William Golding, a Nobel laureate in literature, is a favored author of mine. I read Rites of Passage because it received the Booker Prize, and I am on a quest to read all of the Booker Prize winners. But, Rites of Passage is the first of a trilogy about this sea voyage -- the others are Close Quarters, and Fire Down Below -- and I will read the entire trilogy because of the depth of Golding's writing here.
At first, a young man on his way to a government position in Australia begins a journal at the request of his benefactor -- who also gave him the journal. At first, the information comes regularly, and while entries tended to be mundane -- e.g., the smell of ballast on an older ship -- it was still interesting. When young Talbot begins to speak about the crew, and the passengers, with him on this trip, the reader is introduced to different social customs, different concepts of what society expects of a gentleman, and how the influence a lord had to get Talbot a position had absolutely no impact on a sea captain taking what may be his last voyage. It is the introduction and development of the characters, their issues, and Talbot's reactions to them that make the book easy to read and hard to put down. To be sure, there are passages that are quickly passed because they inform the reader of heat and windless skies that lead to little movement, but these are relatively short.
A major event occurs when an aspiring minister, who does not possess the charisma to make his knowledge at all interesting to his companions or the crew, commits a social breakdown that raises difficult issues from the characters different viewpoints, and helps the reader see how the same event from these viewpoints is so starkly different. This exploration takes Rites of Passage from a book about a certain era and makes it a book relevant to the various issues we all face today.
It is a good read. More to the point, it has inspired me to obtain Close Quarters and Fire Down Below so I can finish the trilogy and learn how every issue and every person survive this voyage.
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Reviews with images
terrible formatting and errors make it almost unreadable
The low rating is for the quality of this kindle edition and not the book (which I have been unable to read due to the terrible formatting.Beware if you buy this kindle edition. It's unreadable due to large amounts of formatting issues, typos, and other problems. I guess there's a reason it was only $1.42. I found another kindle version for $7, maybe that version is better. I've attached a photo of one of the better pages (the one I was currently trying to read). Each page is terrible.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2015
Beware if you buy this kindle edition. It's unreadable due to large amounts of formatting issues, typos, and other problems. I guess there's a reason it was only $1.42. I found another kindle version for $7, maybe that version is better. I've attached a photo of one of the better pages (the one I was currently trying to read). Each page is terrible.
terrible formatting and errors make it almost unreadable
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2015
The low rating is for the quality of this kindle edition and not the book (which I have been unable to read due to the terrible formatting.Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2015
Beware if you buy this kindle edition. It's unreadable due to large amounts of formatting issues, typos, and other problems. I guess there's a reason it was only $1.42. I found another kindle version for $7, maybe that version is better. I've attached a photo of one of the better pages (the one I was currently trying to read). Each page is terrible.
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Top reviews from other countries
David Tarran
Best for those who already have some affinity with the sea/sea-faring/the Navy.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2019Curmudgeon
Promising start, but too much time in the doldrums.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 1, 2015
