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To the Ends of the Earth #2
Close quarters
The enthralling sequel to Golding's Booker Prize-winning 1980 novel, Rites of Passage, continuing the story of the 18th-century fighting ship carrying passengers and cargo from England to Australia.
281 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
23 people are currently reading
1092 people want to read
About the author
William Golding
218 books4,536 followersSir William Gerald Golding was an Engish novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, he was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage, the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature.
As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
September 6, 2017
"Close Quarters" is the second volume of William Golding's 'To the Ends of the Earth' trilogy. In this volume, Edmund Talbot has completed his 'journal' which he was keeping for his godfather and embarks on a more personal narrative for the rest of his voyage. His voice changes significantly now that he is no longer writing for the benefit of his influential patron, becoming much less constrained and pompous. We begin to see who Edmund really is - a very young man of privilege who has led a sheltered, inexperienced life. That all changes now. Talbot gradually becomes on more and more familiar terms with both the ship's officers and his fellow passengers. He sees and goes through things that alter him permanently. He also encounters a young woman who he cannot forget. There are interpersonal dramas, shipwide tragedies, moments of both humor and dark despair. This is the crux of Talbot's voyage and his growth as a human being.
I enjoyed this second volume much more than the first, doubtless because Talbot moves away from his pretensions and begins to grow into a man of experience and real feeling. The other characters are broad and colorful enough to fill any soap opera and the action is unrelenting.
I enjoyed this second volume much more than the first, doubtless because Talbot moves away from his pretensions and begins to grow into a man of experience and real feeling. The other characters are broad and colorful enough to fill any soap opera and the action is unrelenting.
May 8, 2022
”Captain Anderson, I thought, looked a little indignant at being accused of intelligence. It was, after all, next door to clever!”
Close Quarters by Willliam Golding — yes that Sir William Golding, Nobel Prize winner and author of Lord of the Flies and Pincher Martin — is the second of Golding’s Sea Trilogy, later renamed To the Ends of the Earth.
Close Quarters, like the entire trilogy, is set in the early nineteenth century on an interminable voyage from England to Australia. I read the first volume in the early 2010s and its characters, emotions, and general plot stayed with me sufficiently that I felt comfortable picking up the second volume without refamiliarizing myself with the first.
Close Quarters revisits the young minor aristocrat Edmund Talbot introduced in Rites of Passage. In Rites of Passage, Talbot flaunts his privilege and station; in Close Quarters, he’s humbled, more humane, and more mindful of his place as a passenger on a naval ship. This part of the voyage is punctuated by Edmund’s crushing on a socially inappropriate young nanny on another naval ship.
Close Quarters wraps the reader in the voyage, its crew, and its passengers. The sea is rough and passengers seek relief in generous doses of paregoric. The voyage takes on a dangerous turn as the aging, decommissioned man-of-war loses masts and shows rot in its hull. The flow of Close Quarters mimics the voyage itself: boredom punctuated by the occasional interpersonal melodrama and a dangerously decaying ship.
Golding places his Sea Trilogy in roughly the same era as Patrick O’Brian’s massive Aubrey-Maturin series. But the contents and tone of the two series differ: Aubrey-Maturin focuses on the ins and outs of the Royal Navy, its bureaucracy, its Napoleonic era battles, and the unlikely friendship between Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin, while Golding’s trilogy largely ignores the larger naval context and focuses instead on shipboard drama.
Rites of Passage, the first volume of Golding’s trilogy, won the Booker in 1980, causing a great kerfuffle among devoted Booker followers and critics. 1980 was an excellent Booker shortlist, with Anthony Burgess’ Earthly Powers, J. L. Carr’s A Month in the Country, Barry Unsworth’s Pascali’s Island, Julia O’Faolin’s No Country for Young Men, and Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day. Carr’s novel remains a favorite more than forty years after its publication, and Burgess’ failure to win the Booker was viewed as an injustice. Regardless of the always amusing Booker drama, Golding’s trilogy remains a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable sea tale.
Close Quarters by Willliam Golding — yes that Sir William Golding, Nobel Prize winner and author of Lord of the Flies and Pincher Martin — is the second of Golding’s Sea Trilogy, later renamed To the Ends of the Earth.
Close Quarters, like the entire trilogy, is set in the early nineteenth century on an interminable voyage from England to Australia. I read the first volume in the early 2010s and its characters, emotions, and general plot stayed with me sufficiently that I felt comfortable picking up the second volume without refamiliarizing myself with the first.
Close Quarters revisits the young minor aristocrat Edmund Talbot introduced in Rites of Passage. In Rites of Passage, Talbot flaunts his privilege and station; in Close Quarters, he’s humbled, more humane, and more mindful of his place as a passenger on a naval ship. This part of the voyage is punctuated by Edmund’s crushing on a socially inappropriate young nanny on another naval ship.
Close Quarters wraps the reader in the voyage, its crew, and its passengers. The sea is rough and passengers seek relief in generous doses of paregoric. The voyage takes on a dangerous turn as the aging, decommissioned man-of-war loses masts and shows rot in its hull. The flow of Close Quarters mimics the voyage itself: boredom punctuated by the occasional interpersonal melodrama and a dangerously decaying ship.
