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rosseroo's review against another edition
4.0
I picked up this reissue partly because the NYRB imprint is a mark of distinction, but also because I knew it involved children and pirates, and finally, because I think part of me had it mixed up with the Daphne du Maurier book, Jamaica Inn. I think I must have been thinking of it as a period adventure yarn, little realizing what a strange little book it is. In the introduction to this edition, the writer Francine Prose calls it a "fever dream" and that's the perfect term. It is a period adventure yarn in genre, but that's only window dressing for a very dark study of the nature of children.
The story revolves around five young English children ranging in age from 4 to 10 living on a decaying estate in Jamaica. When a storm devastates the countryside and their home, their parents decide to pack them off to school in England. They are joined for the boat voyage by some Creole neighbor kids, whom they are acquainted with. A band of not-at-all swashbuckling pirates takes them captive, and the children spend weeks and weeks meandering around the Caribbean with the pirates until their curious adventure draws to an end.
There's just so much to unpack in this book that I'm tempted to go seek out some critical analysis of it. The wildness of natural world plays a huge role in the book, from the weather, an earthquake, island landscapes, and especially animals (monkeys, pigs, alligators all feature heavily). But the most wild and unpredictable of all are the children, whose moods and whims swing wildly from moment to moment, sometimes with the most dire of consequences. The book is both extremely disturbing in many senses (there is a dark undercurrent of sexuality to it), while also being quite bitingly funny. It could be considered a bit of a masterclass in the deployment of irony. Definitely not a book for children -- recommend for readers looking for something provocative and strange.
The story revolves around five young English children ranging in age from 4 to 10 living on a decaying estate in Jamaica. When a storm devastates the countryside and their home, their parents decide to pack them off to school in England. They are joined for the boat voyage by some Creole neighbor kids, whom they are acquainted with. A band of not-at-all swashbuckling pirates takes them captive, and the children spend weeks and weeks meandering around the Caribbean with the pirates until their curious adventure draws to an end.
There's just so much to unpack in this book that I'm tempted to go seek out some critical analysis of it. The wildness of natural world plays a huge role in the book, from the weather, an earthquake, island landscapes, and especially animals (monkeys, pigs, alligators all feature heavily). But the most wild and unpredictable of all are the children, whose moods and whims swing wildly from moment to moment, sometimes with the most dire of consequences. The book is both extremely disturbing in many senses (there is a dark undercurrent of sexuality to it), while also being quite bitingly funny. It could be considered a bit of a masterclass in the deployment of irony. Definitely not a book for children -- recommend for readers looking for something provocative and strange.
melerihaf's review against another edition
3.0
This book disturbed me. I'm not sure I agree with all that Hughes has to say about children and childhood, but he did get some things spot on.
spacenoirdetective's review against another edition
3.0
This is a sort of "modernized" pirate tale, written in the 30's. The unabashed racism really kept me from enjoying it, but basically what it boils down to is a really concise and layered look at childhood, and how different perception is at an early age. The outcome of the novel is rather shocking and unexpected, and winds up being a meditation on sin, and the capability of humans to kill when they think it's necessary.
The ending is basically thus: one of the children (who have been accidentally travelling with pirates and thought dead, then kidnapped) is locked up and a drunk man comes in. In most likelihood, the man didn't intend her any harm, but he was kind of scary and so she basically stabs him to death. The other pirates basically wind up taking the blame for it. They protect her to the end, and wind up hanging for her crime. The last line says something like amongst other girls again she looked just like any other little girl. I guess that's what saves this novel from me hating it. I don't care for the author's personality when it came through, but the world he evokes is fascinating and harsh.
The ending is basically thus: one of the children (who have been accidentally travelling with pirates and thought dead, then kidnapped) is locked up and a drunk man comes in. In most likelihood, the man didn't intend her any harm, but he was kind of scary and so she basically stabs him to death. The other pirates basically wind up taking the blame for it. They protect her to the end, and wind up hanging for her crime. The last line says something like amongst other girls again she looked just like any other little girl. I guess that's what saves this novel from me hating it. I don't care for the author's personality when it came through, but the world he evokes is fascinating and harsh.
samhouston's review against another edition
4.0
Welsh writer Richard Hughes published A High Wind in Jamaica in 1929 (sometimes published in the U.S. under the title The Innocent Voyage), and the playwright’s novel would go on to be turned into a Broadway production by dramatist Paul Osborn in 1943. The novel was also adapted for a 1965 movie of the same title that starred Anthony Quinn and James Coburn, and was performed as a radio play on two occasions (once in 1950 and then again in 2000). To say the least, the novel has had a good run.
Despite all of that, I was unfamiliar with the novel and its author until I heard Ann Patchett praise it at the San Antonio book festival a couple of weeks ago in a conversation she had there with author Elizabeth McCracken. It is Patchett’s theory that A High Wind in Jamaica has served as the blueprint for countless novels about children who are totally oblivious to the dangerous circumstances they may suddenly find themselves in. She admits to more than once having used the pattern herself, including in her current novel, Commonwealth (a novel that turns out to be much more autobiographical than I would have imagined before hearing the author speak about it).
A High Wind in Jamaica tells the story of a group of children being sent to England from Jamaica by their parents so that they can attend boarding schools in the mother country. The children, all of them roughly between the ages of three and ten years old, are sent on their own – the youngest children being in the complete care of their older brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, the rather lazy and negligent captain of the vessel on which they leave for England, allows his boat to be boarded and taken by a small group of the most incompetent “pirates” in the history of piracy. The cowardly captain, in fact, makes a run for his own freedom, abandoning the children to the pirates who had temporarily moved the kids to their own little boat. Now, the Danish pirate captain and his crew are stuck with a bunch of kids they have no idea what to do with – try as they might to figure it all out.
