Mere

All quotes are from Wayward Son because yesterday @rainbowrowell said no one says "I love you" in this book. I'd argue there is more than one way to say I love you and that Wayward Son is, in fact, full of I love yous (which is why I love it so much!)

Happy Birthday, Simon Snow!

Chocolate cake | Cherry cheesecake filling | Cream cheese frosting | Gum paste sword

@rainbowrowell

“I’d lost my mother, and my soul, and the Crucible gave me you.”

“I’d give him all that I am. I’d give him all that I was. I’d open up a vein. I’d tie our hearts together, chamber by chamber.”

“You were the centre of my universe. Everything else spun around you.”

“You can’t just give up on this. On me. Don’t you know what we have? It’s the sort of thing people dream about. They make potions to steal it.”

“We’re not made of pieces that come apart.”

“Because we match.”

“Go on, then. Carry on, Simon.”

“Some lives we squander. And some we seize.”

JESUS CHRIST. Most of the chapter is translated to have the same meaning, but it does change a few things. Simon is lovely but Baz is still the most romantic

First of all, I never understood this phrase:

You’re so alive, Simon Snow. You got my share of it.

Seeing that English isn't my first language, I never got the meaning of it, not even after people explaining it to me. Well... FUCK THAT. Spanish grabs that phrase and makes it EXPLICITLY ROMANTIC:

"Están tan lleno de vida, Simon Snow. La mía ya es tuya".

FUCK ME, BAZ. JESUS CHRIST. TELL ME THAT'S NOT THE BEST TRANSLATION EVER.

"You're so full of life, mine is already yours" ?????????

ISN'T THAT SUCH A BEAUTIFUL THING TO HAVE IN YOUR MIND??

Even as Baz was ready to die, he kept guarding Simon's safety and he was so dramatic and lovely about it!!!!

2. The "And then he kisses me" is translated as:

"Y, entonces, el que me besa es él".

BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS, HEARTBREAKING, STUNNING.

That phrase is technically translated to English as:

"And, then, the one who's kissing me is him".

So you can all understand why I'm dying.

I love how it sounds so much like a TALE, like he's telling you a story and this is the happy ending of it, like all we've read is the preparation for this moment. Everything has been built up for this kiss. Baz's yearning, Simon's obsession, their rivalry turning into a truce... Jesus.

The punctuation and phrasing is POETIC, to say the least.

That first "Y" is going to kill me. Because it's the end of Baz's thoughts, so it's the end of his story, the beginning of his Desire, the culmination of his yearning, of his desperation (let's not forget he's desperately in love with Simon, in Spanish). So, when he starts his ending with an "Y" it's the equivalent of "And they lived happily ever after". JESUS, BAZ, YOU PINING FOOL.

Second, the punctuation between the, "entonces", IS SO DRAMATIC AND YET SO NECESSARY. It's making a pause for the reader, and Baz himself, to be able to prepare to what's coming. We're bracing ourselves for a big punch, for the biggest reveal, for what Baz's destiny will have for him. And it's a kiss. It's finally what Baz (and us) have been waiting for.

There's a lot of foreshadowing during the first moments of that Chapter, about the kiss, because Baz had never been so open and obsessive about wanting to kiss Simon, but here, he's letting himself go, he's letting you know he wants to kiss exclusively Simon and that he's never done it. Being 2015, a guy admitting that would have broken minds, so he's telling us and he gets the kiss.

He gets it after giving us a mystery, a pause for us to breathe and prepare ourselves for the reveal.

And I like the connotation of "the one who kisses me" a lot. Because it's not only Simon changing the course of the narrative and Baz's life, but it's also such a beautiful moment. Baz revealed he hadn't kissed anyone, but we also know that no one has wanted to kiss kim. Baz is a yearner, but he doesn't even let himself think of himself as someone kissable, so phrasing that kiss as "the one who kisses me", as "the one who desires me", or "the one who gets to do it, because I'm letting it, because I'm willing it, because I want it is HIM".

AND HIM IS IN ITALICS. Beautiful. Gorgeous.

3. When Baz thinks "I'm living a charmed life", it gets translated as:

"Estoy viviendo un cuento de hadas".

Which only reinforces my thoughts of how Baz presenting their kiss, their first, is perceived as a story, as a tale getting told. Baz thinks so. He's living his fantasy, his very own fairytale. Good for him!

4. Simon talking about the kiss is very alike the English version, HOWEVER.

"I like him like this. Under my thumb. Under my hands."

I bring you this:

"Así es como me gusta tenerlo. Bajo mi poder. Entre mis manos"

THESE BOYS ARE KILLING ME. Because it's so Simon and so THEM. This is how it's translated back to English:

"This is how I like having him. Under my power. Between my hands."

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW ROMANTIC THAT IS??????

SIMON WANTING TO HOLD BAZ BETWEEN HIS HANDS. Not under, NO, he's not restraining Baz, he's not pushing him down his thumb, he's not putting him down, he's holding him BETWEEN his hands. When you have someone between your hands, you're able to look at them, you're able to keep them safe, to stare, to make sure they're alright, to caress and brush their cheeks. You're able to kiss, to love.

And I like that Simon talks about his power, because he's always been afraid of it, afraid of his magic and what it can do. At the beginning, he tells us he loves magic, but not his. He's hurt people with it and he can't contain it, he truly believes it can do no right. But Baz has been able to handle Simon's magic, Simon's power, he's been able to save when Simon could have hurt (the dragon), he's been able to help Simon control it, he's helped him realize what a beautiful thing Simon's magic (and Simon himself) can be. He can bring stars, heal, protect, and Baz being able to handle Simon's power has helped Simon love his own magic. Simon makes these god's displays of magic every time he can by closing the distance between him and Baz because he's more comfortable with it, because now he knows he can use it, because Simon is no longer afraid of it. And now having Baz under his power, where Baz can access to it to create beautiful things, to save lives, of course Simon wants Baz to be exactly between his hands, where things are better for Simon, and therefore for Baz.

“This is what I deserve,” he says.