Golding places his Sea Trilogy in roughly the same era as Patrick O’Brian’s massive Aubrey-Maturin series. But the contents and tone of the two series differ: Aubrey-Maturin focuses on the ins and outs of the Royal Navy, its bureaucracy, its Napoleonic era battles, and the unlikely friendship between Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin, while Golding’s trilogy largely ignores the larger naval context and focuses instead on shipboard drama.
Rites of Passage, the first volume of Golding’s trilogy, won the Booker in 1980, causing a great kerfuffle among devoted Booker followers and critics. 1980 was an excellent Booker shortlist, with Anthony Burgess’ Earthly Powers, J. L. Carr’s A Month in the Country, Barry Unsworth’s Pascali’s Island, Julia O’Faolin’s No Country for Young Men, and Anita Desai’s Clear Light of Day. Carr’s novel remains a favorite more than forty years after its publication, and Burgess’ failure to win the Booker was viewed as an injustice. Regardless of the always amusing Booker drama, Golding’s trilogy remains a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable sea tale.
February 11, 2019
Tuhaf. Bir yandan begeniyorum kaptirdim kendimi o dunyaya, kamarama cekilip dinlenip ertesi gun olacaklari karsilamak istiyorum. Bir yandan elim gitmiyor yuksek puanlara.
October 24, 2021
‘Close Quarters’ is a continuation to Rites of Passage and the second in the trilogy. As in many of Golding’s preceding novels, the title provides a hint to one of the main strands of symbolism running in the novel. ‘Close Quarters’ investigates the absolute, but isolated, world, of life on board of a ship, lived at close quarters, and particularly the effect that this has on Edmund Talbot, through whose eyes everything is seen, as he continues his journal for his godfather.
The events surrounding the death of Reverend James Colley, in Rites of Passage, had left their mark on Talbot, calming down from the ostentatious adolescent he had been at the start of the voyage to the Antipodes are reached, Talbot’s life must symbolically be turned upside down.
The novel denotes man’s struggle for survival against natural elements, symbolized by the weed, the sea and the wind; against enemies of war, symbolized by the anxiety about the Alcyone; against personal accident, symbolized by Talbot’s blow to the head and his struggles to recover; against fortunes of love, symbolized by the haunting presence of Colley. Thus the novel becomes a symbol for man’s survival at close quarters.
The events surrounding the death of Reverend James Colley, in Rites of Passage, had left their mark on Talbot, calming down from the ostentatious adolescent he had been at the start of the voyage to the Antipodes are reached, Talbot’s life must symbolically be turned upside down.
The novel denotes man’s struggle for survival against natural elements, symbolized by the weed, the sea and the wind; against enemies of war, symbolized by the anxiety about the Alcyone; against personal accident, symbolized by Talbot’s blow to the head and his struggles to recover; against fortunes of love, symbolized by the haunting presence of Colley. Thus the novel becomes a symbol for man’s survival at close quarters.
July 31, 2023
Voto 4,5
Questo è il secondo volume della trilogia marinaresca di Golding e, a mio modesto parere, più scorrevole del primo.
Entrambi i volumi sono scritti come se l’autore fosse Edmund Talbot, protagonista dei suddetti libri, il che significa che Golding adatta la sua scrittura ad uno stile tipico del primo ottocento inglese, pomposo e prolisso. Nonostante apprezzi molto Golding come autore (il suo Signore delle mosche è libro fondamenrale per molti versi e la sua prosa è sempre misurata e appropriata - non per nulla gli è valsa un Nobel), questo tipo di prosa mi è un po’ ostica. Ciononostante, questo secondo volume è scivolato via senza particolari fatiche, forse perché i personaggi erano già stati costruiti nel primo volume e la prosa di Talbot era meno pomposa - nel primo volume il protagonista scriveva un diario per il suo padrino, mentre qui scrive per sé stesso.
I personaggi, tutti ben caratterizzati, sono tutti abbastanza “strani”, andando dal protagonista, che ho sempre trovato piuttosto petulante, al comandante della nave, simpatico come una terapia canalare (come direbbe una mia amica), a tutta una serie di persone meschine o insignificanti. L’unico che ho trovato “normale”, nel senso che non vi ho scorto particolari connotazioni negative, è Summers, il primo ufficiale che riesce a barcamenarsi in mezzo a questa gabbia di matti mantenendo tutto sommato una certa sanità mentale, anche se ho trovato piuttosto interessante il rapporto che ha con il protagonista.
Talbot, appunto, l’ho trovato piuttosto petulante e, nella parte in cui pensa di essersi preso una sbandata per una giovane incontrata durante l’affiancamento tra la sua nave e quella di un altro comandante inglese, abbastanza ridicolo, pur essendo in questo suo coup de foudre assolutamente figlio del suo tempo.
Questo è il secondo volume della trilogia marinaresca di Golding e, a mio modesto parere, più scorrevole del primo.
