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alisonburnis 's review for:

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
4.25
adventurous dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’m kind of ashamed I avoided du Maurier for so long - but even those of us who take an English major need a break from the classics post-degree. It’s only recent years I’ve been feeling like tackling  some of them. 

Jamaica Inn is spooky and tense; shades of what’s to come for du Maurier. I still prefer Rebecca, but Jamaica Inn is still marvellous. After Mary’s mother dies, Mary heads north to Jamaica Inn, where her aunt and her husband are the proprietors. However, it seems cursed from the start: her fellow travellers warn her off going there, and her welcome is less than ideal. Her Aunt Patience seems worn down, and Mary quickly learns to avoid her uncle Joss, a violent man of ill-repute. But the unpleasantness at Jamaica Inn goes deeper than difficult family members, and Mary soon finds herself in a twisted web which she needs to escape. 

Not as polished as Rebecca - some of the dialogue is a bit strained and the moors are little too on point with pathetic fallacy, but this is still a great Gothic novel.