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thebobsphere's review
4.0
After quite a gap, due to one book getting lost in the mail and arriving late, I’m back to my Backlisted challenge.
I came across Denton Welch’s name in Jeremy Treglown’s biography of Roald Dahl, as he was also a pupil at Repton. Like Dahl, Welch hated the place and although maiden Voyage can be filed as auto-fiction, there are lots of similarities between Repton life described here and the one in Dahl’s autobiography, Boy.
The book opens with Welch running away from school and nearly managing, except that he runs out of cash and has to return to his extended family, who send him back to Repton. After some descriptions of Repton life: the testing of Cadbury bars, the constant beatings and the straw hat/tails uniform, he escapes again only to have have his father take him to China.
The rest of the book details his life over there from the culture shock to his emotional development.
For a book written in the early 40’s , Maiden Voyage has an ultra contemporary feel to it. If I didn’t check the book’s date and mentions of the currency at the time, one would have thought that the book was written in the last five years. Welch’s feelings of hopelessness and artistic confinement can be relatable to any reader. Plus his clipped writing style does not feel dated, rather in tune with how a lot of authors write today. To as an extra dimension, there’s also some illustrations, provided by Denton Welch himself (although he is known as a writer, he was foremost an artist)
At first I was a bit sceptical about Maiden Voyage as I feared that it would fall into repetition but it never does that. Denton Welch is a skilled author and the end result is a pioneering piece of auto-fiction. I guess the closest would be J.G. Ballard’s Empire of the Sun but this is a more cohesive and personal book.
Just one little word, Maiden Voyage is out of print but it is relatively easy to find a copy and it is worth it.
I came across Denton Welch’s name in Jeremy Treglown’s biography of Roald Dahl, as he was also a pupil at Repton. Like Dahl, Welch hated the place and although maiden Voyage can be filed as auto-fiction, there are lots of similarities between Repton life described here and the one in Dahl’s autobiography, Boy.
The book opens with Welch running away from school and nearly managing, except that he runs out of cash and has to return to his extended family, who send him back to Repton. After some descriptions of Repton life: the testing of Cadbury bars, the constant beatings and the straw hat/tails uniform, he escapes again only to have have his father take him to China.
The rest of the book details his life over there from the culture shock to his emotional development.
For a book written in the early 40’s , Maiden Voyage has an ultra contemporary feel to it. If I didn’t check the book’s date and mentions of the currency at the time, one would have thought that the book was written in the last five years. Welch’s feelings of hopelessness and artistic confinement can be relatable to any reader. Plus his clipped writing style does not feel dated, rather in tune with how a lot of authors write today. To as an extra dimension, there’s also some illustrations, provided by Denton Welch himself (although he is known as a writer, he was foremost an artist)
At first I was a bit sceptical about Maiden Voyage as I feared that it would fall into repetition but it never does that. Denton Welch is a skilled author and the end result is a pioneering piece of auto-fiction. I guess the closest would be J.G. Ballard’s Empire of the Sun but this is a more cohesive and personal book.
Just one little word, Maiden Voyage is out of print but it is relatively easy to find a copy and it is worth it.
foggy_rosamund's review
4.0
Denton Welch has a unique and unforgettable voice: his descriptive language is clear, precise and surprising, and his observations about people are often witty as well as full of emotion. This is Welch's first autobiographical novel, about a young man called Denton who runs away from public school at the age of 16, and finally joins his father in the Shanghai of 1930s. Welch captures his impressions of English families, boarding school, boat travel, and the hypocrisy of colonial China, in quick, precise brushstrokes. My edition of "Maiden Voyage" was packaged as travel writing in the 1980s, but this isn't really a novel about travel, though the account of Shanghai is central to the story. Instead it's a meditation on aloneness, how the cruel and rash way humans treat one another exists everywhere, and an exploration of one boy's extreme sensuality, and his struggle to experience the body in a repressive society. It also depicts colonial China in the racist and repressive terms of the time, but Welch's refusal to categorize anything means that his descriptions of China and Shanghai feel even-handed, and he seems to lack the overt orientalism of those around him. This makes the book feel less dated than it might otherwise be. Welch's queerness is also an important element of the book - while it is not explicit, but comes across in his relationships with boys and men, his sensitivity, and his interest in femininity. Welch's personality is full of dichotomies and is hard to characterize, which adds to the subtle and maturity of his writing. A compelling book from a very memorable writer.
heyitsel's review
adventurous
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
cschwarz's review
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
kingkong's review
3.0
I did like how he spent most of his time being bored hanging out with other English people
jeffhall's review
4.0
Denton Welch's first novel is good, although certainly not quite as strong as In Youth is Pleasure, his signature work. Nonetheless, Maiden Voyage has plenty of snark, snobbery, selfishness, and all the other quirky characteristics that make Welch's autobiographical narrators so unique, yet so utterly believable.
More to the point, this book already demonstrates Welch's remarkable ability to convey a large amount of information with a small number of words. Where other writers might bathe the reader in florid descriptions and long conversations, Welch achieves the same effect with small doses of each, and yet manages to construct a complete picture for the reader. It's a rare ability, and really shines in his short stories, but is on display even here in his first novel.
This isn't quite the place to start for a reader that is new to Denton Welch, but once you get the bug for his magical fiction, this volume will certainly provide the fix that you'll be needing.
More to the point, this book already demonstrates Welch's remarkable ability to convey a large amount of information with a small number of words. Where other writers might bathe the reader in florid descriptions and long conversations, Welch achieves the same effect with small doses of each, and yet manages to construct a complete picture for the reader. It's a rare ability, and really shines in his short stories, but is on display even here in his first novel.
This isn't quite the place to start for a reader that is new to Denton Welch, but once you get the bug for his magical fiction, this volume will certainly provide the fix that you'll be needing.
zefrog's review
2.0
Not a disagreeable read but one that feels it has very little point. The expression: "stuff happens" could be used to summarise the book which seems little more than a collection of small, mostly unrelated incidents without any apparent significance. Other than that he likes or dislikes things (usually very suddenly and for little apparent reason), we know very little of the "hero"'s inner life and motivations, which seems surprising considering the books is written in the first person.
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