Entrambi i volumi sono scritti come se l’autore fosse Edmund Talbot, protagonista dei suddetti libri, il che significa che Golding adatta la sua scrittura ad uno stile tipico del primo ottocento inglese, pomposo e prolisso. Nonostante apprezzi molto Golding come autore (il suo Signore delle mosche è libro fondamenrale per molti versi e la sua prosa è sempre misurata e appropriata - non per nulla gli è valsa un Nobel), questo tipo di prosa mi è un po’ ostica. Ciononostante, questo secondo volume è scivolato via senza particolari fatiche, forse perché i personaggi erano già stati costruiti nel primo volume e la prosa di Talbot era meno pomposa - nel primo volume il protagonista scriveva un diario per il suo padrino, mentre qui scrive per sé stesso.
I personaggi, tutti ben caratterizzati, sono tutti abbastanza “strani”, andando dal protagonista, che ho sempre trovato piuttosto petulante, al comandante della nave, simpatico come una terapia canalare (come direbbe una mia amica), a tutta una serie di persone meschine o insignificanti. L’unico che ho trovato “normale”, nel senso che non vi ho scorto particolari connotazioni negative, è Summers, il primo ufficiale che riesce a barcamenarsi in mezzo a questa gabbia di matti mantenendo tutto sommato una certa sanità mentale, anche se ho trovato piuttosto interessante il rapporto che ha con il protagonista.
Talbot, appunto, l’ho trovato piuttosto petulante e, nella parte in cui pensa di essersi preso una sbandata per una giovane incontrata durante l’affiancamento tra la sua nave e quella di un altro comandante inglese, abbastanza ridicolo, pur essendo in questo suo coup de foudre assolutamente figlio del suo tempo.
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December 8, 2023The second novel of the Ends of the Earth Trilogy and the sequel to Rites of Passage, who ironic title belies how sinister that novel is. This novel is also quite sinister, but in a somewhat different way. These novels, so far the two of them at least, hide in plain sight as the kind of seagoing novels that a lot of British writers are well-known for. This starts off like it’s a Henry James or EM Forster novel and then it slowly turns.
We find ourselves on a ship, still in a novel narrated by Talbot, a minor officer, that is taking a group of passengers to the Antipodes. They’ve hit a kind of deadcalm, and in the stillness, a green invasive growth has begun creeping up the hull, threatening to tear it apart. It’s almost like the predatory green island in Life of Pi, in a way.
In the meantime, the crew and passengers, now stuck with each other and even needing help from one another find themselves uncomfortably intermixed and the walls of class and propriety are slowly shutting down. This tension, and the little tension of the green invasion threatens the stillness of the boat.
There’s a quote on the back of this novel from AS Byatt, where she basically says that no other writer more successfully captures the frailty of human enterprise. I think this is an apt way to look at this novel. It’s deeply sinister and what is clear is how little protection society is if you’re an individual within it, and especially outside it.
We find ourselves on a ship, still in a novel narrated by Talbot, a minor officer, that is taking a group of passengers to the Antipodes. They’ve hit a kind of deadcalm, and in the stillness, a green invasive growth has begun creeping up the hull, threatening to tear it apart. It’s almost like the predatory green island in Life of Pi, in a way.
In the meantime, the crew and passengers, now stuck with each other and even needing help from one another find themselves uncomfortably intermixed and the walls of class and propriety are slowly shutting down. This tension, and the little tension of the green invasion threatens the stillness of the boat.
There’s a quote on the back of this novel from AS Byatt, where she basically says that no other writer more successfully captures the frailty of human enterprise. I think this is an apt way to look at this novel. It’s deeply sinister and what is clear is how little protection society is if you’re an individual within it, and especially outside it.
September 6, 2018
Talbot being Talbot
In his sequel to “Rites of Passage,” Golding sets aside the epistolary format, and the novel finds a unique rhythm and voice. Following the adventures of young Talbot after the tragedy of Parson Colley, the novel is pitched often as a fever dream, with our protagonist alternating between various ailments and traumas that lend an unreliability to most of the events that transpire around him. Here, our young and ambitious narrator experiences a taste of combat, a hint of love, and the literal terror of his world falling apart.
Golding, the author of “Lord of the Flies” pursues one of his favorite themes, the breakdown of society in extremis. A few moments inattention by a sloppy officer creates a dire situation for the passengers and crew of our decrepit warship. The well intentioned lies and conceits that permeate the official response to existential danger only serve to shred morale and faith in the few institutions that kept our small society running outside the sight of land.
The book ends in a cliffhanger, though an awkward one. Talbot, an unreliable and naive narrator, lends enough humor through his inflated ego and belated comeuppance to balance the peril at hand, and it helps that the novel sets a number of clues that all will probably be resolved well in the end.
In his sequel to “Rites of Passage,” Golding sets aside the epistolary format, and the novel finds a unique rhythm and voice. Following the adventures of young Talbot after the tragedy of Parson Colley, the novel is pitched often as a fever dream, with our protagonist alternating between various ailments and traumas that lend an unreliability to most of the events that transpire around him. Here, our young and ambitious narrator experiences a taste of combat, a hint of love, and the literal terror of his world falling apart.
