To the Ends of the Earth

The psychological and social class undercurrents of life aboard a "Ship of the Line" at the end of the golden age of British domination of the seas is the core of this facinating trilogy. William Golding is the Nobel winning author who is best known for his first book, Lord of the Flies. His literary plunge into the depths of the age of sail during the Napoleonic wars has the same claustophobic tension of this earlier work. Told primarily in the first person, it is a voyage of self discovery of a member of the 'lower' aristocracy as he makes the long trip from England to Australia. During his voyage he is forced to question long held social, political, and personal values. Golding's ability to chart the change of his main character's pompous and self righteous view of the world to a more open and sensitive one is the internal beauty of this trilogy. I highly recommend it.

This is a fabulous, detailed and completely engrossing tale of the sea - the ships, her men and the challenges they faced as they battled weather, currents, illness and all that time and chance threw at them. This is written in a fairly old fashioned style, which requires some attention to the writing (this is not a quick and easy summer read), but for those who loved Hormblower and the other great sagas of the sea, this is a fabulous addition to your library. When you read this you can taste the sea spray and feel the rocking of the boat. You will become quite engrossed with the characters and their adventures, and by the end will feel that it was indeed a satisfactory use of your time, and well worth the purchase price.

I was completely caught up in this saga of a sorry ship and its haughty, pretty much unlikable main character. It's unusual to somehow care about a person who for most of the story is an unsympathetic snob, yet one who makes the reader root for his redemption. Would it ever happen? The book is long, but fascinating. I guess it helped to have seen the TV version (a totally accurate rendition of the book) as I had visual images of all the characters.

This writer is excellent. A little difficult to read, due to "old fashioned" language used. A good insight to ocean travel in early days. Was an excellent "Masterpiece Theater" presentation on PBS! Reading the book just fills in the blanks.