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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Una mattina i fratelli Delaney si ritrovano sotto accusa: secondo Charles, marito della primogenita, non sarebbero altro che parassiti. Che triste destino per una famiglia votata all’arte: figli di un cantante e di una ballerina, Maria fa l’attrice, Niell il compositore, e Celia è una promettente illustratrice.
Da questa accusa prende le mosse la storia, un’autobiografia collettiva che è un po’ un’analisi delle loro vite e di tutte le loro scelte. A prescindere dalla fama e dal successo raggiunto (Maria e Niell sfondano nei rispettivi ambiti, mentre le illustrazioni di Celia restano un passatempo), i Delaney sono accomunati dall’adagiarsi nel talento che hanno ereditato. Sin da adolescenti Maria e Niell hanno sempre avuto un rapporto morboso, quasi incestuoso, mentre Celia da adulta si mette al servizio del padre rinunciando alle sue aspirazioni. Sotto ogni aspetto, insomma, i Delaney ne escono parassiti.
The Parasites ci insegna che il talento non ti salva. Non è tra i migliori di du Maurier, ma resta un romanzo molto godibile.
Da questa accusa prende le mosse la storia, un’autobiografia collettiva che è un po’ un’analisi delle loro vite e di tutte le loro scelte. A prescindere dalla fama e dal successo raggiunto (Maria e Niell sfondano nei rispettivi ambiti, mentre le illustrazioni di Celia restano un passatempo), i Delaney sono accomunati dall’adagiarsi nel talento che hanno ereditato. Sin da adolescenti Maria e Niell hanno sempre avuto un rapporto morboso, quasi incestuoso, mentre Celia da adulta si mette al servizio del padre rinunciando alle sue aspirazioni. Sotto ogni aspetto, insomma, i Delaney ne escono parassiti.
The Parasites ci insegna che il talento non ti salva. Non è tra i migliori di du Maurier, ma resta un romanzo molto godibile.
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i didn’t expect this to be so emotionally impactful. i was prepared to write a letterboxd esque, “LOVE a book about a mentally ill family of intellectuals/artists with pseudo-incestual undertones” but now that seems… wrong. i cried for niall. and felt devastated for maria. for these awful, terrible people… i don’t know i just didn’t know it would hit me as hard as it did. maybe my new favorite du maurier. maybe one of my new favorites at all. funny and deeply real despite seemingly not being at all relatable! i don’t have the words to articulate it but there was something so special about reading this.
Wanted to like this book, since I enjoyed another work by the author, but the horrible and toxic main characters made it very hard to enjoy or become invested in the story.
Filled with character stories and sordid affairs, this book had me riveted. I couldn't put it down. The only reason that I didn't give it five stars was I was highly disappointed in the end. It's not like one of those endings where it's not what you want, so you're disappointed - no, it just kind of trails off. I suppose du Maurier wants the reader to draw her own conclusions, and I always hate endings like that.
I loved how suggestive du Maurier could be without crossing the boundary into smut. I absolutely loved how Maria did not really want to be a mother, found no satisfaction from it, and was shocked when her husband was surprised that she wanted to go back to work after having her first baby. I thought that Maria was a very modern woman and I admired her for what everyone else considered "selfish". She refused to fit into the stereotypical female role.
I also related to Celia, and how she kept doing the same old thing - taking care of people - because she was afraid.
I related to Niall in that he was successful, but only for music that he considered to be lame and taking the very least creative effort.
In addition, there was something very disturbing, but not "Flowers in the Attic" disturbing about Niall and Maria's relationship, and yet it seemed to make complete sense - more sense, in fact, than Maria's relationship with Charles.
Overall a fantastic story, and another du Maurier novel that I will be coming back to again and again.
I loved how suggestive du Maurier could be without crossing the boundary into smut. I absolutely loved how Maria did not really want to be a mother, found no satisfaction from it, and was shocked when her husband was surprised that she wanted to go back to work after having her first baby. I thought that Maria was a very modern woman and I admired her for what everyone else considered "selfish". She refused to fit into the stereotypical female role.
I also related to Celia, and how she kept doing the same old thing - taking care of people - because she was afraid.
I related to Niall in that he was successful, but only for music that he considered to be lame and taking the very least creative effort.
In addition, there was something very disturbing, but not "Flowers in the Attic" disturbing about Niall and Maria's relationship, and yet it seemed to make complete sense - more sense, in fact, than Maria's relationship with Charles.
Overall a fantastic story, and another du Maurier novel that I will be coming back to again and again.
Richly complex, layered psychological questions. Have to find your own answers.
Stand out lines:
“Never trust someone with brown eyes” (funny, ridiculous)
“A shout, a wave of the hand, the slam of a door and she was gone”
Stand out descriptions:
Of traditional windows that look pleasant from the outside but create the shadow of bars from inside a house
Stand out lines:
“Never trust someone with brown eyes” (funny, ridiculous)
“A shout, a wave of the hand, the slam of a door and she was gone”
Stand out descriptions:
Of traditional windows that look pleasant from the outside but create the shadow of bars from inside a house
A curiously uncharacteristic novel from du Maurier if, like me, you’ve only read Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and Frenchman’s Creek. Julie Myerson’s introduction compares it to Wuthering Heights in its focus on the quasi-incestuous relationship between not-quite-siblings, though, and in that sense the Gothic influence is certainly strong. It’s the story of Maria, Niall, and Celia, three children whose parents were famous performers and who grow up to be extraordinary studies in selfishness, passivity, and immaturity—even Celia, who seems at first glance to be the most selfless of them all, remaining with their father in perpetuity as nurse and caregiver. Maria and Niall are technically only step-siblings, making the intimacy of their relationship (which du Maurier hints has a sexual dimension, though she is never specific) both acceptable and disturbing. The accounts of theatrical life are marvelous, as is the dissection of the ways in which pretending to have emotions for a living can stunt you if you’re not careful. Very funny and odd.