>>8247870

Is English your first language, also how is The Inheritors? I've always been really curious about it since I liked Lord of the Flies a lot.

>>8247919
It is, but since he's writing from the viewpoint of a Neanderthal it makes the language he's using rather odd and pair that with his unnecessary and garbled descriptions of the terrain its down right confusing at times.

And i'm the same, really enjoyed LOTF so decided to give this a read. I'm enjoying it so far its just the odd paragraphs which I can't make sense of annoy me. Also i think i'm supposed to understand the positioning of the area they are in but I just cant picture it.

Has no one read this book or something?

I read the first few chapters because I have a horrid attention span. I like the minutiae of the tribe interacting but it was VERY hard to decipher how they communicate through telepathic "pictures". I'm a fan of conlangs but this wasn't some pseudo-creole tongue where you just substituted a cod russian noun for an English one, the whole syntax of how the Neanderthals communicate is really opaque. I remember a log moved or something, and they couldn't comprehend it? Like the fact that it used to be there, but now wasn't. I'll have to read it again.

The book really suffers by not having a map.

He talks about the overhang, the island, the river, the log, the terrace, the forest, the cliff and what not like we should know where they are and where they are in relation to one another. If he put a map in it would be a whole lot easier to follow

>>8248240
I took "picture" to mean a thought. So when they say "I have a picture" they mean "i have the image of an idea/thought in my head" then they try to explain the image and others.

>>8248256
Pretty sure it was said they do actually have a kind of low-level telepathy. Not in the book, but just everything I've read on it.

>>8248244
I think a map would kind of shatter what he tried to create here. This isn't LOTR where the world is plotted out with great kingdoms and borders and shit. These are pacifist quasi-humans with almost no tool use that blend seamlessly with their surroundings. They don't seem to quite grasp symbolic thought. Charting their habitat would ruin that experience, even if it made it less confusing.

>>8248324
>Pretty sure it was said they do actually have a kind of low-level telepathy

Source? This doesn't sound like golding

>This isn't LOTR where the world is plotted out

It is though, thats the problem. He's clearly plotted out the area they live in and tried to portray it to us, he's just done a poor job

>>8247995
doesn't look like it

>>8247870
Read another chapter - a character died and I didn't realise until I read the chapter summery online.

How does a nobel prize winning author like golding have such a bad way with words...?

>>8248700
It's his favorite work. Maybe you're just dull?

>>8249070
Well this is my question, am I an idiot or is his writing just really bad

>>8249206
well i say "bad" that's a bit harsh, i really mean hard to follow...