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40th out of 49 books
—
986 voters
Rites of Passage (To the Ends of the Earth #1)
In the cabin of an ancient, stinking warship bound for Australia, a man writes a journal to entertain his godfather back in England. With wit and disdain he records mounting tensions on board, as an obsequious clergyman attracts the animosity of the tyrannical captain and surly crew.
Paperback, 278 pages
Published
2001
by Faber and Faber
(first published 1980)
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William Golding's Rites of Passage is one of those books you can't say much about, since it ruins the tale. On surface, it is about Edward Talbot's voyage to Australia in 1812, Talbot is a pompous young man, and aristocrat, who happens to keep a detailed journal. As the pages go by, you see glimmerings of maturity, and a sure eye for recording details.
The book starts out in a comic vein, one that had me thinking early on of the Flashman novels. (I never thought of Golding as being funny before....more
The book starts out in a comic vein, one that had me thinking early on of the Flashman novels. (I never thought of Golding as being funny before....more
I found Lord of the flies a bit better and easier to read - perhaps because the language employed in Rites of Passage is hardly the usage of modern English (or is it because I am no sailor myself?)
In any case, another remarkable book by Golding ..... I'll retain the last reflections:
"Men can die of shame .... Like all men at sea, who live too close to each other and too close thereby to all that is monstruous under the sun and moon".
In any case, another remarkable book by Golding ..... I'll retain the last reflections:
"Men can die of shame .... Like all men at sea, who live too close to each other and too close thereby to all that is monstruous under the sun and moon".
Ugh. This will be my shortest review yet, because saying too much just ruins it. This book was absolutely brilliant, and utterly awful, and I really hated it. Which was, I'm assuming, Golding's purpose. And the plot movements that made it brilliant and awful work best when they unfold naturally, so this is where I'll stop.
Other than to say that Golding's narration is fantastic: he is excellent at writing the journal of a pompous man-child (the book is about a young, wealthy man on his way to a b...more
Other than to say that Golding's narration is fantastic: he is excellent at writing the journal of a pompous man-child (the book is about a young, wealthy man on his way to a b...more
This is the first of a trilogy - I haven't read the other two - but the thing that chiefly stays with me from Rites of Passage is the humiliation of the clergyman - mostly at his own hands. And it echoes Golding's fascination with what happens to us when we let go of our self-imposed polite gentility, the mannerly constraints we impose upon ourselves. A friend told me once that as we get older the psychological filters we have installed begin to lose their filtering abilities, begin to fade, and...more
" - "My information rendered Mr Cumbershum more expansive. He sat down again. He owned that he had never been in such a ship or on such a voyage. It was all too strange to him and he thought to the other officers too. We were a ship of war, store ship, a packet boat or passenger vessel, we were all things, which amounted to - here I believe I detected a rigidity of mind that is to be expected in an officer at once junior and elderly - amounted to being nothing. He supposed that at the end of thi...more
Golding is - as usual (I might even take a leap and say always)- astonishing, this time in a short piece of storytelling which somehow leaves us not knowing what to think while aware of exactly where the author wants us to be. And boy, are we there.
There is less of darkness and pessimism in the general feel of the book than in Lord of the Flies, which in a way gives it all the more punch, but although this book is similar in message, this is not just a new way of saying what has already been sai...more
There is less of darkness and pessimism in the general feel of the book than in Lord of the Flies, which in a way gives it all the more punch, but although this book is similar in message, this is not just a new way of saying what has already been sai...more
William Golding’s Rites of Passage makes for a strange, haunting read. A ship bound for the New World, sometime in the 19th century. Witty observations, as the narrator weaves his journal. A self conscious narrator -- he wants to impress his reader.
But then something happens. A violation so horrible that the narrator can scarcely put it into words. Shame, is perhaps the word to sum up this crime of violating the innocent.
It's about culpability too -- we are none of us innocent, it's a question o...more
But then something happens. A violation so horrible that the narrator can scarcely put it into words. Shame, is perhaps the word to sum up this crime of violating the innocent.
It's about culpability too -- we are none of us innocent, it's a question o...more
Rites of Passage is Book One of a trilogy that was made into a BBC serial called To The Ends of The Earth, and it won the Booker in 1980. It's a comi-tragic sea journey and a coming-of-age tale about Mr William Talbot, a young aristocrat on his way to Australia to take up a government position procured for him by his wealthy godfather.
En route, this rather naive, pompous and yet good-hearted young man learns a lot about the world and himself. As in Lord of the Flies, an isolated community tests...more
En route, this rather naive, pompous and yet good-hearted young man learns a lot about the world and himself. As in Lord of the Flies, an isolated community tests...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I much preferred Lord of the Flies but both Passage and Flies struck me as novels about coming of age in a failing society. Perhaps it's because Passage, at the turn in narration in the novel, really makes you feel culpable for making snap judgements about a certain character in the novel. It's one of those books I think I'll have to re-read, and then I would probably love it.