Golding, the author of “Lord of the Flies” pursues one of his favorite themes, the breakdown of society in extremis. A few moments inattention by a sloppy officer creates a dire situation for the passengers and crew of our decrepit warship. The well intentioned lies and conceits that permeate the official response to existential danger only serve to shred morale and faith in the few institutions that kept our small society running outside the sight of land.
The book ends in a cliffhanger, though an awkward one. Talbot, an unreliable and naive narrator, lends enough humor through his inflated ego and belated comeuppance to balance the peril at hand, and it helps that the novel sets a number of clues that all will probably be resolved well in the end.
March 17, 2020
March 17th, 2020 : I thought this the most listless of the three volumes of To the Ends of the Earth when first I read it. Far from it. A second read reveals (certain of) its intricacies and a great many & copious delights. Certainly it lacks the narrative propulsion of Rites of Passage but that is by design: why should the story move much when the ship itself can't? Instead we get several fantastic setpieces, including one of my favorites in all fine writing—the approach of the enemy ship through the mists, in which humor and horror are strung sublimely together on a thread of breathless tension—and a succession, without break, of marvelous small touches and details. The first seventy pages or so are relentlessly laugh-out-loud funny, for one attuned to the details and the voice. The hidden plotline that follows the trilogy's second doomed main character is brilliant, eerie, and, again by design, can hardly be recognized as such on a first read, unless it is by a reader more sensitive than I. The love story and semi- and misunderstandings that follow are wonderful, all the more so for one revisiting the trilogy. The climactic (or, as it were, half-climactic) vision of the sea monster is among Golding's (many) great and wrenching depictions of helpless awe, of transcendent fear. And Edmund re-confirms his place as one of my favorite narrators in fiction.
July 18, 2018
A British novel written for British audience with typical British humor( how do I know about typical British humor? Well! credit goes to my regular watching of period drama movies). Before reading this novel , download a labeled diagram of a huge ship , so that the names of different parts of ship which have been referred to multiple times, could not trouble you (they will be bothersome though anyway). The novel's plot which is about a straggled ship has been stretched with a lot of dialogues and various trivial events which had not been enough to interest any reader if it would not have been for the Golding's satirical portrayal of British aristocracy in the guise of Novel's protagonist Mr. Talbot. If you want to enjoy the novel, do not look for story just enjoy the dialogues and try to listen to author's commentary ,through his vague characterization, about different sort of human beings.
December 28, 2014
A well conceived and equally well written lead character is developed in this book which follows on well from the first volume although it fails to grip your attention for more than a few pages at a time. It's good literature but not a very good novel, if that isn't self contradictory!
Still not as good as "The Lord of the Flies".
Still not as good as "The Lord of the Flies".
February 4, 2022
Well I made it to the end, quite proud of myself for that!
September 30, 2022
SUMMARY - As much ebb as flow, things slosh to a halt, and give as much pause for thought as a desire to speed things up. An accomplished follow up to the wonderful 'Rites of Passage'.
____________
Other reviewers seem divided on whether this represents the tasty filling or the contractual filler in Golding's 'Ends of the Earth' trilogy. I still have book III to read so may come back to this later. Taken as a standalone nautical adventure, though, it holds water.
Golding himself doesn't seem to have had much confidence, at least based on the clues in the text. As in his previous book 'The Paper Men' (published three years before), Golding uses his narrator to disparage the literary qualities of their stories. Here Golding's pompous Edmund admits that his tale lacks the finesse or final flourish of 'Rites of Passage'. Did Golding actually feel this way about the book he was mastering?
It seems likely, as the modesty rests on grains of truth. Without Colley's narrative there is more ebb and flow, more slack than taut. Happenings seem more disparate, less precipitate. Others' critiques have said that 'Close Quarters' suffers from middle book syndrome, as an in-between novel that only stands up when bookended by the other works. It certainly benefits from knowing the first book, and is most poignant when pointing backwards to incidents in the previous story. However, I think it would be possible to read one-off, and remain invested. The love interest is new, the pricked pomposity of blundering Edmund both excruciating and often funny, and the uncertainties in the very route they all take renders genuine suspense. I also love how Golding can use one man's narrative to show people talking at cross-purposes, or simply not getting one another. You can feel the sneers of Captain Anderson as he keeps disappearing down his bolt-hole, and both share Anderson grating annoyance about Edmund, and also have sympathy for Edmund. These psychological sleights of hand make me happy.
The standard set by 'Rites of Passage' soared above crows' nest height, and the doldrums in this follow-up are essentially the point. The quieter moments are the subtle shading needed to set off the whole, and unlike the weaker 'Paper Men', Golding anchors the emotions and visuals into a compelling and weighty whole.
We switch from confidence to an awareness of omnipresent futility, as Edmund Talbot and other try to fend off defeatism. It manages to feel both other-worldly and real. Golding was a sailor and naval aficionado, so this tale of life at sea in 1815 is full of fo'castles, types of rigging, and ingenious means to clear weighty seaweed from the bows.
In other hands the technicalities could have become laboured, but Edmund is only cursorily interested, as Golding probably quite rightly imagined most of his audience would be. Most attention is paid to the accursed hope, injured pride and fragile egos of the ship's crew and passengers. The boat is a literal vehicle for the sort of microcosmic hothouse that made 'Lord of the Flies' such a success. It's still not cheery (to make an understatement), but the ebbs in many ways are as gripping as flashpoint flows into lightning action.
