More on greatest excerpts, I was going for like a specific scene where you felt the writing was some of the best and/or conveyed a strong message/emotions, of course kept somewhat nonspoilery within reason. I’d love to hear what you guys think!

Personal top five:

  1. Final chapter of 1984. Don’t want to give to much away for those that haven’t read, but boy this chapter is brutal. It is a veryyyy unique chapter that I haven’t come across again in literature and it is so well done. Bravo to Orwell.

  2. !Apache attack!< in Blood Meridian.

!Something about McCarthy’s prose is just insanely vivid and here we get this utterly terrifying depiction of a band of tribesmen stampeding towards our characters. This is probably what I would call the “best written” excerpt.!<

  1. !Aftermath of the second (first on page) death!< in Lord of the Flies. Golding’s use of imagery here is just so beautiful and I’m a sucker for religious symbolism so this hit hard. It’s so terrifyingly peaceful and fits the character >!better than any other send off I’ve read. The final death is also expertly written.!<

  2. !Eve reveals that she ate from the tree of knowledge!< in Paradise Lost.

!Milton summarizes humanity’s loss of pure love with the greying of a rose that falls from a wreath Adam is making for his love, Eve. Need I say more?!<

  1. Bridge to Terabithia… you know the moment. Of course this doesn’t hold up to the writing of the others but I’ve never been gut punched so hard by a book.
  • allsloppy-nojoe@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    The scene in Anna Karenina (this is the Maude translation) where Levin sees Kitty ice skating is one of my favorites, especially the last line of this passage.

    “‘Can I really step down on to the ice, and go up to her?’ he thought. The spot where she stood seemed to him an unapproachable sanctuary, and there was a moment when he nearly went away, he was so filled with awe. He had to make an effort and reason with himself that all sorts of people were passing near her and he himself might have come just to skate. He stepped down, avoiding any long look at her as one avoids long looks at the sun, but seeing her as one sees the sun, without looking.”