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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
One of the best openings to a novel that I’ve read. There are sentences that look innocuous but resound with meaning if you’ve been paying attention. I hadn’t been paying attention but luckily the GCSE student who owned this copy before me was, and had helpfully underlined the relevant passages.
Unfortunately there are some pretty serious problems with the novel. Golding is incapable of describing the geographical layout properly. This makes it impossible to follow the action at the end of the novel in anything but the broadest way. Perhaps more seriously is that the geography functions as a metaphor which is sometimes thereby occluded. There’s a preoccupation with alcohol and I did wonder if this was a factor in these problems.
He does pull it together at the end and return to those deeper meanings. My guess would be that the novel is about the fear that comes from knowledge and the guilt that pursues us when we take what does not belong to us. And the whole thing is beautifully written of course. Golding’s a bit like a man repeatedly firing an antique gun. He looks and sounds cool even when it misfires.
Unfortunately there are some pretty serious problems with the novel. Golding is incapable of describing the geographical layout properly. This makes it impossible to follow the action at the end of the novel in anything but the broadest way. Perhaps more seriously is that the geography functions as a metaphor which is sometimes thereby occluded. There’s a preoccupation with alcohol and I did wonder if this was a factor in these problems.
He does pull it together at the end and return to those deeper meanings. My guess would be that the novel is about the fear that comes from knowledge and the guilt that pursues us when we take what does not belong to us. And the whole thing is beautifully written of course. Golding’s a bit like a man repeatedly firing an antique gun. He looks and sounds cool even when it misfires.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a difficult read. Difficult, but, worthwhile.
Conceptually brilliant, the execution did not always land for me with extended descriptions of events and locations that lacked translation to how we would expect to have a situation narrated to us.
I love thé ideas but maybe not their presentation.
This would be a book to return to and to review slowly. I hope to do that someday.
Conceptually brilliant, the execution did not always land for me with extended descriptions of events and locations that lacked translation to how we would expect to have a situation narrated to us.
I love thé ideas but maybe not their presentation.
This would be a book to return to and to review slowly. I hope to do that someday.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Het is even wennen, het perspectief van een Neanderthaler en het bijbehorende vocabulair. Goed gevonden wel. Ook beschrijft Golding levendig het groepsleven en de sociale dynamiek. Toch bleef het te dicht bij huis, ik werd moe van de scenes waarin ze de mensen (homo sapiens) observeren. Ten slotte verdwaalde ik af en toe in de complexe beschrijving van het oerwoud. Jammer.
challenging
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The premise is fascinating — what kind of existential upheaval must have occurred when the last of a dying race encounters those who will replace him?
But for me, it falls short of fully mining those depths. Much of the thematic weight is undercut by Golding’s insistence on portraying the Neanderthal Lok as a buffoonish ogre, whose glimpses at something bigger, something cosmic, are always punctuated by a sudden evaporation of self-awareness and a return to mindless existence?
Glad I read it; not sure I really enjoyed it.
But for me, it falls short of fully mining those depths. Much of the thematic weight is undercut by Golding’s insistence on portraying the Neanderthal Lok as a buffoonish ogre, whose glimpses at something bigger, something cosmic, are always punctuated by a sudden evaporation of self-awareness and a return to mindless existence?
Glad I read it; not sure I really enjoyed it.
adventurous
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No