Reading Notes

This novel is really good thus far. I had a somewhat tough time with the second chapter where the schoolboys are doing their silly little jargon. A couple moments where I'm thinking to myself, "What the hell are we even talking about?"

But it's been very simmering, even just from what I've read thus far. The text feels rich.

Lanyon seemed about to step forward; and Laurie waited. He didn't think what he was waiting for. He was lifted into a kind of exalted dream, part loyalty, part hero-worship, all romance. Half-remembered images moved in it, the tents of Troy, the columns of Athens, David waiting in an olive grove for the sound of Jonathan's bow.

• Ch. 2

I screamed.

"That's right," said Laurie. He took a long steadying draw on his cigarette. "I appreciate it, Reg. Don't worry, I guarantee that if any seducing goes on it'll be done by me." He held his breath. Look out you don't cut yourself, Reg had once said.

Reg said, approvingly, "Ah. That's more like it. That's all a lad like that wants, someone to make a man of him."

Screaming, screaming.

Really enjoying the conversations in this one. There is always multiple levels to everything. We are constantly either speaking in innuendos without even meaning to, or we're using coded language purposefully. There's times where it starts escaping me, but it's generally very good. I enjoy how obliquely we sometimes refer to the whole underground enterprise.

I think I like Ralph more than Andrew. But it feels so unfair. We keep describing Andrew as sweet and innocent. But we get a lot more layers to Ralph. So he feels like more of a fleshed-out person. I'd like to have a better idea of who Andrew is as a person.

So I'll be totally honest, I have literally no idea what was going on with Laurie writing the letter to Madge. I genuinely could not understand what it was we were even talking about there. Who was mad with who, why Laurie was writing the letter, how everyone felt afterward. I don't know if I just skipped over something by accident, maybe I'm just stupid. But I could not for the life of me figure out even by context clue what was happening. There was multiple conversations that I flatly could not parse.

It was bad luck on her, Laurie thought. She hadn't wanted to know. She much preferred everything to be nice. You would never have heard her commenting unkindly on one of those quiet boys, a bit shy with girls, or one of those clever women, the tailor-made type, a bit independent with men. It took all sorts to make a world. As for people like that, them one would only hear of, never meet. They belonged, like sawn-up corpses, to the exotic land of the Sunday papers. Even now, almost certainly, she wouldn't report what she had seen, partly because it would embarrass her too much, but chiefly because she still wouldn't fully commit herself to having talked and worked with, and even liked, people like that. She would rather consign them to some indeterminate limbo of people who were no longer nice but not fully classified; people who were a bit morbid, or had something unhealthy about them.

Limbo, he thought, remembering the apples shining across the stream, and the day of separation coming nearer and nearer, till it would be now.

Heartbreaking

Very good novel. I am quite certain there are levels to this I simply was not getting. The language, man. The language was a lot. I hadn't really struggled with such things before. Not sure what in particular about this writing style kept getting to me. There's just so many things that we never actually say out loud, but just refer to. But it's a very poignant story all around. Well worth reading. Will probably read more of Renault's stuff. Maybe if everyone is speaking Greek or Latin I will understand them better.