Character description 🐂

I’m pondering the construction of character descriptions from contemporary fiction for my GCSE students to explore next term.

I love the vivid and earthy imagery in this passage from Robert Wilson’s novel, The Blind Man of Seville:

‘Lobo … was short and stocky with large, hairy agricultural hands. He had a bull neck and grey, industrial hair. He’d always worn heavy black-framed glasses from a lost era until last year when his wife persuaded him into contact lenses. It was an attempt at image improvement which had failed because his eyes were the colour of mud and the lack of frames had made his nose look more hooked, revealing more of his brutal face than most wanted to see. He had thin lips, which were only two shades darker than his cumin complexion.’

Any other suggestions from your recent reading?

Plaza de Toros de Sevilla - Seville's Bull Ring