無法忘記這份情感。

? It was his owl whistle, the same low, stuttering whistle he had used to call me when we were walking out together back at home on the farm all those long years before. Suddenly there was no longer any pain in my leg, and I trotted easily over towards him and buried my nose in his shoulder.

我與你的相遇，是一段熟悉的口哨聲。

注:英文部分摘自本書。