Warlight

by Michael Ondaatje

this generous flaw in him that preferred the company of a woman who contradicted his opinions.

During that era teenagers were locked into what we thought we already were and therefore would always be. It was an English habit, the disease of the time.

I had already been too sentimental. “Are you from America?” she retaliated.

she thinks now that perhaps the truth of what is before you is clear only to those who lack certainty.