Posted by Andy on February 12, 2012 at 12:05:16 user AndyG.
In Reply to: Reality and the Reader (more on Peter Duck etc) posted by Mike Dennis on February 12, 2012 at 01:21:06:
I have to admit that WDMTGTS is going to be in my "top three" forever.
Yes, there are moments - perhaps many of them - where the story, as we have it, could have been avoided had there been timely intervention by the children. And, yes, finding Daddy at Flushing is a bit of a (utterly necessary) deus ex machina. (That said, we know Ted was going to be there-ish at some point-ish during his travels back from the Far East.)
So I can let that potentially jarring moment pass: not least because, at 48, and a father of three, it's a chapter that can now bring a tear to my eye.
But the real strengths of the book are in the writing - the description of the rivers around Harwich, the sequence during the storm, and the later night/dawn episodes at sea. They are exquisite.
BEST of all, though, is the obvious fun Ransome has in tying up the loose ends - from Jim waking up in hospital, the customs' officers meeting the Goblin, the "placating Mother" moments. It's all a joy. Consumate, rattling writing by a pro at his peak.
I don't know if he enjoyed the writing of it, but it certainly reads like he did. Which, I'd argue, is all a reader needs to know.
I rest my case! :o)
Andy