To the kids, who never realize that their very lives are in jeopardy, it is all one big adventure and soon enough they are climbing ropes and getting into trouble at a pace that astounds even the roughest of the pirate crew. The captain knows that he has to get rid of the children one way or the other if he is going to be able to avoid capture and prison – or worse – but no one wants to take them off his hands.
Richard Hughes tries to take the reader inside the minds of the children and what they see from their distinctive points-of-view, his theory being that the minds of children do not work anything remotely like the minds of adults work. This is a point that none of the adults in the story ever seem to figure out – and the repercussions stemming from this oversight are both comic and tragic. In the end, the children who live through the prolonged “kidnapping” may be the least affected by what happened to them on the high seas around Cuba.
Bottom Line: A High Wind in Jamaica is clever piece of satire that manages to be both a comedy and a tragedy. It is easy to see why the short novel (191 pages) has been popular for so long, and if Ann Patchett’s theory is correct, why it will remain a studied piece of writing for decades to come. Despite its sometimes-tedious writing style, this one makes for an interesting read.
Despite all of that, I was unfamiliar with the novel and its author until I heard Ann Patchett praise it at the San Antonio book festival a couple of weeks ago in a conversation she had there with author Elizabeth McCracken. It is Patchett’s theory that A High Wind in Jamaica has served as the blueprint for countless novels about children who are totally oblivious to the dangerous circumstances they may suddenly find themselves in. She admits to more than once having used the pattern herself, including in her current novel, Commonwealth (a novel that turns out to be much more autobiographical than I would have imagined before hearing the author speak about it).
A High Wind in Jamaica tells the story of a group of children being sent to England from Jamaica by their parents so that they can attend boarding schools in the mother country. The children, all of them roughly between the ages of three and ten years old, are sent on their own – the youngest children being in the complete care of their older brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, the rather lazy and negligent captain of the vessel on which they leave for England, allows his boat to be boarded and taken by a small group of the most incompetent “pirates” in the history of piracy. The cowardly captain, in fact, makes a run for his own freedom, abandoning the children to the pirates who had temporarily moved the kids to their own little boat. Now, the Danish pirate captain and his crew are stuck with a bunch of kids they have no idea what to do with – try as they might to figure it all out.
To the kids, who never realize that their very lives are in jeopardy, it is all one big adventure and soon enough they are climbing ropes and getting into trouble at a pace that astounds even the roughest of the pirate crew. The captain knows that he has to get rid of the children one way or the other if he is going to be able to avoid capture and prison – or worse – but no one wants to take them off his hands.
Richard Hughes tries to take the reader inside the minds of the children and what they see from their distinctive points-of-view, his theory being that the minds of children do not work anything remotely like the minds of adults work. This is a point that none of the adults in the story ever seem to figure out – and the repercussions stemming from this oversight are both comic and tragic. In the end, the children who live through the prolonged “kidnapping” may be the least affected by what happened to them on the high seas around Cuba.
Bottom Line: A High Wind in Jamaica is clever piece of satire that manages to be both a comedy and a tragedy. It is easy to see why the short novel (191 pages) has been popular for so long, and if Ann Patchett’s theory is correct, why it will remain a studied piece of writing for decades to come. Despite its sometimes-tedious writing style, this one makes for an interesting read.
gremily's review against another edition
5.0
" When swimming under water, it is a very sobering thing suddenly to look a large octopus in the face."
A strange tale. I considered marking it down on this reread, as at times it didn't seem quite the marvel I remembered from ten years ago, and yet the ending floored me, again. This is a book whose genius is to be consistently be about something different than what it appears to be, and to do this while retaining an engaging, adventurous plot, an effortlessly ironic tone, and an ensemble cast of well-developed characters. The limited morality of pirates comes up against the amorality of children. The experience of growing up, from non-human babyhood to semi-human childhood to an adolescence that is godlike but very wicked is examined with cool remove. The last page gave me a creeping sense of horror that seemed unmerited by what actually occurred on it. A book to reread periodically.
A strange tale. I considered marking it down on this reread, as at times it didn't seem quite the marvel I remembered from ten years ago, and yet the ending floored me, again. This is a book whose genius is to be consistently be about something different than what it appears to be, and to do this while retaining an engaging, adventurous plot, an effortlessly ironic tone, and an ensemble cast of well-developed characters. The limited morality of pirates comes up against the amorality of children. The experience of growing up, from non-human babyhood to semi-human childhood to an adolescence that is godlike but very wicked is examined with cool remove. The last page gave me a creeping sense of horror that seemed unmerited by what actually occurred on it. A book to reread periodically.
bmac11's review against another edition
4.0
A rather curious book, I think I have to let it settle a bit. Once again a NYBR reissue
wrollow's review against another edition
4.0
A really good children's book, though not for young'uns. Hughes presents well what it's like to be children unaware of the seriousness of their situation.
hughesie's review against another edition
3.5
A strange book - quite dark in places, but leaves the worst to your imagination, and then light and humorous in other places. It manages to genuinely shock you, make you dislike the characters who do no wrong, feel for the ones with few morals, change your mind and change it back again. I was slightly disappointed to finish it and leave their world behind.
a20261's review against another edition
4.0
A fantastic, disturbing read. As much as Stevenson's Treasure Island is a pirate story for children about adults, Hughes' A High Wind in Jamaica is a pirate story for adults about children. The story is delivered in beautiful prose describing the terrifying, dynamic exterior world that surrounding the young protagonists.
cherrycola's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The low rating isn't because it's poorly written, but because I enjoyed it so little. Not the book's fault.
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