So far, the 'Ends of the Earth' trilogy is right up there for me with 'Lord of the Flies' as Golding's best work. 'Darkness Visible', followed by his other mid-1950s novels would be my pick for his next best work. We don't lose the stormy despair that runs through these other works, but so far the 'Ends of the Earth' books are the ones I would return to soonest for glints of delight they refract from life's darkest depths.
____________
Other reviewers seem divided on whether this represents the tasty filling or the contractual filler in Golding's 'Ends of the Earth' trilogy. I still have book III to read so may come back to this later. Taken as a standalone nautical adventure, though, it holds water.
Golding himself doesn't seem to have had much confidence, at least based on the clues in the text. As in his previous book 'The Paper Men' (published three years before), Golding uses his narrator to disparage the literary qualities of their stories. Here Golding's pompous Edmund admits that his tale lacks the finesse or final flourish of 'Rites of Passage'. Did Golding actually feel this way about the book he was mastering?
It seems likely, as the modesty rests on grains of truth. Without Colley's narrative there is more ebb and flow, more slack than taut. Happenings seem more disparate, less precipitate. Others' critiques have said that 'Close Quarters' suffers from middle book syndrome, as an in-between novel that only stands up when bookended by the other works. It certainly benefits from knowing the first book, and is most poignant when pointing backwards to incidents in the previous story. However, I think it would be possible to read one-off, and remain invested. The love interest is new, the pricked pomposity of blundering Edmund both excruciating and often funny, and the uncertainties in the very route they all take renders genuine suspense. I also love how Golding can use one man's narrative to show people talking at cross-purposes, or simply not getting one another. You can feel the sneers of Captain Anderson as he keeps disappearing down his bolt-hole, and both share Anderson grating annoyance about Edmund, and also have sympathy for Edmund. These psychological sleights of hand make me happy.
The standard set by 'Rites of Passage' soared above crows' nest height, and the doldrums in this follow-up are essentially the point. The quieter moments are the subtle shading needed to set off the whole, and unlike the weaker 'Paper Men', Golding anchors the emotions and visuals into a compelling and weighty whole.
We switch from confidence to an awareness of omnipresent futility, as Edmund Talbot and other try to fend off defeatism. It manages to feel both other-worldly and real. Golding was a sailor and naval aficionado, so this tale of life at sea in 1815 is full of fo'castles, types of rigging, and ingenious means to clear weighty seaweed from the bows.
In other hands the technicalities could have become laboured, but Edmund is only cursorily interested, as Golding probably quite rightly imagined most of his audience would be. Most attention is paid to the accursed hope, injured pride and fragile egos of the ship's crew and passengers. The boat is a literal vehicle for the sort of microcosmic hothouse that made 'Lord of the Flies' such a success. It's still not cheery (to make an understatement), but the ebbs in many ways are as gripping as flashpoint flows into lightning action.
So far, the 'Ends of the Earth' trilogy is right up there for me with 'Lord of the Flies' as Golding's best work. 'Darkness Visible', followed by his other mid-1950s novels would be my pick for his next best work. We don't lose the stormy despair that runs through these other works, but so far the 'Ends of the Earth' books are the ones I would return to soonest for glints of delight they refract from life's darkest depths.
December 17, 2019
That was a second volume, I guess? If there's something tying this book together, it's too obscure for me to see it. There's sort of two parallel plots going on, with Talbot's crush on Miss Chumley, and the overarching disintegration of the ship, sort of kind of united by the initial incident where Deverel's negligence results in the ship being taken aback. The initial becalmed section has a slightly manic quality to it, with Talbot's concussion rapidly followed by being lovestruck. But as the postscript reminds me, there is another volume yet, so we'll see.
All that said, it was actually very enjoyable. Since Golding didn't straitjacket himself into making part of the novel lifeless by contrast with another, all the episodes of the story have more going for them. Talbot's narration is slightly less pompous now, which goes a long way to making everything more bearable. The balance of the cast is changed up a bit with the addition of Benét and the increased rocking keeping several characters mostly bedbound. Just about every scene had something interesting going on. I'm also glad to see Colley hasn't been forgotten by Talbot, at least, even if he isn't exactly haunting the ship. We are however locked into Talbot's perspective only this time around, so things like the implied inner turmoil of Summers believing he's losing his place in Anderson and Talbot's esteem are left almost entirely to the imagination. I don't mean to say that Talbot serendipitously finding Summers' or Wheeler's diaries would have improved the book, but by contrast with the Colley episode, we're acutely aware of just how little of the actual goings-on Talbot really knows.
I was wondering if there was going to be something important about the iron ship and the ship of vines, but I'm satisfied that the first is just a riff on Envoy Extraordinary, and the second a Dionysian pun on Gibbs' drunkenness.
