Enjoy The Temple Of Gold Penned By William Goldman Listed As Softcover
on The Temple of Gold
William Goldman
MY BLOG Go meet the new family's son, Ray's mother tells him, He's about your age, and he seems like an absolute angel, Ray, a seventh grader bearing a grudge against life in general, hated him already,
"I hear you're an absolute angel," I said to him that morning,Ray, a fairly nice looking, outdoorsy kid, who struggles to get by in school, Zock, an "ugly" straightA student who loves poetry, They have nothing in common, and so, of course, after a brief fight, they become best friends,
"I hear you're not," he came right back, which threw me because I didn't know how the news had spread so fast,
William's Goldman's first novel, The Temple of Gold, which he dashed off in three weeks, tells a tale that probably has been lived by many a small town kid.
A childhood reasonably happy, because he doesn't know better, A high school career that is undistinguished academically, but fun, exciting the odd synergy between the two boys making them joint leaders among other students, Graduation. One boy remaining in his small Illinois town, aimless, messing around with girls, choosing girls badly, being repeatedly dumped, Spending night after night alone, drinking, drunk, The other boy living an exciting life in the Ivy League, All the makings of tragedy,
They part, following graduation, with characteristic humor,
"Well, Zocker," I said belting him one on the arm, "Don't take any wooden nickels, "Zock returns home after his first year at Harvard, excited to see Ray again, After one year, Ray wants only to drink, Ray insists on driving while drunk, The inevitable accident. Zock is killed. "Murdered" in the eyes of Zock's parents, of the townspeople, and of Ray himself,
"My mother has already warned me, "
"And stay loose. "
"I shall," he said, I shall endeavor to try, "
"Do endeavor so," I said, imitating him,
We shook hands. "Goodby," I said. "Goodby, Euripides. "
But neither of us moved,
"I hear you're an absolute angel," I said finally,
"I hear you're not," he said,
Then we both ran,
Ray joins the Army four days later, unwittingly contributes to the death of a fellow
recruit, and is discharged, He marries the whore who he's been seeing in town, As a newly married man, he determines to pull himself together, In effect although it's not made explicit he tries to live the life that Zock would have lived, Had he lived. Had Ray not killed him He enrolls in the local college, He studies hard and becomes an A student, He works his butt off to become editor of the school literary magazine, He fails to become editor only because the adviser can't forget the boy's past, and refuses to appoint him, .
Meanwhile, his wife tires of his dedication to his studies and to the magazine, She's sick of being a "good girl, " She has an affair with theyearold boy next door, and then leaves, Unlucky at school unlucky at love unlocky at friendship,
Ray sinks lower and lower, Not for the first time, he ends up at Zock's grave in the cemetery,
"Zock, I'm cracking. Help me. Help me for Christ's sake, I can't find the handle, Zock, Tell me what to do, Tell me now because I'm cracking, "He finally finds himself lying in bed, spending a spell in the hospital's mental health ward,
The Temple of Gold was published at roughly the same time as Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, It is written in the same breezy, informal style, and is told by the same sort of confused adolescent, one whose decisions appear to the reader as disastrous and selfdefeating.
Goldman's work is darker, perhaps because it does not stop where Catcher in the Rye stops, at a stage where we still see some realistic hope for the future as Goldman's original manuscript did, before his publisher insisted that the novel be doubled in length.
The story attempts something of a hopeful final few pages, but I had the feeling that Ray had played all of his cards, and had pretty much lost all of his chips.
He's like guys we've all known, kids who might have made a good life for themselves, but who made poor decisions they lacked the resources to overcome later,
Ray's glory days were in high school, and his friendship with Zoch was the golden thread that ran through his life, He attempted to relate to his girlfriends with the same breezy, jokey, mildlyinsulting approach that had been so successful with Zoch, It might have worked with some girls even then it might well have worked in, It didn't work in thes, in small town Illinois,
All of the tragic aspects of the novel having been noted, the dialogue is often quite funny, especially in the early chapters between Ray and Zock, and between them and their high school friends.
Goldman's subsequent career was prolific, Among his novels, he wrote The Princess Bride, He has written numerous screenplays, including , All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Книга, която остава . . More like.stars. Engaging, punchy writing. Really captures reckless teenage spirit and wayward earlys, Great comingofage novel that rivals Catcher in the Rye, Similarly, an unpleasant narrator, but Euripides is preferable to Holden, If I read this one earlier in life, I'd probably give itstars, Стара книжка, с доста опърпана корица, а на нея Гунга Дун, надуващ своята тръба, покачен на златния храм на моето юношество.
Четена и препрочитана неведнъж, незнайно как открита, в дебрите на огромната библиотека на родителите ми.
Много, много любима книга, с наистина незабравими, вечни герои.
Еврипид и Зок са моите спасители в ръжта, други не ми трябват!!! The Temple of Gold is a great book, genuine and simple, I loved it because of the way the main character, Ray, describes what's happening to him, The author's style really captures the way life twists and tuns and drag everyone along, It was recommended to me as a book similar to Kerouac's On the Road, I don't think they are alike, but it resembles a little The Catcher in the Rye, The Temple of Gold is a pleasant and easy read that teaches you many things, I read this book many years ago, It was borrowed and after that I haven't been able to find it, I remember I loved it a lot and thought it was much better than Catcher in the Rye, After so long i still have very vivid memories about it a thing I can't say about other books that I have read and liked so long ago,
I would like to reread it now, but am somewhat afraid if I will like it as much as that first time, there is something so annoying yet so forgiveable about a first novel that is less about adventure and more about how the author thinks they have discovered What Life Is Truly All About.
these kinds of novels often combine youthful idealism and cynicism in an awkward way that manages to be both refreshingly honest and irritatingly pretentious, oh where is that golden temple of satisfaction that we all strive so aimlessly towards oh isn't life such a sad disappointment after all where is this life leading us to: is that all there is
Temple's combination of genuine sincerity and youngmanangryatthe world IS often eyerolling.
