Reviews

The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier

rdaisygal's review against another edition

3.0

I love the movie Rebecca, but had never actual read anything by Daphne Du Maurier. This was a great introduction to her work. There were parts that I wasn't too fond of (lots of unhealthy bonds between mother/child), but overall, it was a great book.

Next up: London Fields by Martin Amis

11/50 Books read

4329/15000 pages

claire_my's review against another edition

3.0

Je n'ai pas réussi à apprécier les personnages. Dommage...

kali76's review against another edition

5.0

I was going to give this 4 stars, but realised I was comparing this to Du Maurier's later novels. If this were a contemporary debut novelist's work, 5 stars without hesitation. I love a good family saga. Following 4 generations of the Coombe family in a Cornish village from the early 1800s to early 1900s. I enjoyed the first part the least, but it tied the story together.

hollyberry_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad 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

4.0

krbkrbkrb's review against another edition

5.0

Imagine if One Hundred Years of Solitude and Wuthering Heights had a baby who loved sunshine and the sea. Multigenerational epic celebrating family life and the ways that our beloved dead can continue to inspire and encourage us. The Coombes tend to rebel against social constraints and love sailing and being in nature, though they also tend to marry conventional people who cling to civilization, and the idea that they can civilize the Coombe family.

heyheybooks's review

3.0

Maybe 2.5 stars? I definitely have mixed feelings about this, and it being her first novel, I wasn’t expecting much. I did like it more the further it went, but the first half was kind of awkward - an old timey narrative voice that doesn’t quite feel right, plus the mother son relationship that is described in romantic and sensual terms (which I knew to expect at some point in Du Maurier’s work, from reading her bio and learning about her similar relationship with her father.) Once we got to London things started picking up and the last character was my favorite. I did really enjoy seeing Du Maurier’s influences that pop up in Rebecca come in to play here - the locale and sailing, even destruction by fire. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone except die hard Du Maurier fans.

tea_sprout's review against another edition

4.0

This will be up there with one of my favourite Du Maurier's alongside Fisherman's Creek, Jamaica Inn and Rebecca specifically because of the atmosphere that it evokes and of the Cornish countryside. I like stories that move on in years so this was satisfying.

scout_jones's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

candacesovan's review against another edition

3.0

Because I admire Du Maurier's classic works, I thought it might be interesting to go back and read the books she wrote in the order that she wrote them. I began with her very first novel, "The Loving Spirit," which she completed in 1930. It is said to have been inspired, in some ways, by "Wuthering Heights," and the book's ambitions are not small. It's a dynastic story that begins with the strange quasi-incestuous love affair between a mother and her son (beginning before he was even born!?) and follows that mother's "Loving Spirit" through at least some of her offspring and their children.

Du Maurier handles most of it very competently. The story is fairly engrossing and held my interest. It felt a bit 19th-century in the way that it characterized people in the story. It is no masterpiece, but not at all bad for a first outing.

st_morwenna's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0