All that said, it was actually very enjoyable. Since Golding didn't straitjacket himself into making part of the novel lifeless by contrast with another, all the episodes of the story have more going for them. Talbot's narration is slightly less pompous now, which goes a long way to making everything more bearable. The balance of the cast is changed up a bit with the addition of Benét and the increased rocking keeping several characters mostly bedbound. Just about every scene had something interesting going on. I'm also glad to see Colley hasn't been forgotten by Talbot, at least, even if he isn't exactly haunting the ship. We are however locked into Talbot's perspective only this time around, so things like the implied inner turmoil of Summers believing he's losing his place in Anderson and Talbot's esteem are left almost entirely to the imagination. I don't mean to say that Talbot serendipitously finding Summers' or Wheeler's diaries would have improved the book, but by contrast with the Colley episode, we're acutely aware of just how little of the actual goings-on Talbot really knows.
I was wondering if there was going to be something important about the iron ship and the ship of vines, but I'm satisfied that the first is just a riff on Envoy Extraordinary, and the second a Dionysian pun on Gibbs' drunkenness.
May 27, 2023
Precise control of tone.
On page 66 someone asks “And who is Miss Chumley?”, but it’s not until page 87 that Miss Chumley makes her appearance in these terms:
‘The lightning that struck the top of the mizzenmast ran down, and melted the conductor into white hot drops. The mast split and flinders shot every way into the mist. The deckhead burst open and the electrical fluid destroyed me. It surrounded the girl who stood before me with a white line of light.’
This is only a page after we’ve met the teeth-grittingly awful Lady Somerset which I’ll edit down as we don’t have all day:
‘...she broke from him, insinuated herself in my direction, gazed earnestly up into my eyes as if we were present at an occasion of most moving importance, then insinuated herself back to our captain and murmured in a deep contralto voice, “Such pleasure!” … I was lifting my hand towards hers when with a movement like that of weed in water she swung both hands in the other direction and moaned again.
“Dearest, valuable Janet!”
There was little doubt about the nature of valuable Janet.’
Yet later when Talbot goes down into the bowels of the ship and speaks to the Purser and then Summers and Benét the tone becomes sinister and ominous.
Other sights to enjoy as you read are how the ship appears to take on a supernatural aspect, like she’s something alive and responsive. Talbot and the ship appear to be linked in some way. He is injured as she is damaged; she comes to close quarters with the other ship as Talbot comes to close quarters with Miss Chumley; Talbot is torn from Miss Chumley as the ship begins to fall apart. The ship seems to respond to Talbot, sometimes in sympathy and sometimes in revolt.
The novel’s a lot of fun. Highly readable, funny and sinister by turns. Hope Golding writes a third part.
On page 66 someone asks “And who is Miss Chumley?”, but it’s not until page 87 that Miss Chumley makes her appearance in these terms:
‘The lightning that struck the top of the mizzenmast ran down, and melted the conductor into white hot drops. The mast split and flinders shot every way into the mist. The deckhead burst open and the electrical fluid destroyed me. It surrounded the girl who stood before me with a white line of light.’
This is only a page after we’ve met the teeth-grittingly awful Lady Somerset which I’ll edit down as we don’t have all day:
‘...she broke from him, insinuated herself in my direction, gazed earnestly up into my eyes as if we were present at an occasion of most moving importance, then insinuated herself back to our captain and murmured in a deep contralto voice, “Such pleasure!” … I was lifting my hand towards hers when with a movement like that of weed in water she swung both hands in the other direction and moaned again.
“Dearest, valuable Janet!”
There was little doubt about the nature of valuable Janet.’
Yet later when Talbot goes down into the bowels of the ship and speaks to the Purser and then Summers and Benét the tone becomes sinister and ominous.
Other sights to enjoy as you read are how the ship appears to take on a supernatural aspect, like she’s something alive and responsive. Talbot and the ship appear to be linked in some way. He is injured as she is damaged; she comes to close quarters with the other ship as Talbot comes to close quarters with Miss Chumley; Talbot is torn from Miss Chumley as the ship begins to fall apart. The ship seems to respond to Talbot, sometimes in sympathy and sometimes in revolt.
The novel’s a lot of fun. Highly readable, funny and sinister by turns. Hope Golding writes a third part.
January 10, 2021
Like it's predecessor, Rites of Passage, Close Quarters is the coming of age story set on the high seas during the 19th century. Whereas the previous book saw Edmund's coming of age moment defined in his minor role in a man's downfall and the evil he sees in the hearts of men, this book has a far more positive character arch for him. The events of the story are no less stressful and grave, but Edmund discovers in himself qualities he had in fact suppressed (like being a writer) and, all the while looking for a character on whom to focus his journal, writes the events in which a great many people are depending on him, for better or worse.
Evil is not so much a theme in this novel as what it means, or does not mean, to be a gentleman or even a great man. Edmund is a comical narrator and oblivious or unprepared for the tasks ahead of him. Yet he honestly documents his quest for love, his attempts to mollify a great number of people, his role as a "leader" (in a sense), and his struggle to put it all into words.
It's a great book (seven of ten) and one that I would enthusiastically recommend.
Evil is not so much a theme in this novel as what it means, or does not mean, to be a gentleman or even a great man. Edmund is a comical narrator and oblivious or unprepared for the tasks ahead of him. Yet he honestly documents his quest for love, his attempts to mollify a great number of people, his role as a "leader" (in a sense), and his struggle to put it all into words.
