Posted by Robert Hill on June 29, 2016 at 12:31:57 user eclrh.
In Reply to: Re: Lydd international posted by Mike Dennis on June 28, 2016 at 22:02:46:
I always thought reading PD and ML how AR dealt with the homeward journey in just a few pages, and even now find it slightly disappointing.
That's true of probably every "there and back again" adventure story I've ever read, heard or seen.
As I've just quoted its subtitle let's use The Hobbit as an example. There's an introductory chapter to introduce the characters and tell the backstory; then chapters 2-10, comprising about 60% of the total length of the book, cover the outward journey. Events at the destination occupy chapters 11-17, and even most of chapter 18 despite its title being "The Return Journey". The actual return journey is covered in the remainder of that chapter and the short chapter 19.
It's much the same in Treasure Island, We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea, She and lots of others.
The Lord of the Rings is something of an exception as there are still six chapters to after the climax, two or three of which cover the return journey, though they are short by the standards of the chapters in the early part of the book.
I think it's more or less inevitable. A long description of a homeward journey is in danger of seeming an anticlimax after the main events.
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