Voss by Patrick White
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have feelings about this book all across the spectrum from bad to great!
The first couple of chapters are difficult stylistically but this eases with perserverence. On the whole I am really glad I read this book, I loved the story line, the characters, the auor's use of language. It is a complex book, which thoroughly warrants a second close read if I was someone who did second reads. The story has two strands - on one side the author's deft comic rendering of polite Sidney society in colonial times, with its shades of Jane Austen and the like, its preoccupation with finding good matches for its women, with Laura Trevelyan the young woman living with aunt and uncle, she is on the edge of society, a contained rebel, an intelligent, education , beautiful woman in a society where the first two characteristics are not valued. On the other side another person at the periphery, Voss, the German explorer of the Australian outback. *****SPOILER ALERT *****There's is an unlikely meeting, catalysed by the fact that Laura's uncle is the expeditions's sponsor. To me they are soul mates who meet but briefly,start a correspondence which sadly never materialised into other than their letters most of which never reach their intended, and who dream and fantasize about the other. The book swings back and forward between the comforts of Sydney life and the perils for white men in the unknown outback. Their stories form a beautifully crafted, dreamlike, spiritual, intertwining, mixing the real and the unreal, often a little bit too fluidly for this reader to maintain a connection with on one reading or this slightly overlong book. But that did not distract from a feeling of satisfaction at completing the reading. A challenging read, very suitable for book group discussions who like to delve deep.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have feelings about this book all across the spectrum from bad to great!
The first couple of chapters are difficult stylistically but this eases with perserverence. On the whole I am really glad I read this book, I loved the story line, the characters, the auor's use of language. It is a complex book, which thoroughly warrants a second close read if I was someone who did second reads. The story has two strands - on one side the author's deft comic rendering of polite Sidney society in colonial times, with its shades of Jane Austen and the like, its preoccupation with finding good matches for its women, with Laura Trevelyan the young woman living with aunt and uncle, she is on the edge of society, a contained rebel, an intelligent, education , beautiful woman in a society where the first two characteristics are not valued. On the other side another person at the periphery, Voss, the German explorer of the Australian outback. *****SPOILER ALERT *****There's is an unlikely meeting, catalysed by the fact that Laura's uncle is the expeditions's sponsor. To me they are soul mates who meet but briefly,start a correspondence which sadly never materialised into other than their letters most of which never reach their intended, and who dream and fantasize about the other. The book swings back and forward between the comforts of Sydney life and the perils for white men in the unknown outback. Their stories form a beautifully crafted, dreamlike, spiritual, intertwining, mixing the real and the unreal, often a little bit too fluidly for this reader to maintain a connection with on one reading or this slightly overlong book. But that did not distract from a feeling of satisfaction at completing the reading. A challenging read, very suitable for book group discussions who like to delve deep.