. . but, just as often, it is sweetly fetching, it's easy to form a guilty kind of crush on this appealing and sensitive young novel, it means well, and it's ever so earnest,
the best time to have read this would have been in high school the bitterness may have appeared less dogmatic, still, the protagonist deserves his place on the bookshelf between Catcher in the Rye's aggravating seeker of truths and The Wanderers' gang of confused malcontents, I wanted to love this, I'm such a big fan of Butch amp Sundance and the Princess Bride, so I had high expectations for this, despite it being Goldman's first published work,
I enjoyed his personal story about the publication of the book, and I thought the first quarter of the book was pretty good, It felt like it should have been a short story that ended there, though, It didn't really do much for me after that, Wonderful
Original, funny, sad, and honest, One of those masterpieces that you cannot put down, A coming if age tale a classic for sure, I read this book in, and it had an enormous impact on me, I'm not going to read it again because I don't want it out of time, J. D. Salinger just died, and I won't reread Franny and Zooey either, I'd rather remember them both as the most amazing books I've read in my life and leave the books and their brilliantly timely authors there, For some reason this is one on my list of topbooks, Sort of a Catcher in the Rye style story, Very haunting. Better than Catcher in the Rye, There, I said itstars. The talent is there, but you can tell this is a first novel, Worth reading. While this novel is not an autobiography, one feels it is a psychologically valid memoir if not a factual life history for Goldman, Growing up awkwardly and having trouble navigating traumas, setbacks and love life the hero never really finds "the handle" and that is something we can all relate to,
Also, it makes me know I need to watch the film sitelinkGunga Din, Uhno. Boring. Probably one of the most important books I have ever read and far better than Catcher in The Rye, It isn't just about coming of age, it's about how one deals with the pressure that comes when you move into adult hood and all the disappointments and how to deal with him.
It's a book with deep underlying them of mental illness and what drives one to eventual breakdown, I make it sound like a dark book, but it really isn't, There is plenty of humor in the book and plenty of adventures that Ray Trevitt takes us on, A wonderful book, that puts you in Ray's shoes and makes you feel what he is going through, Goldmans sad passing propelled me to check out this coming of age story, to the best of my knowledge the only nongenre novel he wrote, Its Goldmans first book, and not his best, and while theres probably an interesting few hundred words to get here about the way in which Goldmans genius as a crime/horror/western/fantasy/etc/writer dont lend themselves to this more traditional task, Im not going to bother with them cause I got other shit to do.
Nil nisi bonum, and all that, I loved this book so much that when I started reading The Princess Bride and Goldman said in the introduction that "nobody cherished" The Temple of Gold, I immediately put down the book and wrote him a letter.
It was a very long time ago that I read it, but I never forgot Raymond Euripides Trevitt and still quote him to this day"I shall endeavor, " This was my first and the first William Goldman novel, After one boring afternoon I watched 'The princess bride' and absolutely loved it, I thought why not start at the beginning,
I wouldn't say it was a complete mistake, it was enjoyable and memorable but the writing flaws are so clear, It says at the back of the book that he doesn't read his books once he's finished and that's evident, The amount of repetition of the same words in a single paragraph made you want to skip whole sections, Plus there was a lot of reoccurring events in Ray Trevitt's life,
I think if he had sat down and combed through it and took out all the non essential repetition, I think it would have been a solidstar experience.
Having said that, there was a lot of moving scenes and stand out characters, I really felt like I followed this lad through his life, even though he wasn't the most pleasant protagonist, It was dotted with humour, though not laugh out loud as you would with TPB,
It was his first novel and it had the makings of the writing genius he was to become,
RIP Mr Goldman Удоволствие!
И втория път я изгълтах неусетно, Странното е, че за осем години съвсем бях забравила какво се случва, въпреки че отново ми харесва със същата сила. Взех я на заем любимата книга на найдобрия ми приятел сега си я купих за два лева на старо. Тогава я четох до четири сутринта, този път ми отне едно пътуване от Варна до София.
Сякаш всичко става толкова лесно при Реймънд Еврипид Тревит и дивотиите, и фаталните грешки и преодоляването им. Няма никакво съжаление в тази забележително четивна история. С прикрита лекота почти и не усещаш кога и как те докосва. Когато стигнах до последната страница, започнах да чета много бавно, а след последната точка си казвах "Не, не, не " Не защо свърши така, а защо въобще свърши.
Толкова естествено се излива цялата история, съвсем логична в нелогичността си. Един от любимите ми моменти:
"Дявол да го вземе, да се оженя за теб е безсмислено. Ти си човек на място. Няма да има смисъл Но някой като Тери В това има смисъл Да провърви с момиче като Тери Т о в а е нещо. "
Дяволска логика. Дяволска. Трънливия път до Златния храм, който е, няма да издавам края. :
Ще ми е интересно след още осем години пак да я препрочета. Струва си. И съм сигурна в това, както че Бог е създал зелените ябълки. :.