Revengeful river (metaphor)
The narrator turns to her childhood memories throughout the entire novel, and one of these is her impression of river Odra, which runs through Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. When the narrator was a child, this river seemed to her very large and impressive. When she grew up, she realized that the river was not as big as she had imagined, and having checked in in the maps, she came to the conclusion that “Odra was a provincial viscountess in the court of queen Amazon”. But Odra was very powerful, and revengeful, as the narrator calls it. Every year it levied tribute for hauling barges on its ridge: every year someone drowned in it - either a child bathing on a hot summer day, or a drunk, mysteriously losing his balance and, despite the fence, falling from the bridge in water. The river was a monster, paying no attention to anyone.
Anti-Antaeus (metaphor)
The narrator’s parents used to travel every year to a new place, but when their trip was over, they would continue leading a sedentary way of life the whole year, till the next time, when they would go to another place. Her parents were such people, while the narrator says thay “this is not for me”. She could not stay one place the entire year, and needed be constantly in movement. She remarks that probably she lacks “a gene that allows to take root anywhere, barely stopping”. She has tried to lead a life like her parents have been leading, but “every time the roots were too weak” and the slightest gust of wind tore her “out of the ground”. The narrator calls herself metaphorically anti-Antaeus. (Antaeus in Greek mythology was the most powerful among the giants, and was insurmountable as long as touched Mother Earth). The narrator ironically says that her “energy is generated by movement” - the shaking of buses, the roar of aircraft, the swaying of ferries and trains.
A book-canapé (metaphor)
The narrator says that there are only two big addictions in her life – travelling and reading. Trips and books were the constituent parts of her life, but once she tried another one, which was deeply related with books – it was writing. Once being “stuck penniless” in a big city and getting a job as a chambermaid, she began to write a book. It was supposed to be a short story, that would be good to be read on the road. The narrator calls it metaphorically “a book-canape”, that “fits in the mouth entirely”, and there is “no need to bite off”.
