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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I actually hated it but don't think it was objectively bad enough to go below a three. It was well written with the "we" but you are not sure which of the three is speaking as each individual gets referred to in third person except at one point where there is a slip up and it's Maria's voice for half a paragraph which is sloppy editing (I write that sloppy too but you have to try to reread and catch it). I don't think that was deliberate though, if the "we" can be reduced to one of them (and it can't) then it would be the neurodivergent and introspective Niall not the exceptionally self-centred, spoilt Maria.
The problem was I loathed the characters. Maria was intolerable and I alternated between pity for Niall and hating him too. Celia I just felt sorry for until the end where she chooses martyrdom over meaning and becomes a horrible female stereotype (do people like that really exist)? I thought maybe the book would be about them overcoming themselves or something. It's just waffle, just nothing. They are born, they grow up, they become who their upbringing logically makes them and they never seem to exercise any agency or choose who to be. Any self-examination is pointless and leads to nothing which makes the tedium of it unrewarded for the reader.
It's beautifully crafted with the crisis and then the series of flashbacks and discussions and then back to the present and the next thing but it's beautifully crafted, pointless, navel gazing. You may as well read someone's private journal. Not everyone is as gifted as the Delaneys but then again not everyone is as narcissistic and selfish. You can see why and how and pity them but I couldn't like them, not even for a half-page anywhere. And Charles is just a pompous prig, I felt annoyed that Niall and Celia were so solicitous of his feelings. He's so disgusting he is possibly worse than Maria. He's secretly just as selfish and privileged but with the illusion of his "values" and "virtues" and some sort of noblesse oblige which makes him rubbish in my book.
This level of craftwomanship surely deserves better characters to write about.
The problem was I loathed the characters. Maria was intolerable and I alternated between pity for Niall and hating him too. Celia I just felt sorry for until the end where she chooses martyrdom over meaning and becomes a horrible female stereotype (do people like that really exist)? I thought maybe the book would be about them overcoming themselves or something. It's just waffle, just nothing. They are born, they grow up, they become who their upbringing logically makes them and they never seem to exercise any agency or choose who to be. Any self-examination is pointless and leads to nothing which makes the tedium of it unrewarded for the reader.
It's beautifully crafted with the crisis and then the series of flashbacks and discussions and then back to the present and the next thing but it's beautifully crafted, pointless, navel gazing. You may as well read someone's private journal. Not everyone is as gifted as the Delaneys but then again not everyone is as narcissistic and selfish. You can see why and how and pity them but I couldn't like them, not even for a half-page anywhere. And Charles is just a pompous prig, I felt annoyed that Niall and Celia were so solicitous of his feelings. He's so disgusting he is possibly worse than Maria. He's secretly just as selfish and privileged but with the illusion of his "values" and "virtues" and some sort of noblesse oblige which makes him rubbish in my book.
This level of craftwomanship surely deserves better characters to write about.
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Impressive! Daphne du Maurier can do no wrong. I found The Parasites very different from the other du Maurier books in terms of this book lacking the usual gothic vibe, darkness and mystery. The book is set in an afternoon in a country house where three children of the famous singer Pappy and the amazing dancer Mommy are called parasites by Charles, the husband of Maria, the eldest daughter. Maria, Niall and Celia sit around and remember their childhood whilst Charles is still bitter and cold towards them. It is fascinating how the siblings/half-siblings are so different from each other and how each character has been given deep layers for the reader to discover in each chapter. We love, pity and loathe all three of them during the course of this book. Their childhood is chaotic, funny and colourful. Maria being the daughter of the father, Niall being the son of the mother and Celia being the only common biological child of both parents, are spoilt, are given what they want and are not given the total love and affection they need when they need it. After they lose their mother, Niall is sent to school to improve his music skills, if he has any. Maria becomes an actress and is given free pass and lead roles because of her surname. And Celia travels with Pappy while he continues to perform. Later on, Maria gets married to Charles, Niall sets of to Paris with an elderly woman and becomes famous for "pop" tunes and cheap music and Celia is bound to look after a difficult Pappy and neglects her talent in drawing. Maria is spoilt, selfish, self-centred, sexy but still naive, incapable of management, lacks self-confidence and power. Niall is a lost child, neglected by her own mother, suppressed by fear, a free spirit, a lazy and empty guy with so much affection for Maria, looking for a meaning in life. Celia, being the most giving of them all, is a suppressed, afraid, coward spinster, who finds excuses to sacrifice herself for someone else because she is too afraid to live her own life and face the consequences, heartbreaks and failures. They are all flawed, but brilliantly written. In the beginning I thought I would not like this book as much as the other du Maurier books, but I am left amazed by it at the end.
Despite loving du Maurier, I had never heard of 'The Parasites' until I discovered it in a local second-hand book store. Despite not really having a clue what this novel was about, it really cemented my belief that sometimes reading a novel by a favourite author can be a really wonderful experience, and that is certainly true of my reading of this novel.
'The Parasites' begins with the Delaney siblings; Maria, Niall and Celia, being in Maria's marital home with her husband Charles. When he suddenly pronounces the three of them to be 'parasites', it triggers an afternoon of remembrance for the three siblings, each putting forward their own individual perspective on the events of their past as being the children of two incredibly famous performers.
All three of the central characters are fascinating; Maria, the daughter of 'Pappy' and another woman, who spends her life acting various parts, Niall, the son of 'Mama' and another man, who is arguably the most spoilt of the three, but also one of suffers most with inner demons and Celia, the true daughter of both famous parents, who devotes her life to caring for others, despite her own pains. I will admit to feeling for Celia the most, not least because Maria and Niall's close-knit, verging on incestuous but never quite reaching any kind of action, relationship excludes all others, including their half-sister and even Maria's husband.
