You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ninarg 's review for:
Jamaica Inn
by Daphne du Maurier
Windy moors, treacherous marshes, a dark inn where no locals ever go... The atmosphere is menacing and the story is full of descriptions of "powerful fingers that held such deadly grace", ropes hanging from ceilings and marshes where men have drowned. This is a gothic story witch echoes of "Dracula" and "Wuthering Heights".
The heroine, Mary Yellan, is strong and adventurous. She is not afraid of taking action - she talks back, shows spirits and escapes from rooms. She is independent and more farmboy than fine lady, and she likes it that way. And I like her. When she discovers what goes on at Jamaica Inn at night, she thinks:
"Had she been a man, she would have gone downstairs and challenged Joss Merlyn to his face, and his friends with him. Yes, and fought them too, and drawn blood, if she were lucky. And then away on a horse from the stable (...)
Here she was on her bed, a girl of three-and-twenty, in a petticoat and a shawl, with no weapons but her own brain to oppose a fellow twice her age and eight times her strength, who, if he realised she had watched the scene tonight from her window, would encircle her neck with his hand, and, pressing lightly with finger and thumb, put an end to her questioning.
Then Mary swore; a thing she had only done once before in her life, when chased by a bull at Manaccan, and then it had been for the same purpose as now - to give herself courage and a certain bold pretence."
The theme of men vs. women comes up several times. Jem Merlyn, a local horse-stealer that Mary likes, is taken with her spirit, boldness and cleverness - nevertheless, he says things like "Be a man for the moment, and send your hurt pride and your curiosity to hell", "Women are frail things, Mary, for all their courage", "Women think differently to men; they travel separate paths. That's why I have no liking for them; they make for trouble and confusion", while Mary herself has this thought: "Once more she knew the humility of being born a woman, when the breaking down of strength and spirit was taken as natural and unquestioned." Aunt Patience is definitely broken down, a shadow of the woman she once was, and for all Mary's boldness and courage, she is aware that had she married Joss Merlyn, she could have suffered the same fate as Patience.
I liked so much of the story: the characters, the setting, the plot, the atmosphere, but the ending didn't quite work for me. It was too tame. I felt the whole novel was building up to a big showdown, a huge fight, and I had foreseen that Jem would kill his brother and someone would drown in the marshes - but I got something very different and too low-key. The book is so close to four stars, but the quiet ending disappointed me after the superb build-up and suspense.
The heroine, Mary Yellan, is strong and adventurous. She is not afraid of taking action - she talks back, shows spirits and escapes from rooms. She is independent and more farmboy than fine lady, and she likes it that way. And I like her. When she discovers what goes on at Jamaica Inn at night, she thinks:
"Had she been a man, she would have gone downstairs and challenged Joss Merlyn to his face, and his friends with him. Yes, and fought them too, and drawn blood, if she were lucky. And then away on a horse from the stable (...)
Here she was on her bed, a girl of three-and-twenty, in a petticoat and a shawl, with no weapons but her own brain to oppose a fellow twice her age and eight times her strength, who, if he realised she had watched the scene tonight from her window, would encircle her neck with his hand, and, pressing lightly with finger and thumb, put an end to her questioning.
Then Mary swore; a thing she had only done once before in her life, when chased by a bull at Manaccan, and then it had been for the same purpose as now - to give herself courage and a certain bold pretence."
The theme of men vs. women comes up several times. Jem Merlyn, a local horse-stealer that Mary likes, is taken with her spirit, boldness and cleverness - nevertheless, he says things like "Be a man for the moment, and send your hurt pride and your curiosity to hell", "Women are frail things, Mary, for all their courage", "Women think differently to men; they travel separate paths. That's why I have no liking for them; they make for trouble and confusion", while Mary herself has this thought: "Once more she knew the humility of being born a woman, when the breaking down of strength and spirit was taken as natural and unquestioned." Aunt Patience is definitely broken down, a shadow of the woman she once was, and for all Mary's boldness and courage, she is aware that had she married Joss Merlyn, she could have suffered the same fate as Patience.
I liked so much of the story: the characters, the setting, the plot, the atmosphere, but the ending didn't quite work for me. It was too tame. I felt the whole novel was building up to a big showdown, a huge fight, and I had foreseen that Jem would kill his brother and someone would drown in the marshes - but I got something very different and too low-key. The book is so close to four stars, but the quiet ending disappointed me after the superb build-up and suspense.