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3.74 AVERAGE
3.74 AVERAGE
dunnettreader's review
5.0
"A High Wind in Jamaica" is a slyly disturbing novel that won't be to everyone's taste. It can be read as an adventure story and as a psychological analysis of the minds of children. It is by turns dreamlike and nightmarish. But it is also lyrical and funny. A little bit of the self-sufficient adventures found in Arthur Ransome's "Swallows and Amazons" is mixed with the horror found in "The Turn of the Screw".
The novel has a straightforward plot about children who are sent to England after a hurricane destroys their home in Jamaica. Mr. and Mrs. Bas-Thornton are worried that their children need a safer, more structured environment. After a few days aboard the Clorinda, the most unlikely pirates overtake the sailing vessel and the children are transferred to the pirates' ship. They are not sure why this has happened and it takes a while before they realize that the men sailing the ship are pirates. By this time the children are used to them and have even bonded with their captors. But not all goes smoothly and terrible things happen. The fact that the children seem to barely notice is perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the story.
But one does not read this book for the plot. What becomes mesmerizing is the psychological aspect of the story. Are the children conscious, aware human beings or are they unformed and malleable? One child, Emily, becomes the center of the story. How Emily becomes more aware of herself and her surroundings, and her conscious decisions to hide the truth from the adults around her are the crux of the psychological tension.
The novel has a straightforward plot about children who are sent to England after a hurricane destroys their home in Jamaica. Mr. and Mrs. Bas-Thornton are worried that their children need a safer, more structured environment. After a few days aboard the Clorinda, the most unlikely pirates overtake the sailing vessel and the children are transferred to the pirates' ship. They are not sure why this has happened and it takes a while before they realize that the men sailing the ship are pirates. By this time the children are used to them and have even bonded with their captors. But not all goes smoothly and terrible things happen. The fact that the children seem to barely notice is perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the story.
But one does not read this book for the plot. What becomes mesmerizing is the psychological aspect of the story. Are the children conscious, aware human beings or are they unformed and malleable? One child, Emily, becomes the center of the story. How Emily becomes more aware of herself and her surroundings, and her conscious decisions to hide the truth from the adults around her are the crux of the psychological tension.
larsdradrach's review
4.0
A story that takes you unexpected places, it starts out as a harmless tale about some children s adventures living in Jamaica, but slowly turns into something else.
The tension between the light even merry narration taken from the side of the children and the actual events as the reader imagines them, provides an effect-full structure to the story.
The primarily strength of the book is the realistic and unsentimental description of children s inner life and thoughts, where many other books describes children as unbearable good and devoted to their parents or unbelievable wise beound their years, "a high wind" describes children as self absorbed, thoughtless, even cruel and most of the time clueless about the events and worries in the world of adults.
An interesting and, at times, thought provoking book.
The tension between the light even merry narration taken from the side of the children and the actual events as the reader imagines them, provides an effect-full structure to the story.
The primarily strength of the book is the realistic and unsentimental description of children s inner life and thoughts, where many other books describes children as unbearable good and devoted to their parents or unbelievable wise beound their years, "a high wind" describes children as self absorbed, thoughtless, even cruel and most of the time clueless about the events and worries in the world of adults.
An interesting and, at times, thought provoking book.
eliana_syd's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Complicated
- Loveable characters? Complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
lisa_nog's review
2.0
This is such a mess. A lot of misses in Mustich’s list for me this year. Very, very dated language (naturally, it’s quite old) but the story isn’t good enough to give a pass.
grimamethyst's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping
stipton's review
This book is great - fun and thought provoking. It really brought back feelings and perspectives of childhood. warning, though: some very unpleasant things happen
samhouston23's review
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.
mafiabadgers's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
First read 12/2024
Every now and then I get a deep craving for swashbuckling adventure on the open ocean. Probably a result of watching Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas over and over as a child. The only thing that's managed to beat that hallowed text is Black Sails—I've never found a book that comes close, although On Stranger Tides made a very credible attempt. I never really expected A High Wind in Jamaica to be much of a swashbuckler, but I thought that while it might not be the best pirate book I'd ever read, it might just turn out to be the best of the pirate books. And now that I've finished it, I'm not quite sure where I stand.
It was certainly a weird one. Take the plot of a post-Treasure Island adventure novel and throw in a whole literary thing about how kids are not, in fact, the Romantic ideal of purity and innocence, but actually strange, potentially sociopathic, smaller adults. Certainly it had some incredible moments. At other points it seemed determine to waffle on about the mental state of a three-year-old, without saying anything at all. The writing was, at points, overwhelmingly good, but I often found it difficult to care. It's a book to mull over, and a book to reread. Maybe then I can write a proper review.
Every now and then I get a deep craving for swashbuckling adventure on the open ocean. Probably a result of watching Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas over and over as a child. The only thing that's managed to beat that hallowed text is Black Sails—I've never found a book that comes close, although On Stranger Tides made a very credible attempt. I never really expected A High Wind in Jamaica to be much of a swashbuckler, but I thought that while it might not be the best pirate book I'd ever read, it might just turn out to be the best of the pirate books. And now that I've finished it, I'm not quite sure where I stand.
It was certainly a weird one. Take the plot of a post-Treasure Island adventure novel and throw in a whole literary thing about how kids are not, in fact, the Romantic ideal of purity and innocence, but actually strange, potentially sociopathic, smaller adults. Certainly it had some incredible moments. At other points it seemed determine to waffle on about the mental state of a three-year-old, without saying anything at all. The writing was, at points, overwhelmingly good, but I often found it difficult to care. It's a book to mull over, and a book to reread. Maybe then I can write a proper review.