Du Maurier's prose throughout the novel is seriously beautiful, bursting with descriptions that range from sweeping descriptions of foreign countrysides to the claustrophobic house at Farthings where Maria lives or the home that Celia shared with her father. The story of the Delaneys combined with her prose kept me really, truly gripped to the book.
This novel should really be more well known, in my opinion, and I'm really looking forward to reading 'Hungry Hill' the next unread du Maurier novel I have on my shelf.
'The Parasites' begins with the Delaney siblings; Maria, Niall and Celia, being in Maria's marital home with her husband Charles. When he suddenly pronounces the three of them to be 'parasites', it triggers an afternoon of remembrance for the three siblings, each putting forward their own individual perspective on the events of their past as being the children of two incredibly famous performers.
All three of the central characters are fascinating; Maria, the daughter of 'Pappy' and another woman, who spends her life acting various parts, Niall, the son of 'Mama' and another man, who is arguably the most spoilt of the three, but also one of suffers most with inner demons and Celia, the true daughter of both famous parents, who devotes her life to caring for others, despite her own pains. I will admit to feeling for Celia the most, not least because Maria and Niall's close-knit, verging on incestuous but never quite reaching any kind of action, relationship excludes all others, including their half-sister and even Maria's husband.
Du Maurier's prose throughout the novel is seriously beautiful, bursting with descriptions that range from sweeping descriptions of foreign countrysides to the claustrophobic house at Farthings where Maria lives or the home that Celia shared with her father. The story of the Delaneys combined with her prose kept me really, truly gripped to the book.
This novel should really be more well known, in my opinion, and I'm really looking forward to reading 'Hungry Hill' the next unread du Maurier novel I have on my shelf.
Comments in <20 words: Rarely enjoy poignancy but deeply appreciated story and collective(?) narrator. Beautiful work overshadowed by Rebecca.
There wasn't a lot to this book, the characters were not very likeable, whether they were selfish or mean or just pathetic, but there was a sense of some kind of big climax. This climax just never happens. There isn't much of a conclusion, the story just sort of fizzles out and no one really concludes anything.
I read this on a recommendation and think I would read more Daphne De Maurier books but maybe I would pick something with the promise of a bit more of a story to it.
I read this on a recommendation and think I would read more Daphne De Maurier books but maybe I would pick something with the promise of a bit more of a story to it.
This was a thoroughly satisfying read for me. In ways it reminds me of Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love, a book that I did not like, but somehow I care more about du Maurier's Parasites than I do any of Mitford's characters.
Plot points are revealed quietly rather than lit with spotlights, to the point that there was one major relationship that I missed for a good chunk of the novel. I love this way of telling a story. The characters were annoying, selfish little people, but they were also so full of potential that I just couldn't help hoping that they would change, just as I do with myself and every other human being I care about. But by and large we don't change, do we? We have our patterns of behavior that we stick to even when we recognize them and that they're not leading us to better things. Because trying to be our best selves might reveal that we already are, and that would be too disappointing. Better to stick with the comforting and familiar.
I most thoroughly related to Celia, who derives her self-worth from caring for others and uses that time-consuming task as an excuse to avoid putting herself out there for criticism. I will not go into detail here about the ways in which I feel akin to Celia, but trust that I'm reflecting deeply on my own outside of this review and I plan to have big plans to change and then just go back and do the same things I've always done. Because, best I can tell, that's what mid-life is all about: realizing once and for all that you can change the venue, but you're still the same you no matter what.
Aside from these, I love that du Maurier's Pappy anticipated (or perhaps inspired) Albert Brooks's 1991 film "Defending Your Life." (on p 178 of the edition I read).
I'll finish out with one of the quotes I particularly like because it echoes some of the existential discomfort my middle-schooler is voicing right now:
Looking back, I find it interesting to try and spot that moment for each of the Delaney children---and for myself.
Plot points are revealed quietly rather than lit with spotlights, to the point that there was one major relationship that I missed for a good chunk of the novel. I love this way of telling a story. The characters were annoying, selfish little people, but they were also so full of potential that I just couldn't help hoping that they would change, just as I do with myself and every other human being I care about. But by and large we don't change, do we? We have our patterns of behavior that we stick to even when we recognize them and that they're not leading us to better things. Because trying to be our best selves might reveal that we already are, and that would be too disappointing. Better to stick with the comforting and familiar.
I most thoroughly related to Celia, who derives her self-worth from caring for others and uses that time-consuming task as an excuse to avoid putting herself out there for criticism. I will not go into detail here about the ways in which I feel akin to Celia, but trust that I'm reflecting deeply on my own outside of this review and I plan to have big plans to change and then just go back and do the same things I've always done. Because, best I can tell, that's what mid-life is all about: realizing once and for all that you can change the venue, but you're still the same you no matter what.
Aside from these, I love that du Maurier's Pappy anticipated (or perhaps inspired) Albert Brooks's 1991 film "Defending Your Life." (on p 178 of the edition I read).
I'll finish out with one of the quotes I particularly like because it echoes some of the existential discomfort my middle-schooler is voicing right now:
"Grown-up people...How suddenly would it happen, the final plunge into their world? Did it really come about overnight, as Pappy said, between sleeping and waking? A day would come, a day like any other day, and, looking over your shoulder, you would see the shadow of the child that was, receding; and there would be no going back, no possibility of recapturing the shadow. You had to go on; you had to step forward into the future, however much you dreaded the thought, however much you were afraid." (56)
Looking back, I find it interesting to try and spot that moment for each of the Delaney children---and for myself.
Reading in Portuguese; borrowed from my mother-in-law. Another masterpice by Dame Du maurier.