It's a great book (seven of ten) and one that I would enthusiastically recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2021
Mi-am marcat ziua de naştere oferindu-mi singur un cadou, întrucât nimeni altcineva nu părea dispus s-o facă! L-am cumpărat, fireşte, de la domnul Jones, intendentul. Tocmai când ieşeam, uşurat întru câtva, din duhoarea ce pusese stăpânire pe fundul corăbiei, m-am întâlnit cu Charles Summers, prietenul meu şi secundul ambarcaţiunii. Acesta a râs când a dat cu ochii de registru.
— Cei de pe corabie si-au dat seama c-ai terminat, Edmund. Cu alte cuvinte, că ai umplut registrul primit în dar de la distinsul tău naş.
— Cum aşa?
— A, nu te arăta mirat! Nu poţi să ascunzi nimic pe o corabie. Dar ia spune, mai ai si alte veşti pentru el?
— Asta nu-i o continuare, ci o nouă încercare. După ce-o să umplu registrul ăsta cu relatarea călătoriei noastre, am de gând să-l păstrez numai şi numai pentru mine.
— Nu prea cred că ai cine ştie ce de consemnat.
— Dimpotrivă, domnul meu, dimpotrivă!
— Noi motive de automulţumire?
— Cum să reacţionez la asta?
— Păi… umblă cu nasul pe sus, ca de obicei. Dragă Edrnund, dac-ai şti cât de enervant e aerul de superioritate pe care ţi-l iei. Unde mai pui că faci şi pe scriitorul!
— Cei de pe corabie si-au dat seama c-ai terminat, Edmund. Cu alte cuvinte, că ai umplut registrul primit în dar de la distinsul tău naş.
— Cum aşa?
— A, nu te arăta mirat! Nu poţi să ascunzi nimic pe o corabie. Dar ia spune, mai ai si alte veşti pentru el?
— Asta nu-i o continuare, ci o nouă încercare. După ce-o să umplu registrul ăsta cu relatarea călătoriei noastre, am de gând să-l păstrez numai şi numai pentru mine.
— Nu prea cred că ai cine ştie ce de consemnat.
— Dimpotrivă, domnul meu, dimpotrivă!
— Noi motive de automulţumire?
— Cum să reacţionez la asta?
— Păi… umblă cu nasul pe sus, ca de obicei. Dragă Edrnund, dac-ai şti cât de enervant e aerul de superioritate pe care ţi-l iei. Unde mai pui că faci şi pe scriitorul!
May 20, 2024
Alkuun olin aivan pihalla siitä mitä tapahtuu, eikä asiaa auttanut koukeroinen kertomistapa. Tutkin hetken asiaa ja selvisi, että kirja on trilogian keskimmäinen osa, mikä selitti viittaukset moniin aiemmin esittelemättömiin henkilöihin. Päätin kuitenkin jatkaa eteenpäin, koska olen kiinnostunut purjelaivatarinoista.
Kirja parani huomattavasti alun jälkeen ja kankea puheenparsikin selittyi kirjan sijoittumisella kauas taapäin historiassa (Napoleonin aikaan). Toki en tiedä ovatko ihmiset voineet silloinkaan puhua tuolla tavalla, mutta siihen meidät on totutettu. Suvaittu totuttaa siis.
Laivan kunto nousee kirjassa päärooliin itserakkaan ja höyrähtelevän päähenkilö Edmund Talbotin ohella. Molemmat ovat aika mielenkiintoisia. Tottahan Golding kirjoittaa ja kuvitella osaa, sekä kuvata ihmisiä kaikessa raadollisuudesssa.
En tiedä viitsinkö etsiskellä ympäröiviä osia, mutta varmaan luen jos ne tulevat hakematta vastaan jossain.
Kirja parani huomattavasti alun jälkeen ja kankea puheenparsikin selittyi kirjan sijoittumisella kauas taapäin historiassa (Napoleonin aikaan). Toki en tiedä ovatko ihmiset voineet silloinkaan puhua tuolla tavalla, mutta siihen meidät on totutettu. Suvaittu totuttaa siis.
Laivan kunto nousee kirjassa päärooliin itserakkaan ja höyrähtelevän päähenkilö Edmund Talbotin ohella. Molemmat ovat aika mielenkiintoisia. Tottahan Golding kirjoittaa ja kuvitella osaa, sekä kuvata ihmisiä kaikessa raadollisuudesssa.
En tiedä viitsinkö etsiskellä ympäröiviä osia, mutta varmaan luen jos ne tulevat hakematta vastaan jossain.
December 31, 2017
A well written story about Edmund Talbot, a young aristocrat, who writes a journal of his experiences on a ship bound for the Antipodes sometime in the 1800s (?). Talbot is an inexperienced young adult who learns a lot about the behaviour of a cross section of human society in the confined spaces of a weather beaten ship. There are a number of interesting characters and events to provide for an entertaining read. I enjoyed this story a little more than the Rites of Passage as Close Quarters is a more humorous novel. Close Quarters is the second in a series of three books about the voyage to Australia of a merchant ship carrying private passengers. Close Quarters can be read as a stand alone book.
