Yet, viewed again today, it shows the outlines of the future Curtis brand with surprising clarity.
My most memorable interview was with an Internet chief executive who spoke, with surprising clarity, from the dentist's chair.
Thayil's exploration of opium dens and its denizens penetrates through the lowest strata of Mumbai society to find a space of surprising clarity.
It was communication from the void, like a song you love coming in over the radio with surprising clarity as you drive through rural towns.
Written with surprising clarity (hey, they're lawyers), it maps out all kinds of questions and decisions to consider and explains the many ways to leave property to one's heirs.
As for Bomber itself, it's 20 years since I read it, but scenes from it have remained lodged in my head with surprising clarity, as has the general atmosphere of claustrophobia and fear inside the Rühr-bound Lancaster bomber.
After a $16.5 million cleaning and restoration, the 248-foot-long nave — the monumental aisle leading from the sanctuary's main entrance — has a surprising clarity, crispness and lightness, qualities that had been sullied by pollution, smoke and even those swinging censers over the years.
Blending respect for the PRI's past with reproach for its many misdeeds, this rare woman at the top of Mexican politics said with surprising clarity that if her party wanted to be a credible opposition force, it must embrace calls for change, and not feel threatened by them.
