《这不是告别》作为全美媒体和读者的年度之选，一出版就迅速横扫《纽约时报》畅销书榜长达45周，席卷全球三十多国。故事讲述了一头红发、穿着肥大男款衬衫的Eleanor，与沉默寡言、沉迷于音乐和漫画世界的Park之间的故事。

Her mom wasn't going to let her babysit.

妈妈不肯让她去当保姆。

# Eleanor #

#埃莉诺#

"He has four children," her mother said. She was rolling out dough for tortillas. "Did he forget that?"

她揉着墨西哥薄饼面皮，说：“他是不是忘了他有四个小孩？”

Mouse had started to cry, and Maisie got mad and stormed out. Ben asked Eleanor if she'd call Dad back to see if he could come along to help. "Tell him I babysit all the time," Ben said.

鼠鼠哭了起来，梅西很生气，跺着脚冲了出去。班恩问埃莉诺能不能打电话给爸爸，问他可不可以以跟着去帮忙。班恩说：“跟他说，我一天到晚照顾小婴儿。”

Eleanor had stupidly told her mother about her dad's phone call in front of her brothers and sister -- they'd all gotten really excited. And then Eleanor had to tell them that they weren't invited, that it was just babysitting, anyway, and that Dad wasn't even going to be there.

埃莉诺笨到在弟妹面前脱口告诉了妈妈，说爸爸来电话了——搞得他们兴奋极了。埃莉诺只好说爸爸没邀请他们，她是去照顾小孩的，而且爸爸也不在家。

"Your father is a piece of work," her mother said. "Every time, he breaks your hearts. And every time, he expects me to pick up the pieces."

妈妈说：“你爸爸还真是奇葩。他每次伤透了你们的心，都希望我去捡起碎片。”

"Why do you want to go?" her mom asked. "Why do you even care about him? He's never cared about you."

妈妈问：“你为什么想去？你在乎他？他从没在乎过你。”

Pick up, sweep aside -- same difference in her mom's world. Eleanor didn't argue.

捡起，扫到一旁，对妈妈来说都一样。埃莉诺不敢争辩。

"Please let me go," she said.

她说：“拜托，让我去吧。”

God. Even if it were true, it still hurt to hear it that way.

天啊！这是事实，但听起来还是刺痛心扉。