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3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
Loved the writing, the mystical touch, but not really sure what happened. I don't mind reading a novel that doesn't answer all the questions it raises, but I still don't understand all the pieces. Need to read some criticism on this one I think
I read this for pleasure my senior year of high school. My only notes about it in my journal from that time are "Bizarre," but I gave it a 9/10 rating.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I recently read "Lord of the Flies" and then happened upon this lesser-known book by William Golding. I am a slow reader, but I read this novel surprisingly quickly, and was drawn in and eventually absorbed by the characters, their inner dialogues and their private universes. Matty, the "Anti-Hero/Martyr", represents many things for me--a prophet in the wilderness, a shaman, a clown, whom I would not consider to be evil; he is not vengeful, violent, nor is he vindictive. And yet in his silence, he can be frightening; he commits "a grievous deed" for which he turns to the Bible, and then to spirits/spiritual guides, in a quest for redemption. There is a dreamy, surreal aspect to the prose, that occasionally left me confused as to the exact nature of whatever reality was being described at a particular moment; for example, near the end of the book--is Sophy (one of two "evil twins") actually brutalizing the young boy that has been kidnapped for her, or only suffering from criminal delusions of grandeur? Is she merely imagining this violence? I am impressed with the way Golding develops both the inner and outer lives of the two little girls (Sophy and Toni), who start out innocently enough as children. Sophy and Toni grow up in an emotional vacuum, nursing dangerous fantasies, as a result of their father's neglect. Nevertheless--in the end, both girls make their choices about the type of individuals they want to be.
Certainly the traumatic childhoods of Sophy and Toni contribute to their respective downward spirals into delinquency. [And yet others, who in real life come from scarier circumstances than these two little girls, can go on to accomplishment, achievement and greatness in their adult lives.] Sophy and Toni are both very bright girls; at least metaphorically, the twins resemble Regan and Goneril from Shakespeare's "King Lear", minus Cordelia. Matty chooses his destiny as well; the difference being that I can sympathize with Matty, as he, and his life, has been so literally "scarred" from the beginning. Like Quasimodo, the archetypal "ugly monster" often has the biggest heart. Matty's deformity also makes him stronger than either Sophy or Toni; he is resiliently independent from a very young age. And as reclusive and mysterious as Matty is--I believe him to be compassionate. After reading this book, which contains some "Dickensian" aspects (particularly the character of Mr. Pedigree), in my understanding of the term--I can see why Golding became a Nobel laureate. Not only by means of his intellectual and creative gifts, but also via the empathy and understanding he shows for his characters. All of which Golding is able to elucidate in a prose that is often poetic, and explicit when necessary (surely this was much easier to do in 1979 when this book was published, then it would have been in 1954 when "Lord of the Flies" was published). I am looking forward to reading Golding's second novel, "The Inheritors". There is a lot to be learned from this multi-faceted writer.
Certainly the traumatic childhoods of Sophy and Toni contribute to their respective downward spirals into delinquency. [And yet others, who in real life come from scarier circumstances than these two little girls, can go on to accomplishment, achievement and greatness in their adult lives.] Sophy and Toni are both very bright girls; at least metaphorically, the twins resemble Regan and Goneril from Shakespeare's "King Lear", minus Cordelia. Matty chooses his destiny as well; the difference being that I can sympathize with Matty, as he, and his life, has been so literally "scarred" from the beginning. Like Quasimodo, the archetypal "ugly monster" often has the biggest heart. Matty's deformity also makes him stronger than either Sophy or Toni; he is resiliently independent from a very young age. And as reclusive and mysterious as Matty is--I believe him to be compassionate. After reading this book, which contains some "Dickensian" aspects (particularly the character of Mr. Pedigree), in my understanding of the term--I can see why Golding became a Nobel laureate. Not only by means of his intellectual and creative gifts, but also via the empathy and understanding he shows for his characters. All of which Golding is able to elucidate in a prose that is often poetic, and explicit when necessary (surely this was much easier to do in 1979 when this book was published, then it would have been in 1954 when "Lord of the Flies" was published). I am looking forward to reading Golding's second novel, "The Inheritors". There is a lot to be learned from this multi-faceted writer.
Just very dense. The writings great and I love Lord of the Flies but this is something I felt I had to focus on a lot and even then some things flew over my head. I'd like to be able to come back to this at some point in my life though, and probably will -- loved the first chapter/descriptions of the mc coming out from the wall of fire.
The first two chapters left me breathless. After that I was a probably a bit out of my league. I never liked "Lord of the Flies". I did enjoy this even though I admit to not unraveling all of its message.
I got halfway through and just didn't care what happens next. Wasn't enjoying it, so I bailed.
A dense read from the very first page, "Darkness Visible" is overburdened with biblical themes, dark plots, despicable characters, and disturbing ideas. The opening scene of the London bombings during WWII once again revisits the concept of 'Hell on Earth' as seen in many of William Golding's earlier works.
In many ways Matty is to be seen as an angel of the Lord and a demon from Hell as the intricacies of plot show moments of omnipotent clarity and a mind-numbing madness. The story is so thoroughly laced with allusion that almost every scene is both overly detailed while remaining uncomfortably vague. The motives of the characters and the events of the story are upsetting, yet as the characters' plans become more grotesque, the reader develops a stronger sense of empathy in their sickness similar to that of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
"Darkness Visible" studies the human condition from a place unnaturally close to that of madness as reader is forced to watch sickness in its true form and be helpless to stop it.
Although the story is not an enjoyable read, "Darkness Visible" unblinkingly and uncensored examines good and evil, right and wrong, truth and fiction.
In many ways Matty is to be seen as an angel of the Lord and a demon from Hell as the intricacies of plot show moments of omnipotent clarity and a mind-numbing madness. The story is so thoroughly laced with allusion that almost every scene is both overly detailed while remaining uncomfortably vague. The motives of the characters and the events of the story are upsetting, yet as the characters' plans become more grotesque, the reader develops a stronger sense of empathy in their sickness similar to that of Shakespeare's Macbeth.
"Darkness Visible" studies the human condition from a place unnaturally close to that of madness as reader is forced to watch sickness in its true form and be helpless to stop it.
Although the story is not an enjoyable read, "Darkness Visible" unblinkingly and uncensored examines good and evil, right and wrong, truth and fiction.
2 1/2 Stars—Somewhere in here was a story worth telling. Golding teeters up to the edge of something compelling with an intriguing tangle of symbolism, religious mania, psychopathy, mysticism, and psychological complexity only to fail in pulling everything together in a satisfying way. As it is, it's a novel of two sections that should to come together in a third, but the narrative gears set in motion grind to a halt in that third section, and the denouement comes off as an afterthought. The thickly-written prose has some indelible imagery (the naked, burned child stumbling out of the flames of a bombed-out street during the Blitz in WWII chief among them), characters that are engaging to follow, and some intriguing narrative twists that keep the plot going. But ultimately, all the momentum of the first two thirds is undone and undermined by the last third where the reader follows secondary characters that stall the narrative for too long and with very little purpose. I can't help but think this could've been something better, more satisfying, something…more…in the end, but somewhere along the way, the story got away from Golding and he couldn't put it together.