I should have known, since this is William Golding, that it would be about bullying. If I had realized what this book was going in, I might have given it a higher review. However, I was led to believe that I had bought a rousing, swashbuckling sea novel and so, of course, was pretty disappointed. That being said, for what it is, it's very well done, and is an especially good read in light of how much press bullying is getting. Just wasn't what I was looking for.
A similar theme as in Lord of the Flies - the terrible consequences if we, blinded by self-love, fail to support another human being whom we perceive to be inferior. In contrast with Colley's report of his awe and wonder at nature, how petty seem Talbot's concerns about the smell or the size of his cabin. The motifs - drama, deceit, rites of passage - come together wonderfully and the execution is immaculate.
The first of a series known as 'The Other Side of the World,' this is a book about a member of the aristocricy in the early-1800s taking a passanger ship to Australia to take up a government post. These books are his diaries, describing his journey and his self-reflection throughout the entire process. Yes, William Golding wrote something other than Lord of the Flies. And it's BETTER.
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.
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.
A perfect book group book. I didn't especially enjoy this, finding it hard work at times, but the last section redeemed it. If I hadn't had to read it for my group I would have given up on it, but, in the end, enjoyed reading something so different. I will definately read the next two in the trilogy.
Oct 22, 2010
Paul McMeekin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
literary-fiction
This is one worth perservering with. Initially the olde English language put me off slightly but after a while it soon becomes familiar. Ultimately it's a tragic story and tackles issues like bullying, lonliness, remorse, shame and living with the consequences of ones actions or, in some cases, inactions.
In this book a man dies of shame. Few writers could make this credible. But William Golding does. Through the eyes of callow, supercilious snob Mr Talbot, we observe the passengers of an unnamed vessel, emigrating to Australia, and the humiliation that leads to the demise of the Reverend Colley. Brilliant!
This book is written as the journal of Edmund Talbot as he sails from England to Australia and his observations of life on board. At first I found it hard to get into but it was worth persevering with and in the end a good story. I really liked the jouranl style it was written in.
Vivid descriptions of the claustrophobic life on an early nineteenth century sailing ship coupled with a brilliant description of status, class and inhumanity. All told in wonderful prose. A great short novel, which feels much larger than its relatively small word count.
Genius - with Close Quarters and Fire Down Below, it forms Golding's epic, claustrophobic trilogy set aboard a tall ship making for Australia. Characters, dialogue, plotting, sense of place - everything is pitch perfect.
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...
Oct 10, 2012
Rachel Lindan
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
william-golding
If 'Rites Of Passage' had been written by anyone other than William Golding, it would have been near insufferable. Even as a huge fan of his I found it incredibly hard work - as dull, drawn-out and caught up in itself as the sea journey it catalogues. Nothing about this book worked for me and I don't understand how or why this was the novel that won Golding his Nobel Prize. My desire to read his entire volume of work will have to be readdressed, as I'm not sure I can brave the rest of the trilog...more
Loved it. A very intriguing story about the social life on a voyage. Superbly written, as the story develops it becomes a real page turner. I finished the first half in a week, and the second half in a day. I can't wait to start Close Quarters, the second part in the trilogy.
Started off well - interesting depiction of life aboard ship at the time including class/crew distinctions. How people act in a confined setting reminded me of Lord of the Flies but it just seemed somewhat disappointing by the end.
A comedy of manners reminiscent of Jane Austen larded with home truths and set amidst the filth and glory of a 19th century sea voyage
For an Australian this book resonates even more, since the story is about an immigrant ship to Australia.
This book is just amazing. Awesome.
This book is just amazing. Awesome.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Not that great of book. It dragged on from the first page. Wordy and not good, boring English stuff. Would not recommend it.
To start with a somewhat irritating, priggish and pompous persona relays to us life onboard a ship stabbing Oz-wards in the early nineteenth century. Then a bit of a mystery - not just a whodunnit but also a whodunwhat - evolves, surrounding a parson and his influence on the crew and passengers. From here an intense psychodrama develops, with claustrophobic tension conjured, very much in the harrowing style of Lord of the Flies and The Spire. Golding is a depressing writer; he understands bullyi...more
I really enjoyed all three of the sea books in this series -- great holiday reading
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Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his 1954 novel Lord of the Flies. He was awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book of the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983 and was knighted by the Queen of England in 1988.
In 2008, The Times ranked Golding...more
More about William Golding...
In 2008, The Times ranked Golding...more
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“In our country for all her greatness there is one thing she cannot do and that is translate a person wholly out of one class into another. Perfect translation from one language into another is impossible. Class is the British language.”
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