Dark, with a kind of sparkle that went without saying

N

Nazaniin

New Member
Farsi
Hi guys, hope you're having a great day. I have a question about this sentence: Dark, with a kind of sparkle that went without saying.
This is an English translation of a Swedish book.
At first I thought she was talking about appearance since she talked about beauty, but then I thought maybe it's about the mom's personality because of the previous sentence (I could have been like her)?

I wanna know if the girl is talking about her mom's physical appearance or about her personality? And what is the meaning of that sentence?

Thank you so much for your help.

This is the whole paragraph:

I could have talked about my mum. But I said nothing. I didn't want her glitzy smiles. Her perfect hair. Her wanting me to be a beautiful girl. To her, beauty was something on its own. An important property that had to be cultivated like a flower. You had to sow the seed and make sure to water it so you could watch it grow. I could have been like her. Dark, with a kind of sparkle that went without saying. But somehow I fell short. I was no force of nature, the way she was. I was infected by doubt. It was everywhere. It ran through the marrow of my spine and spread from there. I felt doubt assail me. Days and nights, sunsets awash with doubt.
 
    • The meaning is unclear, and it’s not something anyone would say in everyday conversation. In other words, it’s a use of literary licence – the freedom to describe something however you like, for effect, leaving the reader to interpret it however they see fit. Note “sunsets awash with doubt” at the end of that passage, which is an even more extreme use of this freedom.

    As for how I read it, my instinct was to take dark to mean mysterious (as in “a dark horse”), and sparkle to mean a certain feminine playfulness that intrigued people, especially men.
     
    lingobingo said:
    The meaning is unclear, and it’s not something anyone would say in everyday conversation. In other words, it’s a use of literary licence – the freedom to describe something however you like, for effect, leaving the reader to interpret it however they see fit. Note “sunsets awash with doubt” at the end of that passage, which is an even more extreme use of this freedom.

    As for how I read it, my instinct was to take dark to mean mysterious (as in “a dark horse”), and sparkle to mean a certain feminine playfulness that intrigued people, especially men.
    Click to expand...
    Thank you so much, your explanation was really helpful and great. Yeah, so this is the kind that we could have various interpretations. While translating the book, I also had in mind the same meaning as you said. Thanks a lot again.
    Would you kindly introduce me some good books about literary writing and different elements and styles writers use?
     
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