Good prose, but uninteresting. Maybe this is a piece that cannot be read outside its own time. The "scandal" around which the book is based is largely uneventful and possibly unbelievable. Was probably my first seafaring book though... ( )

Hmmm, this isn't the correct cover. No matter.

This was very good. Compelling. An impressive verisimilitude, certainly. The language was challenging at times, but I'm sure a certain obliqueness was entirely deliberate. There were strong similarities with plot and theme with Lord of the Flies, but it was less, well, consequential. ( )

What a brilliant book. I feel a bit like, you know when something really emotionally important happens and your nerves are jangled and maybe your own involvement in the affair hasn't been as smooth as you'd like; and over the next few days you smooth out the events so they'll fit in your memory in the right order? I feel like if I were to talk about the book I'd have to smooth it out so I could say 'this is what it's about', or 'this is what happens'. I’ll give it a go!

The start is very funny. There’s humour throughout, like the farcical scene at the Captain’s table, but most of the big laughs are front-loaded. The novel’s epistolary and we open with Talbot who’s like a child just born and completely lacking in self awareness. He presents himself as a member of the aristocracy and holds the middle class in contempt, but what’s apparent to us, if not to him, is that while his parents may have a bit of money they simply know a lord well enough to get him to stand Godfather to their utter prat of a son. He’s a middle class as I am. Over the course of the novel he undergoes a series of rites/rituals as we might in life as the title of the novel takes on a series of different meanings.

The other document is from Colley, the parson. The two voices are very different as are their methods of deception. Colley has dressed up as a holy man, but it’s when he’s most humble that he’s in the presence of God. A neat trick. I should try it myself. What he can’t see is that he’s a creepy weirdo. He too must undergo rites.

One of these men will learn to take on responsibility and come to an accommodation with with society. One will face judgement. You’ll have to read the novel to find out which.

Actually, that’s not bad. I think I’ve successfully smoothed out the lifelike aspects of the novel and made it sound like the kind of humdrum you might find in a normal book. ( )

Ajánlom ezt a könyvet mindazoknak, akik…

… szeretik a hajókat, a tengert, a lobogó vitorlák sós vászonszagát, az egyenlítői nap hevétől lágy kátrány tapintását, a hajó bendőjében rejtőző bűzös, sötét zugok hangulatát, és nem igénylik, hogy ehhez az atmoszférához még valami tengeri szörnyet (óriáspolip, ámbráscet, cookie monster) is mellékeljen a szerző.

...szeretik a behatárolt térben játszódó kamaradrámákat, ahol leereszkedünk egy szűk csigalépcsőn az emberi ösztönvilág állati mélységeibe, és olyan titkokra derítünk fényt, amelyek jobb lett volna, ha titokban maradnak.

...szeretik a finoman klasszicizáló, rafinált szövegkorpuszokat, a kiválóan megkonstruált, szerepével és korával tökéletesen kompatibilis énelbeszélőt, akinek hangja a kiváló fordításnak hála (Göncz Árpád) magyarul is megőrizte erejét.

...összszázalék-kompenzáló csillagozók, és szeretnék, ha ez a meglehetősen méltatlanul alulértékelt könyv adatlapja mellett kicsit magasabb szám díszelegjen. ( )

Poking around my computer, I found copies of the flailing fangirl emails I sent to my mom right after reading these books for the first time. (I can't remember when I read them the second time.) Thought about posting them here for laughs, but some if it is kind of charmingly embarrassing. I was such a nerd about voice and narrative structure, and then I basically gave her a blow-by-blow account of the book vs. the series, plus digressions to life as a college senior. My grammar nerd rant based on this series is still out there on my old blog somewhere...

I will, however, post the vocab I apparently gathered back when I was good and consistent about doing such things.

> bosky (25) – woody, covered with bushes [!], shady
> paregoric (25) – Harper Collins dictionary: a tincture of opium used to stop diarrhea [but Golding’s concerned with the other end]; Trexler dictionary: soothing medicine that relieves pain or stress (can be an adj. for soothing or calming)
> atrabilious (31) - melancholy or ill-tempered
> unction (42) – in this context, excessive politeness [Colley]; also anointing or soothing words and thoughts; slippery, greasy, oily in manner
> peremptory (46) (FDB 230) – authoritative, imperious, forbidding debate; decisive
> expatiation (55) – speak or write at great length (on a topic), enlarge (upon a topic) [2/5/22 I am so, so guilty of this...]
> adduce (42) – cite as evidence
> tawdry (noun, 70) – finery, trappings, but showy and cheap; --> from lace bought at St. Audrey’s fair in Ely
> recondite (75) – obscure, little known, abstruse (--> obscure, difficult to understand, profound)
> lictor (84) – (in ancient Rome) one of a body of magistrates who preceded them carrying an emblem of official power
> officant (95) – someone who officiates at a service or ceremony; may be ordained; not chaplains, who are affiliated with specific denominations
> potations (95) – drink, esp. alcoholic beverage
> inamorata (102) – female lover [as opposed to what, Eddie, dear?]
> micturation (118) – the act of passing urine, urinate [why isn’t this word first?]
> exordium (146) (FDB 72) – the beginning of anything; the opening part of an oration or discussion
> chirurgeonly (146) – (archaic) surgeon[ly]
> limn (174) – to represent in drawing or painting; to portray in words, to describe; --> related to the “illuminate” of illuminated manuscripts
> expostulate (178) – reason with (in a kindly manner); remonstrate (protest, reason with, argue)
> minatory (183) – threatening
> venial (188) – pardonable ( )