Reading Response #6

Arledge killed a man named Meffre in a duel. His outside intentions was because he was being rude to him publicly, and refused to be insulted in such a way. His deeper intentions are that he hated the man. Arledge, Meffre, and Bayham were the only men who would go on the deck anymore. Arledge was made at Meffre because he would never leave so he could talk to Bayham and force out of him the story of his kidnapping. He is obsessed with finding out the truth, not so much because of curiosity anymore, but because Bayham is hiding it from him. He will even go so much as to tell Kerrigan's story to Bayham and Florence Bongington. I am excited to hear this story and know of Kerrigan's motives. It will also give me a chance to sympathize with him.

Reading Response #5

I got back outside of the novel for a while. The character who was reading it to two other characters suggested they stop and start again the next morning. Only one of the characters shows up, and they start without her. I'm really curious as to why she didn't show up. As the reader said, "Miss Bunnage as well must have found the tale rather cumbersome and the dialogue poor, and that it was simply was not worth the effort to come here this morning-" (76). Is this really the reason she didn't come? Or did something happen to her to prevent her from coming? I have to wait quite a while to find out, if I do at all. It is a shame, because she promised she'd tell the other character what she knew of the book and her interpretation of it. I guess that will never be found out either.

Back into the second novel, something really dramatic happened. The second-in-command Kerrigan has been becoming more and more depressed and continuously drinking excessively. The reason for this is unknown. Maybe he is homesick, or just tired of sailing. One day when he was denied alcohol, he threw the cellist overboard, and threatened to do the same with Florence Bonington. Arledge finally managed to calm him down. Then the men attacked him and he stabbed the captain with a knife. The reason he did this was most likely because of the drinking. If there are other factors involved in this, they are unknown to me.

Reading Response #4

After Arledge met Mr. Bonington he was disappointed because he didn't match the description of the man who kidnapped Bayham. The two of them along with Florence and Bayham and they have a drink at a cafe together. Throughout their conversation Arledge tries to get Bayham to explain the story of his kidnapping. Bayham and his companions avoid the subject until Bayham confronts Arledge about it and explains that he wishes to forget about it.

I am interested as to why Bayham wishes to forget the incident. Could it be that something happened that he hasn't told anyone? Is he hiding something? Did he make it up? He says to Arledge, "'My good Mr. Arledge, if they interrupted me it was only because they know that I would prefer never to talk about that incident again'" (59). This confirms what was said in the letter to Arledge about the kidnapping: "'This way, perhaps, I may be able to avoid having to retell the story over and over again, for I have no doubt that it will be of great interest to our friends, all of whom have been so terribly worried by my absence and, for the same reason, I fear, will demand the relative satisfaction of an explanation'" (28). What are Bayham's motives?

Reading Response #3

The ship has been delayed at an island for three days because they lost a man. He was found murdered. The captain had to fill out some papers before they could set sail again. I believe this is significant and could be foreshadowing. A stop like that couldn't be a coinicidence. Maybe something will happen because of their loss of time. This could also mean that there will be a few more stops along the way, and the adventure won't quite be the way they expected it to be.

Reading Response #2

The book has taken a turn that I didn't expect. Instead of there being a flashback, there is a novel being read in the book. Hence I am reading a novel-within-a-novel.

The new main character's name is Victor Arledge. He has boarded the ship Tallahassee to go on an exploration. He wants to go because he heard Hugh Everett Bayham will be going. He has been interested in him since his friend sent him a letter explaining how he had been kidnapped to Scotland. Arledge does get to meet Bayham while on the ship. He also meets his companion Florence Bonington and her father Dr. Bonington, who Arledge suspects is the man who kidnapped Bayham.

The book has been pretty confusing. There is not much dialogue, yet not a great deal of description either. Most of it is just explaining what has been happening. Everything goes by so fast it's a little bit hard to keep up.

Reading Response #1

The book I am reading is called Voyage Along the Horizon by Javier Marias. It was originally written in Spanish.

The book has been interesting so far. It is written in first person, and the main character's name is not yet known because there has been no dialogue. The main character so talking about the past, and is about to flash back to it. The book is a story within a story. I find this intriguing. I know the basic idea of how the book ends, and I know that the main character survives. This leaves me to focus on the setails of the story.

I quote I have found interesting is: "The feeling that you have made a fool of yourself, that you have wasted an opportunity you have sought for so long, that you have acted dishonorably, forever ruined a very well laid plan, failed to rise to the occasion, lacked tact and self-control, seemed impertinent and unpleasantly obvious, lost someone's respect--in short, the feeling that you have behaved like a perfect lout, is perhaps one of the most painful and humiliating sensations a man can ever know" (10-11). I have felt like this before, so I can relate to the character. This also gives me an outline on what will happen during the book.

Yay!

Hey! This is my first post in my totally awesome blog!