Scan barcode
A review by amyvl93
The Loving Spirit by Daphne du Maurier
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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
2.75
I adore so many of Daphne du Maurier's novels, and so have a bit of a solo challenge to read her entire backlist. The Loving Spirit is her debut novel, published when she was just 24, and covers many of the themes and tropes that will be seen throughout her books moving forward, just slightly less successfully.
The novel opens following Janet Coombe, living in coastal Cornwall, gripped by a desire to explore and run wild in nature and the sea - but her gender forces her to choose marriage and family, and she settles into a peaceful existence, until the birth of her son Joseph who is her mirror and equally enamoured with the sea, not the shore. We go on to follow his son Christopher seeking fortune in London, and finally Christopher's daughter Jennifer, as she seeks to understand her family history.
The title comes from an Emily Bronte poem, and the spirit of Emily's novel Wuthering Heights is clearly felt here, with tangled family relationships and obsessions echoing through the ages. This is most clearly, and uncomfortably, seen in the relationship between Janet and Joseph. I would have enjoyed this a whole lot more, if I didn't have to read pages and pages of a relationship between a mother and a son which read far too like a relationship between two romantic leads - including an emotional reunion involving climbing through a window after being away. I found the novel really improved once we moved away from this relationship, and into the other generations, Joseph goes a bit Heathcliff-lite in later life, and his relationships with women (aside from his mother) are particularly uncomfortable to read.
On the plus side, Du Maurier's evocation of place is brilliant - Plyn's geography and community feels vivid and real, and when the action moves to London in the 1900s it is also evocatively drawn, and there are times when Christopher's boarding house feels like a comedy of manners. There is also great movement through the decades, and through the changing context and landscape of sailing and trade that was providing a community its lifeblood.
Lots of potential here, but one that I think is worth it for Du Maurier completists rather than on its own merit.
The novel opens following Janet Coombe, living in coastal Cornwall, gripped by a desire to explore and run wild in nature and the sea - but her gender forces her to choose marriage and family, and she settles into a peaceful existence, until the birth of her son Joseph who is her mirror and equally enamoured with the sea, not the shore. We go on to follow his son Christopher seeking fortune in London, and finally Christopher's daughter Jennifer, as she seeks to understand her family history.
The title comes from an Emily Bronte poem, and the spirit of Emily's novel Wuthering Heights is clearly felt here, with tangled family relationships and obsessions echoing through the ages. This is most clearly, and uncomfortably, seen in the relationship between Janet and Joseph. I would have enjoyed this a whole lot more, if I didn't have to read pages and pages of a relationship between a mother and a son which read far too like a relationship between two romantic leads - including an emotional reunion involving climbing through a window after being away. I found the novel really improved once we moved away from this relationship, and into the other generations, Joseph goes a bit Heathcliff-lite in later life, and his relationships with women (aside from his mother) are particularly uncomfortable to read.
On the plus side, Du Maurier's evocation of place is brilliant - Plyn's geography and community feels vivid and real, and when the action moves to London in the 1900s it is also evocatively drawn, and there are times when Christopher's boarding house feels like a comedy of manners. There is also great movement through the decades, and through the changing context and landscape of sailing and trade that was providing a community its lifeblood.
Lots of potential here, but one that I think is worth it for Du Maurier completists rather than on its own merit.