This book was ten kinds of painful. I'm not sure exactly when it started to go wrong. All I know is the train dashed off the tracks somewhere around page 100 -- but contrary to known laws of physics, the caboose continued plowing through dirt at an obscene angle, squashing a bunch of hobos & donkeys before it ground to a halt in a grove of sickly apple trees.So much minute examination of emotional response to the least little thing...yet the characters are either completely unpredictable or stuck in a behavioral rut that never changes from one eon to the next. So much tangential infodumping of political situations...that attack the reader with all the subtlety of a lumberjack on PCP. So much repetitious conversation & non-progression of plot...which serves to perfectly showcase the assholes therein.And on that note, I'm thrilled to present a screenplay of the first 200 pages. Enjoy.- CEREMONY OF THE DAMNED INNOCENT;or, PROLETARIAT BLUES -ELLEN: Woe is me, I'm a hideous servant girl. I have big tits & long legs & red hair. And my cheekbones are so high!AUNT MAY: No matter. I got you working dawn to dusk for a dollar -- they don't care if kitchen maids are fugly as sin.ELLEN: A whole dollar?! Good thing my cheekbones will scare away the menfolk. I can't wait to make you proud, my dearest beloved aunt.ALL OTHER WOMEN: You look like a whore.ALL OTHER MEN: You look like a saint.ELLEN: Boohoo, woe is me. I like to read. I wish I wasn't fugly as sin.JEREMY: Hey cutie, know what's sexy? Reading! Thoreau is a fucking genius. I'd love to find a girl who appreciates whatever the hell he writes about. FRANCIS: Hey baby, know what's sexy? Politics! Marxism is so fucking hot. I just got a boner from thinking about the socio-economic impact of the proletariat.ELLEN: You're both sweet. Thank you for being nice to a homely servant girl like me -- a girl with big tits & long legs & red hair. Oh, I'm sorry I offend your eyes!FRANCIS: Damn right. I'd like to put you to work in a nicer house. JEREMY: You suck just like my mom & dad & neighbors & cook & butler & everyone else I know, because I am not a robot!FRANCIS: Blah blah blah, Marxism, blah blah blah.ELLEN: Oh, why are you fighting over me?! I'm so hideous! I don't deserve to be an object of desire!JEREMY: Wait a minute. You really think you're hideous, don't you?ELLEN: Duh. And I hope you don't burst into flames of hellfire for not treating me like dirt.FRANCIS: Yeah, she's a servant. They deserve help, but not so much as to rise above their deserved station. AUNT MAY: Ellen shames poor people everywhere by not being hideous. ELLEN: I'm sorry, Aunt. I can't seem to help having big tits & long legs & red hair. And I read books on the sly, which has somehow gotten me a rich-as-sin suitor.AUNT MAY: I am shocked & appalled!ALL OTHER WOMEN: She's a servant. She looks like a freak!ALL OTHER MEN: She's a servant. She looks like nobility!ELLEN: Woe is me! FRANCIS: Whatever. Your cheekbones are nothing to Karl Marx. You give me feels. JEREMY: But Ellen reads Thoreau, see?ELLEN: Now I realize I seek solitude & comfort above my station -- somewhere I can hide my big tits & long legs & red hair so they don't offend more eyes than necessary. Beware my cheekbones!AUNT MAY: Unclean heifer! ALL OTHER WOMEN: Uncouth whore!ALL OTHER MEN: Beautiful goddess!JEREMY: My one true love!FRANCIS: Servants can't read. ELLEN: And my hair is red. I'm such a freak.JEREMY: I think you're hot.ELLEN: No you don't.JEREMY: Yes I do.ELLEN: No you don't. I'm a hideous cow with huge tits & long legs & red hair.JEREMY: Ha, I deflowered you. We have to marry now.ELLEN: I adore you. I adore being happy. I adore being not treated like dirt. AUNT MAY: You're going to hell.JEREMY: Shut up, you old bat. Ellen & I are happy now. Aren't we happy, Ellen? Tell your aunt how happy we are.ELLEN: We're happy, Aunt May! I'm pregnant...and it's all done within wedlock. How's the nurse we hired for your hundred-page hospice reign of terror?AUNT MAY: Fuck you.JEREMY: Just ignore her, my beloved wife. I love you. ELLEN: And I love you. I'm sorry I offend your sensibilities with my naive conversation & huge tits & long legs & red hair. I'll do my best not to shame you with a hideous child that looks like me. I'm sorry I'll ruin your political future by being such an uncouth heifer. FRANCIS: ....Did someone say political??Okay, seriously. This book really cheesed me off. Then I clicked on another review & discovered that Ellen (view spoiler)[kills herself at the end -- after her children drive her to it by playing on that obnoxious inferiority complex (hide spoiler)]
One of the books I consider best in my life. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What do You think about Ceremony Of The Innocent (1983)?
This book was first published in 1938. By being her fist novel, it took four years to be written. Some critics consider "Captains and the Kings" as its "sequel."I would rate this book with 4 stars if the main characters were not so naive in my humble opinion.Despite this fact, I still think that Taylor Caldwell is one of the great writers of the 20th century fiction.4* The Arm and the Darkness5* A Pillar of Iron4* Dear and Glorious Physician4* The Earth Is the Lord's: A Tale of the Rise of Genghis Khan4* The Final Hour5* Captains And The Kings2* The Romance of Atlantis3* The Late Clara Beame3* Ceremony of the InnocentTR Dynasty Of DeathTR The Wide HouseTR Testimony of Two MenTR This Side of InnocenceTR Answer as a ManTR Glory and the LightningTR Never Victorious, Never Defeated
—Laura
The main character Ellen is supposed to personify a young innocent America. There is a lot of politics written into the story, but to me it's not about politics at all. It's about a Barbie Doll of a woman who has some kind of learning disability, perhaps Asperger's Syndrome, that causes her to trust everyone and blinds her to the truth all her life. Women hate her and think she's ugly, men lust after her.It's a totally depressing story but I liked how it was written and it moved along smoothly. If it had been written any other way I probably would have abandoned it. It was like a train or auto wreck, I just couldn't look away.
—Cindy
