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jamesdanielhorn's review
4.0
While W. L. George’s Children of the Morning is a rare book that should we more widely recognized. As many books of this era it IS a bit “of it’s time”, but for being written in the twenties does have a nice little feminist bend toward the end. That’s not to say it’s without it’s flaws, which it certainly has race wise.
Obviously this book is an interesting read as some (particularly Evelyn Waugh publicly) have said it was ripped off by William Golding. From what I remember there are similarities, but I haven’t read Lord of the Flies since High School so I’ll read that next just to compare the two, and write a more detailed review then…
Update: I re-read Lord of the Flies, and there are more parallels than I was expecting. Certainly a line can be drawn between “Ankel” and the titular “Lord” of the flies. And even more obvious lines between Jack/Tsarl and Ralph/Dzon and I’d even go as far as to say Roger/Bloo. And while I didn’t feel as though there was a “Piggy” in CotM per se, one could argue that and amalgam of Donal/Elnor might fit the bill. There are certainly differences( particularly the time stranded (which I felt added some depth to CotM) and it being all boys stranded in LOTF, but the plots progression and even the main moral/meaning seems to be relatively the same.
Whether subliminally influenced as Evelyn Waugh suggests, the ideas outright plagiarized, or mere coincidence; Lord of the Flies is however, a much more expertly crafted novel in my opinion. This said, Children of the Morning absolutely remains a worthwhile read if only for the footnote of stunning similarity, or possible source of plagiarism.
I was so curious for others to read this, that I digitized the interlibrary loan copy I was able to hunt down, and I have posted the ePub various places on the internet. Let me know if you have trouble locating it and I’ll send a link.
Obviously this book is an interesting read as some (particularly Evelyn Waugh publicly) have said it was ripped off by William Golding. From what I remember there are similarities, but I haven’t read Lord of the Flies since High School so I’ll read that next just to compare the two, and write a more detailed review then…
Update: I re-read Lord of the Flies, and there are more parallels than I was expecting. Certainly a line can be drawn between “Ankel” and the titular “Lord” of the flies. And even more obvious lines between Jack/Tsarl and Ralph/Dzon and I’d even go as far as to say Roger/Bloo. And while I didn’t feel as though there was a “Piggy” in CotM per se, one could argue that and amalgam of Donal/Elnor might fit the bill. There are certainly differences( particularly the time stranded (which I felt added some depth to CotM) and it being all boys stranded in LOTF, but the plots progression and even the main moral/meaning seems to be relatively the same.
Whether subliminally influenced as Evelyn Waugh suggests, the ideas outright plagiarized, or mere coincidence; Lord of the Flies is however, a much more expertly crafted novel in my opinion. This said, Children of the Morning absolutely remains a worthwhile read if only for the footnote of stunning similarity, or possible source of plagiarism.
I was so curious for others to read this, that I digitized the interlibrary loan copy I was able to hunt down, and I have posted the ePub various places on the internet. Let me know if you have trouble locating it and I’ll send a link.
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