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ella_mcnally's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
josieeeeec's review against another edition
3.0
Not my favorite Daphne du Maurier novel. Her signature slow burn style fell short in this story. I couldn’t find any interest in the parts where the main character time traveled, and even though it’s been just a week since I’ve read it, I can barely even remember the ending.
cemoses's review against another edition
5.0
Much better tan I expected. The time travel was handled very well.
mschrock8's review against another edition
4.0
I listened to another time travel book, this time by the author of my favorite book.
With the accent of the narrator, Dick's wife Vita often sounded like Peter to me.
Borrowed on Hoopla through JCPL.
Listening length 11 hr, seven min
With the accent of the narrator, Dick's wife Vita often sounded like Peter to me.
Borrowed on Hoopla through JCPL.
Listening length 11 hr, seven min
lynnenad's review against another edition
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Daphne Du Mauriers work always surprises me with its modern themes. By the end of chapter one I’d read about drug addiction, homosexuality, adultery and pedophillia.
The book was intriguing and engrossing. Was the book about time travel? Or drug addiction? You decide.
The book was intriguing and engrossing. Was the book about time travel? Or drug addiction? You decide.
myiopsitta's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
eriynali's review against another edition
4.0
excellent. how she writes so well i don't know.
she took a rather basic/boring storyline with rather bland characters and creates a total page-turner.
she took a rather basic/boring storyline with rather bland characters and creates a total page-turner.
fishfish's review against another edition
Too slow paced for a book I borrowed from the library, and not really that catching of my attention.
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug use, Alcohol, Death, and Death of parent
bigbookslilreads's review against another edition
1.0
This was my first Daphne du Maurier, and probably not the best one to start with. I'm disappointed, and after some consideration, I found that a 1* (I did not like it) was the most fitting rating to describe my reading experience with The House on the Strand. The premise seemed very interesting to me: a Professor and his friend start experimenting with a potent hallucinogen and seem to travel to medieval times. However, I did not like the execution, and the story did not engage me at all. Maybe someone reading this physically would fare better. I could pay no attention to the past time because it was just so dull and did not seem to have any real impact on the story. Even the protagonist did not do much in his trip to the past. If he did I was too bored to notice.
I started to get mildly invested at the halfway point, when the story started to focus on the instability of the protagonist after becoming somewhat dependent on the drug. But even that was mildly interesting at best.
Not worth it.
I started to get mildly invested at the halfway point, when the story started to focus on the instability of the protagonist after becoming somewhat dependent on the drug. But even that was mildly interesting at best.
Not worth it.
eyreguide's review against another edition
4.0
Daphne du Maurier's novel on time travel and history was a particularly captivating read for me. Because of the time travel aspect obviously and the scientific approach to it, but also because I kind of think of it as watching a train wreck. Hear me out. It's because as I read more of it, the sense that things were going to end unhappily became more and more pronounced. The sense is hard to pinpoint, but seeing how unhappy Dick is with his real life, and the way he becomes obsessed with seeing lives that have nothing to do with him and which he can never participate in became gradually nervewracking. I didn't think he should keep trying to make visits to the Medieval past, but he was compelled to keep going.
It was interesting to read how Dick develops as a character. As a reader I felt very sympathetic with him and his uncertainty about his future. He seems to love his wife, but he also pushes her away in ways that at first seemed natural (she did seem kind of annoying) but then somewhere in the middle of the book, it seemed like maybe he was being unfair. I love that about Daphne du Maurier's writing - there is an unpredictability in her characters that keeps the suspense going. She can turn these characters around and make it completely believable.
The past that Dick finds himself in is just as compelling as Dick's present; there are many characters introduced and it does get a bit confusing in the beginning but all that exposition sorts itself out and the main players in the drama of the past becomes clearer. At first I did find Dick's attraction (if I can call it that) to Lady Isolda to be a little bit odd and a little too instantaneous, but after finishing the novel I think there is a reason to support why that was. Except that is just one of the things that is nebulous about the ending of this story. It's something the author does often I think - to give a chance for the reader to interpret the ending in their own way - which was a little disappointing because I wanted to have more answers.
Time travel in this story is very intriguing though. Dick's friend Magnus created a potion that caused your consciousness to travel into the past, but not your body, so that Dick was always trying to independently prove that he was not hallucinating and that what he was seeing had really happened. The idea that you can poke your head into the past is very appealing, and probably addicting as Dick finds out, and the idea that while he was in the past, anything could be happening to his body is another very suspenseful plot point.
This story is very well-written and intricately plotted and while it does take time to start up in the beginning, it becomes fascinating to visit the past with Dick and to read how his life becomes corrupted by the time travel.
It was interesting to read how Dick develops as a character. As a reader I felt very sympathetic with him and his uncertainty about his future. He seems to love his wife, but he also pushes her away in ways that at first seemed natural (she did seem kind of annoying) but then somewhere in the middle of the book, it seemed like maybe he was being unfair. I love that about Daphne du Maurier's writing - there is an unpredictability in her characters that keeps the suspense going. She can turn these characters around and make it completely believable.
The past that Dick finds himself in is just as compelling as Dick's present; there are many characters introduced and it does get a bit confusing in the beginning but all that exposition sorts itself out and the main players in the drama of the past becomes clearer. At first I did find Dick's attraction (if I can call it that) to Lady Isolda to be a little bit odd and a little too instantaneous, but after finishing the novel I think there is a reason to support why that was. Except that is just one of the things that is nebulous about the ending of this story. It's something the author does often I think - to give a chance for the reader to interpret the ending in their own way - which was a little disappointing because I wanted to have more answers.
Time travel in this story is very intriguing though. Dick's friend Magnus created a potion that caused your consciousness to travel into the past, but not your body, so that Dick was always trying to independently prove that he was not hallucinating and that what he was seeing had really happened. The idea that you can poke your head into the past is very appealing, and probably addicting as Dick finds out, and the idea that while he was in the past, anything could be happening to his body is another very suspenseful plot point.
This story is very well-written and intricately plotted and while it does take time to start up in the beginning, it becomes fascinating to visit the past with Dick and to read how his life becomes corrupted by the time travel.