March 5, 2019
Teil 2 von "To the Ends of the Earth", und einer der faulsten Schlüsse, die ich je bei einem Buch gesehen habe. Der Erzähler ist in Seenot, dann ist er in Seenot und dann immer noch in Seenot. Mittendrin heißt es "Postskriptum" und man erfährt, dass er sich jetzt an Land befindet und einen dritten Band seiner Aufzeichnungen plant, aus dem man dann möglicherweise erfahren wird, WARUM er nicht mehr in Seenot ist. Entweder hatte der Autor keine Lust mehr oder es gab einen Abgabetermin oder beides. Vorher passiert auch nicht viel, der Erzähler verliebt sich und jemand, der schon tot war, kommt wieder zurück, stirbt dann aber ein zweites Mal, Zustände! Go home, Golding, you're drunk!
October 9, 2025
I adore this trilogy! It's a thrilling mixture of humor, adventure, horror, and romance that I first discovered with the BBC series "The Ends of the Earth". I've watched the series twice now, and the books are even better -- although having Benedict Cumberbatch as the lead in the series definitely adds charisma to the books, and watching the nautical details in the series helps clarifies all of that in the books too (and there is a lot of nautical detail in the book!) Unforgettable characters, riveting plot, masterful writing. Having just finished reading "Close Quarters", I'll now go back and watch that chapter of the series a third time!
December 30, 2023
Dette er del to av sjøfarts-trilogien til Golding.
Ikke på høyde med første del, men likevel vel verdt å lese. Tilværelsen på seilskipet på vei mot Australia er som før klaustrofobisk og klassedelt. Den store hendingen i denne boka er at de støter på et annet britisk skip og at de to skipene i en kortere periode kobles sammen i kvelende havbleike. Mannskap, passasjerer, musikk og underholdning utveksles og hovedpersonen faller fullstendig for en av de kvinnelige passasjerene på det andre skipet. Umulig kjærlighet, det skjønner vi fort, men morsomt beskrevet.
Ikke på høyde med første del, men likevel vel verdt å lese. Tilværelsen på seilskipet på vei mot Australia er som før klaustrofobisk og klassedelt. Den store hendingen i denne boka er at de støter på et annet britisk skip og at de to skipene i en kortere periode kobles sammen i kvelende havbleike. Mannskap, passasjerer, musikk og underholdning utveksles og hovedpersonen faller fullstendig for en av de kvinnelige passasjerene på det andre skipet. Umulig kjærlighet, det skjønner vi fort, men morsomt beskrevet.
July 28, 2025
The second book in the To the Ends of the Earth trilogy starts chaotically, but once you get accustomed to the 19th century formalisms and the nautical terminology, the story picks up with a lot of highs and lows, ultimately resulting in a near-disaster, which gives way to the third volume in the series.
Golding has reached a stage in his penmanship here where he doesn’t need to take himself so seriously anymore, so there are many references to his poor writing skills. Overall, this is a quite humorous book.
Golding has reached a stage in his penmanship here where he doesn’t need to take himself so seriously anymore, so there are many references to his poor writing skills. Overall, this is a quite humorous book.
June 25, 2022
Not as tightly plotted as Rites of Passage but presumably the last novel in the sequence will wrap up the various loose ends. The action centres around a chance meeting with another ship with passengers bound for India and the aftermath of the interactions with her passengers and crew. Good character development. Talbot is in love before his love leaves. A new energetic officer onboard in a crew exchange could save or kill them. It is not clear by the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2022
After failing to finish Rites of Passage and finding out it had a good ending, I was determined to finish this book.
It was a struggle, I didn't find Edmund particularly interesting, and I found the language challenging. But the last quarter of the book was absolutely brilliant so it was sort of worth it.
It was a struggle, I didn't find Edmund particularly interesting, and I found the language challenging. But the last quarter of the book was absolutely brilliant so it was sort of worth it.
November 18, 2023
It is easy to say there is no narrative tension and not a great deal happens in this novel. But Golding's writing is so brilliant I found it hard not to love and admire every page. It is funny, tragic, horrifying, playful, mystifying, poetic and very clever. It is the sort of book I would love to read again, but now I must press on to the third and final installment.
January 7, 2026
Second book in the ‘End of the Earth’ trilogy and a masterpiece of character and emotionally-charged tension in the plot as Talbot continues his journey to the antipodes on a leaking boat as relationships between decks, class and genders are put to the test.
The trilogy is among my favourite Golding novels.
The trilogy is among my favourite Golding novels.
June 18, 2017
I actually read all three books in one volume, but since they won't be added separately to my 2017 Reading Challenge, I am adding them each manually, solely for that purpose. My actual review of the series is under the single volume, To the Ends of the Earth.
February 25, 2023
Golding is famed for his 'Lord of the Flies' but his Sea Trilogy is a greater achievement, putting you right in the action and perfectly recreating the trials of travelling by sea from England to Australia.
June 27, 2020
Strange and wonderful! - now on to the last part.
March 23, 2023
Great. Equally as good as the first book in the trilogy
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