Coffee Break
Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2022
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Korean
- Home Country
- South Korea
- Current Location
- South Korea
Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "who always had engine trouble", but am struggling to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means in the following sentences:
[Max speaking] "This is death. I need to think of something quiet and soothing. But quiet and soothing images fail to come. This is when memory rescued me: I decided to count and name every woman I’d slept with, year by year, including those who brought me so little pleasure in bed that I’ve often wondered why they parted the Red Sea if they had no manna to give and certainly wanted none of mine. This, to say nothing of those who wouldn’t take off their clothes, or would do this but certainly not that, or who always had engine trouble, so in the end, though you might have been in bed together, and even fallen asleep, it was never clear whether you had scaled the summit. In any event, I counted them and they added up to—”
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Third Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Two days after the party, Clara came to the protagonist's house at 8 o'clock in the morning and drove him to the house of the grandparents of Inky (her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend). Here, Inky's grandfather Max is speaking of his experience of entering the MRI machine, and feeling the death-like sensation inside the machine.
Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
I am not so sure how a person could have "engine trouble", so I am guessing it might be a metaphorical expression... But I am not sure what that means.
I would very much appreciate your help.
[Max speaking] "This is death. I need to think of something quiet and soothing. But quiet and soothing images fail to come. This is when memory rescued me: I decided to count and name every woman I’d slept with, year by year, including those who brought me so little pleasure in bed that I’ve often wondered why they parted the Red Sea if they had no manna to give and certainly wanted none of mine. This, to say nothing of those who wouldn’t take off their clothes, or would do this but certainly not that, or who always had engine trouble, so in the end, though you might have been in bed together, and even fallen asleep, it was never clear whether you had scaled the summit. In any event, I counted them and they added up to—”
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Third Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist. The protagonist meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Two days after the party, Clara came to the protagonist's house at 8 o'clock in the morning and drove him to the house of the grandparents of Inky (her childhood friend and ex-boyfriend). Here, Inky's grandfather Max is speaking of his experience of entering the MRI machine, and feeling the death-like sensation inside the machine.
Here, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
I am not so sure how a person could have "engine trouble", so I am guessing it might be a metaphorical expression... But I am not sure what that means.
I would very much appreciate your help.
