After a long period of inaction, I have decided to renew making entries on my blog, and the first book I will write about is "Voss" by the Nobel Laureate, Patrick White--the Australian author.
I had heard that this was a wonderful novel, and certainly a lot of the writing is first-rate. What got me bogged down and led me eventually to give up about 60 pages before the end was what might be called the sub-plot or the parallel story.
In the novel, 'Voss' is the name of a German explorer, and he is modeled on a real-life German who made two exploratory trips in Australia at a time when very little of the interior was known. His second expedition was a failure--he disappeared and it has never been satisfactorily established what happened to him. The major part of the Voss novel is devoted to the progress and the eventual failure of an expedition that sets out from the east coast heading westward.
But prior to Voss's departure from Sydney, he encounters the second major character in the novel--Laura Trevelyan, the niece of a wealthy merchant who is helping to finance the expedition. Some sort of emotional bond springs up between them, and in an exchange of letters early in the expedition they more or less commit themselves to marry.
As the expedition proceeds, Voss seems to establish a some sort of telepathic relationship with Laura--dreaming about her and talking to her--and he is very much on her mind as her life evolves in Sydney. And the details of this life are what I have described above as the parallel story...and they occupy, to my mind, a far too prominent role in the novel and far too many pages.
But get the book, get into it, and focus on the chapters devoted to the actual expedition, which you will undoubtedly enjoy, but--frankly--I would whizz through the pages devoted to Laura Trevelyan's life in Sydney.
There is, of course, no doubt that White is a great writer, and certainly immersion in his prose is a worthwhile experience.