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. ( )

Ambientada dentro de un viaje a Australia emprendido desde Inglaterra durante las guerras napoleónicas, el diario de uno de los pasajeros, el caballero Edmund Talbot, así como la carta que dirige a su hermana otro de los pasajeros –un clérigo provinciano– tejen un espléndido relato que pone en juego la débil naturaleza del hombre, la corrupción inherente al poder y las severas limitaciones que impone a los hombres su pertenencia a una clase social.

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. ( )